nigelmercier
RIP
- Joined
- 20 Jun 2007
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- Live in Kent, boat in Canary Islands
No, they are excellent at soaking up water, so they do that first.
The correct product is Fuel Only Absorbent Pads
Last edited:
Bilges full of diesel!
- Thread starter Porthandbuoy
- Start date
The correct product is Fuel Only Absorbent Pads
SAMYL
Well-Known Member
+1 for that but be sure to use the Bio version, it seems to work much better.
ex-Gladys
Well-Known Member
Absolutely +1. I use a bilge mat under the gearbox/ stern gland all the time on Gladys and change it about once every two months. The pads are about 30" square, and a half is ideal size. I only bail out half a paint kettle of water from the stern gland (stuffing box) at the same interval, and all the bits of grease etc are in the bilge mat with clean water in the paint kettle. I bought about 20 for less than a fiver from French Marine in Brightlingsea
SimonP85
Well-Known Member
+1. Similar issue last year and a few applications of the above certainly helped
Porthandbuoy
Well-Known Member
Here's what I did.
I used my Peli Pump to suck up the diesel floating on top of the water. I recovered about 6 litres of diesel, but I won't be re-using it.
Then, using a garden sprayer filled with washing-up liquid, I washed down everything that had been sprayed with diesel.
I then disconnected the cooling water hose at the engine and directed it down into the bilge, with lashings of Bilgex, to emulsify the diesel. Once the bilge was full I turned on the electric bilge pump. Interestingly this gained on what was coming in via the cooling water hose, albeit slowly (I have no idea what the pump is).
The fuel/oil absorbent sausage was soaked to capacity with diesel. I squeezed a couple of litres out of it and was impressed at the lack of water. I double bagged it for disposal.
All I have to do now is find someone who can make me up a new fuel pipe.
I used my Peli Pump to suck up the diesel floating on top of the water. I recovered about 6 litres of diesel, but I won't be re-using it.
Then, using a garden sprayer filled with washing-up liquid, I washed down everything that had been sprayed with diesel.
I then disconnected the cooling water hose at the engine and directed it down into the bilge, with lashings of Bilgex, to emulsify the diesel. Once the bilge was full I turned on the electric bilge pump. Interestingly this gained on what was coming in via the cooling water hose, albeit slowly (I have no idea what the pump is).
The fuel/oil absorbent sausage was soaked to capacity with diesel. I squeezed a couple of litres out of it and was impressed at the lack of water. I double bagged it for disposal.
All I have to do now is find someone who can make me up a new fuel pipe.
fisherman
Well-Known Member
A gallon or two? Phooey! Try 450 litres. (Don't ask)
Yngmar
Well-Known Member
+255
Forget nappies and incontinence pads, the oil/fuel absorbent pads are what you need (there are now also coolant ones). They selectively absorb oil and fuel only, and leave the water alone. Great for tossing in your engine bilge too and handy when refueling.
For wiping up the leftovers I'd use whatever engine degreaser spray I have left from when I tried those out. Any cheap one will dissolve a bit of fuel.
aquaplane
Well-Known Member
I had similar thoughts.
The thickener in Fairy washing up liquid is salt, it works in salt water.
I used the Fairy Bio Laundry bladders in my bilge, just to get rid of slime not diesel, and they worked a treat. I made them up in warm water and left them O'N to chomp away at the brown gunk then used the bilge pump to get rid. It took a couple of treatments but there was lots to work on. I did get the boat rocking to slosh the solution round the bilge.