Cleaning a fuel tank

[dave_gibsea]

I have taken my stainelss fuel tank (for diesel) out of the boat to rise it out. There is a film of red(ish) sticky stuff covering the tank inside. It's difficult to get in there to clean as I only have access via the filler. Can anyone suggest a good cleaning method? - I'm thinking of a mild caustic wash followed by fresh water then petrol. Perhaps it's OK to leave as is? - Any thoughts???

 

[DepSol]

Stick the tank back in and dose your fuel with Soltron everytime you top up. Will ensure tank stays very clean without scrubbing and removing tank again.

See thread below on bug.

Dom

 

[vyv_cox]

Best of all is a HP steam wash at your local garage.

Failing that, soapy water followed by bleach solution to kill the bugs, then water wash and dry, rinse out with fuel. Use plenty of water to make sure all chlorides are removed.

In use, keep the water out and the bugs don't grow. See the note in the thread below regarding additives - not recommended for low throughput fuel systems.

 

[DepSol]

So why is Soltron not ok for low thruput systems?

Discuss!

 

[Chris_Robb]

Re: Soltran

I don't know what soltran is however, if it gets rid of the water as well as the bugs, then the getting rid of the water bit is the problem on low volume users.

To get rid of the water, the water is emulsified in the fuel, thus making it very finely devided and therefore giving it a vastly increase interface area. This would be ok if you were going to burn the whole tank in the next week. However in most yachts, the fuel will sit there months, and what you have now created is a superb culture medium for the bug.

Some years back SHELL issued a warning on its product.

In my mind, these additives are no substitute for attacking the problem at source - drain the water and sludge off regularly.

Unfortunateley most yacht builders make no provision for doing this.

 

[DepSol]

Re: Soltran

Chris

SoltrOn is a fuel enzyme. Let me help you by giving you a related example ie saliva. Saliva is an enzyme which starts breaking down your food before it reaches your stomach. SoltrOn breaks down bugs and impurities in the fuel. As long as you have Soltron in your fuel the bugs cant live it eats them.

Secondly you can have water in your fuel and have a perfect area for bugs to grow but they do need an activator, for example heat in order to start the multiplication phase.

Soltron will also break down the sludge and prevent growth, it will also continue to multiply up to 80 deg C so is very durable.

As you say 'Unfortunateley most yacht builders make no provision for doing this.' and most yachties dont do it either. Some are totally unaware of the bug at all. This makes it dificult for it to be done therefore by adding Soltron each time you prevent yourself from having the bug and sludge and water will pass throught and be retained in the water seperator (thats what it is there for) when the engine is running whilst under way.

I 100% guarantee it'll kill all the bugs and breaks down the sludge. Much easier to add 10ml of liquid (in this case Soltron) to your fuel than messing about trying to drain tanks that aren't pu in an easy accessable area for you to do so.

What do you think?

 

[Eudorajab]

Re: Soltran

Sounds good .. where do you get it ??

 

[DepSol]

Re: Soltran

retail outlets throughout the country, where do you live?

Dom

 

[Chris_Robb]

Re: Soltran

Looks good stuff, obviously is not the emulsifier I was refering to, and very useful.

I personally have stopped using any aditive, as I now seem to have got the tanks so clean, they are easy to keep that way.

Yes -most boat owners will only ever take precautions once it has already happened to them! some don't even learn then.

 

[Trevor_swfyc]

Rust & Gum

Diesel unfortunatly gets contaminated on its travels from the refinery to you the customer. The diesel (gas oil) fraction from the distillation unit is absolutly dry but may contain some very very small quantities of gum carry over material.
Many additives are added to enhance the performance of the diesel, such as anti scuff additives, anti foam additives, pour point depressants ++ on storage in a cold tank some separation occurs and any fine particulate material including rust will adhere to your stainless tank.
I would wash out the tank with a high pressure hose, drain off all water, then try petrol do not seal completly agitate tank to contact as much of the internal surfaces as possible, then leave overnight to allow petrol to dissolve the gum. Note toluene would probably work better but petrol is about 20% toluene and should do the job. Discard the petrol wash out again with water, discard water, fully drain and then dry tank with acetone if you can get hold of it, discard acetone, finally flush with a small quantity of diesel to remove all traces of acetone.
To avoid future contamination buy your diesel from a supplier with a good turnover avoid diesel that has been in a marina tank all winter accumalating sludge and getting damp or even wet. Filter the diesel into your tank via a funnel with a cloth filter to remove any fine and not so fine solids, you will be surprised at what you have been putting into your tank.
Finally remember to take all reasonable care when using inflammable liquids.
All the best
Trevor

 

[mtb]

It sounds straight forwards
I would depending on the actual amount of crap use gun cleaning thinners .
Put it in say half a gallon seal the tank and you and a friend need to give the tank plenty of movement .Then empty then do again empty allow the tank to vent away from any risk of ignition even your car !! it wont take long to dry .
Pour the used contents back in your can and save for more degreasing .
I use thinners to completely degrease and partially clean the carburetters before actually bead blasting them . This is far cheaper than most of the chemicals which would do the job . Tricoethylene was the best degreaser but got banned years ago.
Mick



http://homepage.ntlworld.com/boats
I want a big steel ex trawler / tug v/cheep or swap for tug

 

[burgundyben]

Bloody hell depsol - u do get about

I'm with depsol on this one, I just double dosed my tanks and the one that showed the bug now seems to be clear although I have not run the engine yet as 225hp in the boat yard is not so good...

Wud advise anyone planing on washing out a diesel tank with petrol/thinners/gin/vodka/whisky/whiskey/brandy...ooops sorry drifted off there for a bit....be very careful, small traces of highly combustible stuff like this can do allsorts of damage to a deisel...read my other thread reply about cleaning an airfilter and wrecking an engine....................