Diesel additives

[alanporter]

I have been advised by the mate on a tugboat not to put water dispersant additives in diesel fuel. He says this spreads the water throughout the fuel which then passes into the engine. When the engine is stopped the water then lies in the injector pumps and injectors, hence causing damage to these parts. He said to let the water settle in the water-separator filter bowl, and to drain this regularly. He does advise using a biocide additive. Does anyone have qualified opinion about this ? Thanks.

Alan Porter

 

[rich]

Are you trying to upset Depsol,,,,,,,,,,

rich )

 

[DepSol]

Hey Soltron is no muck spreader I mean water spreader.

One ting I will say is do not compare it to biocide as it works in a totally different way. It is an enzyme and digests the rubbish so it can pass thru the filters and be burnt away. You cannot compare it like for like with the other additives on the market as it one of a kind.

Dom

I am boating again ;-)

 

[alanporter]

Dom, Thank you for your response. Could you tell me more about the product DepSol ? I have never heard of it but, as I live on Vancouver Island, on the Pacific Coast of Canada, it is probably not available here.

Alan Porter

 

[Chris_Robb]

Shell issued a warning to leisuer boaters a few years back about water dipersal additives. These cause the water to be finely devided throughout the diesel. As the bugs grow on the water to deisel interface, by using this stuf you have just increased the surface areas by millions of times. These products were designed for high consumption plant operations.

I believe Deepsol's product does not do this - perhaps depsol you could explain.

Perhaps the best solution is to make sure you have no water in the tank on which to grow the bug, the trouble is most yacht designers have forgotten about this, and it is difficult to get at the bottom of the tank.

 

[DepSol]

Here we go again. Soltron is an enzyme which feeds/eats impurities in the fuel bugs/sludge etc and when this stuff gets sucked into your filters it disintegrates and passes thru thus getting burnt away and removed from your system.

Dom

I am boating again ;-)

 

[Guest]

Water in fuel

ALWAYS better to let it drop out ....

I run Petrochem labs etc., deal in additives for oil Co's etc. and I agree with your pal on the tugboat - he is correct about the dispersant, but I'm not an engineer and cannot comment on the engine side.

We would normally use an additive to increase the separation of the water, not to spread it through the fuel !!!! Are you sure he hasn't confused the method that the water is 'dispersed' ? If you added separator and didn't leave long enough then I might expect the effect you describe, but if its a separator additive then it needs time to settle ----- 24 hrs or more.

 

[Celena]

Re: Water in fuel

Agreed, used a dispersant once, whole contents of tank went murky white (an emulsion). had to strip down fuel system. Now refuse to use additives (have sump in tank with drain off valve instead)

 

[duncan]

Re: Water in fuel

Bilgex as a diesel additive...now thats a new one

 

[Trevor_swfyc]

Chris, you are right if you have water in your diesel do not disperse it in the diesel, I would drain all the wet diesel off and get more "water free" diesel. If water is getting in then fix the water ingress problem.
I think if I remember the lab fiqures correctly the water content of diesel should be less than 200 ppm when it leaves the refinery. When it is distilled it is water free but soon picks up moisture in the atmosphere.
If you purchase diesel that has visible water then reject it as unfit for purpose, but be sure the can / container you put it in is clean and dry.
You can be sure of SHELL.
All the best.
Trevor

 

[andy_wilson]

Netwok marketing

Agents no doubt wanted in all areas!

 

[Guest]

Emulsifiers and de-emulsifiers

There are two additives commercially available that I deal with and both I would never recc'd to retail market .... problem is that there are co's that do retail such products and then we get problems as described here. No-one can protect the innocent from error .... thats the upshot.

Most of these additives were designed for huge tank farms and not for 'dinky-do' yacht tanks !! Sorry but lets be honest !!

Now both require time to act and both have completely opposite functions.

Should you add an emulsifier to your diesel .... any water present will over time disperse as seen. Now for a fuel burning system as in a heater etc. - no problem as its burnt at the nozzle. BUT in the case of an engine, a different beast all together.

De-emuslifier is what you should be looking at, but again I will not recc'd it to you as it needs time to act ..... needs careful use in such small quantities .... we are talking about parts per million !! not litres !! and then requires siphoning off with extreme care.

How can such additives be used in a marine tank when even in a marina the boat is subject to movement !!

Save your money .... fit a water / oil separator in the fuel line and drain off your tank regularly.

ME ? I haven't drained off my tank in 4 years, I use no additives at all, haven't checked the filters for 4 years ..... engine still fires up, still plugs along, still gives all when called on ..... now I'm touching all wood that I can find ....

The only time my engine stops / refuses to go - is when I do soemthing daft to it !!

 

[Guest]

Example 0.2% Gasoil ... similar to Red

These are only typicals and cannot be used as absolute specs for each product batch. But give an overall apreciatuion of the compexity of what is to the lay-man a simple fuel product.

Note that many of the parameters and results quoted here - actually from a recent transhipment of a large qty of Gas oil for european market ... can be manipulated by additives and further processing.

This gasoil is standard straight run o.2% Sulphur as used in Industrial / farm and low power machinery. It also can be base for Red Diesel ....

TEST / UNITS / RESULT
Density at 15C / kg/m3 / 841.4
Kinematic Visc 20C / sst / 4.6
Carbon / % / 0.029
Ash / % / 0.003
Sulphur / % / 0.15
Water soluble acids / mg/litre / nil
Sediments / % / nil
Water / % / 0.005
Flash pt / C / 72
Pour pt / C / -12
Cloud pt / C / -5
Cetane number / xx / 47
Acid number / mgKOH/100ml / 0.51
Mercaptan sulphur /% / 0.01
Copper strip / xx / pass
Distillation, 250 C / % = 38, 350 C / % = 95
Colour NPA / 0.5
Existent gum / mg/100ml / 20.0
H2S / nil
Iodine number / 1.8
Filter factor / 2.0