Diesel additives

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Boatshed London

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Has anyone come across an additive that (a) eliminates water in the tank, (b) kills diesel bugs and (c) cleans and protects the system as it goes. I think I've heard of something called 'Formula X' - has anyone heard of this or anything similar? It's the water removing properties I'm particularly interested in.

Many thanks
 
There was a revire in PBO recently, I think all were ok, but Soltron had better water removing properties?? can someone check? it came out on top anyway.

Anyway, as long as you treat for a few fills and check your pre-filter water trap, you should be fine.
 
Fuel Set seemed to do the trick for us - we had loads of water in our diesel after buying the boat (it'd been left on the hard over winter with a quarter of a tank).

We drained off the tank completely but were still getting irregular engine running so we added Fuel Set and it's been fine ever since. There was a diesel additive test in PBO not long ago...
 
Marine 16 for diesel bug an dissolving sludge. There is no other way to remove water but a separator, aside opening and cleaning the tank.
 
catlotion said:
Fuel Set seemed to do the trick for us - we had loads of water in our diesel after buying the boat (it'd been left on the hard over winter with a quarter of a tank).

We drained off the tank completely but were still getting irregular engine running so we added Fuel Set and it's been fine ever since. There was a diesel additive test in PBO not long ago...
Click to expand...



+ 1 cleaned up a bad case of the bug as well.

engine burns cleaner and more efficiently as well
 
This was the summary from the PBO 534 2011 Edition, sorry about quality my colour scanner is not working: You need to scrutise the results carefully though, looking at the contamination before the test etc:

DieselTreatment.jpg
 
Another option is Racor filters with a clear plastic bowl at the bottom, they catch water which can be seen below the diesel. It can be easly drained by a screw in the bottom. We often got water in diesel straight from the pump so they are a good backup.

Does any body know how an additive can remove water, I'm intrigued?
 
I would be intrigued if any of the products claimed to `eliminate` water,it would be driving a coach and horses through the trades descriptions act,not to mention the laws of physics!
All they can possibly do is kill micro organisms (leaving the corpses in the tank) and possibly clean the pump and nozzles a bit.
For the (surreal) price of a few tiny bottles of concentrated bleachy detergent,people could cut a manhole in the tank! Jerry.
 
Could it possibly be because you're not Star Brite....? ;-) If you look at the link it shows a couple of images, mind you it must emulsify the water dispersing the boundary or something, I am not a chemist so leave this to others. Not used it myself, but it is from a well known Brand.
 
Water dispersant products which work by finely dividing the water droplets into minute particles are not recommended for yachts - according to BP.

Apparently the resultant water droplets provide such a huge surface area that it provides ideal conditions of the diesel bug to grow.

So these are not suitable for yachts as their rotation of fuel is so very slow. They are designed for high volume usage ie Tractors etc.

Keep therefore to the ones that just eat the bug.

You need to make sure you keep water out, or manage to drain the tank regularly of water through a sump. Leaving water in a tank to be dealt with by your Racor filter is just giving the right conditions in your tank for the bug growth. Another side effect of water in a tank is rust.......and subsequent leaks....

So keep your tank clean.
 
If you fill up at a premier marina, they have their fuel pre dosed with soltron, I cant comment on how effective it is because i steam cleaned my fuel tanks last year but haven't had any problems since doing that
 
Not sure if I would rely on fuel treatment by any supplier, I would still dose to be sure. Albeit I might reduce the dose if I knew how they operated. I reckon whatever you use they all seem to receive some good reviews, you pays your money and takes you chance.....

However, as others have said, there is no substitute for good maintenance, draining water from wherever you can, keeping tanks full and dosed with whatever takes your fancy and all should go well. It would be interesting to know if any forumites following a sensible maintenance regime including treatment ever had a major problem with the fuel bug?

Water absorbers? The jury is out as far as I am concerned. Understand the logic it might increase the overall surface area due to number of droplets but I think the objective might be to do this so as to keep it in suspension and therefore carried through and burned, leaving the second fuel bug treatment to deal with contamination (now increased marginally perhaps) issues. Not sure how efficient they are or how well they work, clearly Star Brite have seen fit to market a product for the leisure/small yacht market, perhaps another test for PBO?
 
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