Diesel puzzle - enzyme additive?

[syfuga]

Has anyone any experience of using an Enzyme additive to diesel fuel?

We bought some expensive stuff in Sardinia - Starbrite Startron, and have used it rather sporadically since.

Decommissioning the engine ready for a UK winter, I noticed that we had a lot of gunge in the bottom of our primary filter bowl, at least some of which was water. But there was no nice clear boundary between clear clean diesel and the mucky stuff, when I drained that off. Instead, the remaining diesel resembled a sort of pink ginger beer.

Now we last filled in Guernsey with red diesel. We also filled a can at the same time which is pink but clear, as you would hope. Two weeks ago we had a bouncy passage between Chichester and Portsmouth, which would have stirred things up a bit.

My understanding of the enzyme additive is that it makes water in some way miscible with the diesel, such that it passes through flilters and iinjectors and gets burnt off by the engine.

I am guessing that my cloudy pink ginger beer is diesel/water emulsion? The engine hasn't complained at all.

We've pumped off some 15 litres from the bottom of the tank, only a litre or so being severely contaminated. It isn't getting any clearer.

The problem is that I now have a tank almost full of the pink ginger beer, and I don't know whether to add back what I have taken out, or somehow get someone to take it all away.

I'm filtering the stuff I've taken out, and it passes through the filter unchanged.

Has anyone else used the enzyme stuff, and if so, have you noticed a change in the appearance of the fuel?

Has anyone got any suggestions?

John

 

[billskip]

There used to be a guy of this parish that was something to do with chemical additives to diesel

I forget his name but if you do a search of the very old threads you may find him.
I think he was from Guernsey,

 

[bitbaltic]

My understanding is that the enzyme treatments attack the diesel bug and/or sludge produced by it (which may be the same thing). I don't know how enzymes would improve fuel miscibility with water, other than eliminating sludgy stuff at the fuel/water interface, although I'll happily be corrected. I treat my tank and Jerry can with the appropriate amount of soltron each time I fill them, no problems so far so in truth no idea if it works or not. The prescribed dilution is very small though, and I've always thought these additives are prevention not cure. If the sludge you have is diesel bug (no idea whether it is) it probably means some more radical treatment.

 

[Portofino]

I use it with 2 x 9 y old VP KAMD 300 in a fast planning boat , they are EDC which means " electronic diesel control " Done 500+ trouble free hours in the 7 y I have had it.
It has been maintained by a VP agent following the schedule reccomended.
Aluminium tank so I guess in the winter condensation may be an issue ,also we " tour " arround a lot so fill up all over SoF Italy ,and Corsica - hence risk picking up fuel allready contaminated ? with the bug, miles away from home port with a plan to catch tomorrow
So far so good..
Looking at your website your boats cica 1995 I presume will not have EDC ,meaning a simpler set up without the electro quackery ( to shut it down and through up error codes) , should as you infer burn off anything including chip oil ? .
Startron I think also lubricates the injectors .
I have drained off the filters now and again and found nothing .
In terms of £ in relation to total cost of boating it's peanuts using this stuff.
Their is a separate thread running - re D12 Volvo injector failure on a low hours motor , dodgy fuel currently is the prime suspect , but not confirmed yet.

 

[VicS]

There used to be a guy of this parish that was something to do with chemical additives to diesel

I forget his name but if you do a search of the very old threads you may find him.
I think he was from Guernsey,

It was DepSol. He was an agent for Soltron.. but there was a lot of wrangling with Star brite over Soltron and Startron.

He is no longer involved. Possibly no longer even has boat of his own and has not been active on these forums for several years

 

[Topcat47]

I use starbright and a biocide. I don't get pink foam. I do occasionally get water in the separator though. Is there more than one version of Starbright?

 

[Roberto]

Has anyone any experience of using an Enzyme additive to diesel fuel?

fwiw

I have used Startron during the past 7 years. I have a tank with a big inspection hatch I open twice a year to check what is inside the tank.
During the past three years we have sailed in several different countries buying fuel from all type of sources.
At every bi-yearly tank check, I had to collect a small cupful of residue from the tank all-around surfaces; I religiously change the fuel filter every 100 hours and most filters were basically clean.

I have no idea about the influence of the additive in all this, but it is a situation that suits me very, very well, so I keep on using Startron and opening the inspection tank twice a year.

 

[VicS]

I use starbright and a biocide. I don't get pink foam. I do occasionally get water in the separator though. Is there more than one version of Starbright?

Starbrite is a UK company which markets a range of cleaning and janitorial products and equipment


Star brite is an American company (parent company Ocean-Bio Chem) supplying a wide range of products to the automotive, RV and marine industries.
Thre are several products from Star brite which carry the Star Tron brand name including additives for diesel, additives for gasoline and a tank cleaner.

Star brite also market fuel stabilizers with the Ez-Store brand name

 

[Keith-i]

Grotomar is reported to be one of the better additives and can be used double strength to clear an existing bug problem. Might be worth a try.

What type of filter do you have? Plain paper or centrifugal/paper such as Separ or Racor? A centrifugal type should throw out any sediment.

 

[rotrax]

During the delivery trip on our new(to us) pride and joy we encountered an unforecast F8 on the nose in the narrow bit of the Bristol Channel. Due to this the tank got a right old shake up. While safely achored in Ilfracombe's outer harbour I did the engine checks and found the Racor full of Srawberry Milk Shake, not Cherryade. This was eventually pumped out of the tank-all 200 litres of it-and diposed of by the company who pumped it out. The owner said there was a chance that it might separate out over two or three months if left in the 205 litre drum, but it may not. He had much experience of contaminated fuel as labourers on the sites where his plant was hired would often piss in the tanks! Due to the construction and siting of the tanks it was not possible to do more than go around the bottom of the tank with a pick-up tube through the fuel level sender hole-about 27mm. In the three seasons since then, despite using Soltron we have had a litte bit of bug and I have often found a bit of water in the Racor bowl, along with gungy black sludge. I am very aware of any drop in RPM, but so far all has been well. Yesterday I used for the first time my home made fuel polishing kit. It is a board with a twin Simms-same as CAV-filter and two JCB large filters with clear bowls. The pump is a Rule in line which is dropped into the bottom of the tank through the sender unit hole. Left it on most of the day, and when I drain the four bowls down and catch their contents I will know if I got anything out. During my conversations with the Pro. diesel man it was clear that emulsified diesel can damage the injectors as the water in it causes corrosion. Hope this helps.

 

[syfuga]

Strawberry Milk Shake

That is a good description, better than my pink ginger beer. However, its a bit more translucent than the milk shake would suggest. Certainly not the desirable cherryade.

We cleaned our tanks at the beginning of last season, that is to say we pumped off the bottom excrement until we got to nice clean diesel. To be honest, we did not get a lot of filth out yesterday, just the milk shake/ginger beer.

I'm thinking I will let it fester now (the engine is decommissioned), and see what it looks like in April then decide. A bit concerned about potential risk to injectors.

Any more ideas, though would be welcome.

John

 

[pvb]

Since having the joy of dealing with diesel bug contamination some years ago, I've religiously dosed with Soltron/Startron at every fill. However, I recently found some evidence of bug again, so I've added a major dose of Marine 16. Some people say that it's a good idea to switch to different bug treatments every year or so.

 

[syfuga]

Another sample

I've looked again this morning at a sample drawn off the tank on Sunday. My perception is that it is beginning to clear a bit - not yet Cherryade, but more a raspberry coulis.

 

[rotrax]

I've looked again this morning at a sample drawn off the tank on Sunday. My perception is that it is beginning to clear a bit - not yet Cherryade, but more a raspberry coulis.

Has your tank only been filled with red? If any white has been added at any time, it will of course not be as "cherryadey" as you might like. Many years ago I had the job of getting a large quantity of water from a diesel motor caravan tank. No drain plug, so one of those syphons with the little orange pump was used to get out as much as possible. When the tank was as empty as I could get it three gallons or so of Methanol was added-I kept a 45 gal. drum for use as racing fuel-which was then syphoned out. As Methanol is hygroscopic it disolved in the water. This mixture was then syphoned out. This was done twice more and the tank then filled with diesel. After bleeding the fresh fuel through it started and ran fine for a couple of years untill my customer sold it. The water trap was checked frequently and no more than a drop was ever found.

 

[SimbaDog]

I had a small problem & used this did exactly what it said on the bottle

 

[syfuga]

Very helpful link

Thank you Simbadog to the very helpful link to the Marine 16 web site. The PBO article on diesel bug treatments is reproduced there, and well worth reading.

I will go out and buy some GrotaMar 71 oe Marine 16 treatment. Any offers for half a bottle of Soltron?

 

[Quandary]

Thank you Simbadog to the very helpful link to the Marine 16 web site. The PBO article on diesel bug treatments is reproduced there, and well worth reading.

I will go out and buy some GrotaMar 71 oe Marine 16 treatment. Any offers for half a bottle of Soltron?

I will take it, I have used Soltron and more recently Startron, which is easier to find these days ever since Dr. Blair of the Mech. Eng. Dept. at QUB (remember RaY McCulloch winning on his racing motorbikes?) published a very convincing report on it back in the nineties.
Before enzyme treatment was discovered I used to use biocides and clean the dead gunge out of the tank every couple of years.

 

[boatmike]

Thank you Simbadog to the very helpful link to the Marine 16 web site. The PBO article on diesel bug treatments is reproduced there, and well worth reading.

I will go out and buy some GrotaMar 71 oe Marine 16 treatment. Any offers for half a bottle of Soltron?

I know very little about these additives frankly. I don't think most of us do. For that you need a chemist. I have however worked in the filtration industry and can talk with some authority on that.

What strikes me is that lots of enzyme based products have come on the market that appear to break down the biological sludge into something that will pass filters. Frankly I would rather see effective filtration that removes the sludge and traps water rather than passing it through the fuel pump and injectors to be burnt by the engine. These very expensive and delicate components are designed to work with diesel oil and nothing else. One poster has suggested that these things actually lubricate injectors. I think that is wishful thinking.

Instead of adding yet more gunge, I would, as you suggest, let the tank settle during your winter layup. In the spring carefully draw off the fuel from the top by siphon if you can. (Sometimes this can be done easily by passing a pipe up a skin fitting with the boat out of the water) When the flow starts to look contaminated, stop and dispose of the residue and clean out the tank. Return the good fuel and fit a 15 micron (nominal) Racor centrufugal filter with water trap to your supply line. Try then to use as much of this fuel as you can before refilling and diluting it.

When you have done, by all means add one of the many preventive treatments that will effectively prohibit new biological contamination but in my opinion avoid the ensyme treatments entirely if you can.

 

[Quandary]

I can't disagree with BoatMike, it would me better if all fuel was perfectly pure and acids or enzymes did not need to be added.
But Starbrite is a reputable company with generally useful products, Soltron was on the market for a long time, mainly used in industry, before they took it up to sell it in the niche leisure marine market where there are similar long term fuel storage issues and I am enough of an optimist to believe that if there were detrimental effects they would have shown up in the last twenty years.

 

[rotrax]

I will take it, I have used Soltron and more recently Startron, which is easier to find these days ever since Dr. Blair of the Mech. Eng. Dept. at QUB (remember RaY McCulloch winning on his racing motorbikes?) published a very convincing report on it back in the nineties.
Before enzyme treatment was discovered I used to use biocides and clean the dead gunge out of the tank every couple of years.

I am not in the position to say that I raced with Raymond McCulloch-all I ever saw of him, Joey D and the other fast lads was their rear tyres and their bums!-but I was in a lot of the same races as him. He was REALLY quick. I met Prof. Blair once at the Uni in Raymonds workshop-he was a technichian there. Prof. Blair knew his stuff and was a nice bloke.