Diesel sludge treatment Technol 246

[123QUWERTY]

Technol 246? Anyone had any experience with this fuel treatment available in the USA. I've a stainless steel fuel tank which may have some old sludge. I don't want to go to hastle of flushing out and I've never had any problems in 30 years but this might be the time to check. I've just fitted a new Vetus engine so want to ensure it receives clean fuel .
Also where in the UK can I purchase and lastly is there any other UK available anti sludge/ fuel bug treatment you could recommend?

 

[fisherman]

You can't remove sludge without a good shake up or physical removal. It just sits there until it reaches the outlet then a little comes through all the time to your filter. I made a large sediment trap, capacity about 5lts. result, after 12 years and many thousand litres of fuel,, 4.9lts of sludge. It doesn't come out with just opening the drain cock. When I had a small glass sediment trap I had it on flexi pipes and would unclip it to give it a good shake, to drain the muck.
Fuel Set is my additive of choice.

 

[fisherman]

As a matter of interest we thought we had the sediment trap nailed. It was a S/S house, with pitched roof, internal floor and two chimneys. The fuel came in one end on the ground floor, the drain tap the other end, Fuel went through two small corners nipped from the floor to the upstairs, out the opposite end to the engine, the chimneys were for bleeding. Waste of time really, just like a credit card, delayed the inevitable. My mate had the boat and when he removed the trap it was full of muck.
The answer may be to have a very large drain off, say 1in diameter, you could have a prod round inside. They always fit them about 10mm.

 

[B27]

There seems to be multiple types of 'crud' which can occur in diesel tanks.
I had a poke around the bottom of mine with a Pela oil extractor, found a little water and small amount of free-moving black slime (in the water), when I bought the boat.
I could see the inside was not too bad by removing the gauge sender.
Since then I've changed the CAV filter a couple of times, it's staying pretty clean.


This winter I intend to fully clean the tank and change some fittings. Until then, any hard sludge which is stuck to the tank is better staying there than being 'removed' into the fuel and hence the filters.

 

[Tranona]

Technol 246? Anyone had any experience with this fuel treatment available in the USA. I've a stainless steel fuel tank which may have some old sludge. I don't want to go to hastle of flushing out and I've never had any problems in 30 years but this might be the time to check. I've just fitted a new Vetus engine so want to ensure it receives clean fuel .
Also where in the UK can I purchase and lastly is there any other UK available anti sludge/ fuel bug treatment you could recommend?

Probably snake oil. Interesting that if you google it there are no references since 2015 and no indication even in the US of it actually being available. Starbrite used to offer a similar product but does not seem to be available now. suspect the problem with such treatments is that the sludge has to go somewhere after it has broken up and the only place is through the filters into the engine - or more likely just blocking the filters.

There really is no substitute for physically removing the sludge then treating the fuel with something that stops the sludge from building up such as Marine 16. This is exactly what we did when fitting a new engine. Used an extractor pump through the fillers of both tanks which got out about 3l of water and loose sludge then dosed with Marine 16.

 

[sailingmartin]

I don't want to go to hastle of flushing out and I've never had any problems in 30 years but this might be the time to check. I've just fitted a new Vetus engine so want to ensure it receives clean fuel .
Also where in the UK can I purchase and lastly is there any other UK available anti sludge/ fuel bug treatment you could recommend?

It could be a false economy not to have the tank properly cleaned. My tank (like yours around 30 years old) got shaken up in some rough weather and the gunk at the bottom of the tank was so thick it didn’t have a chance to get to the fuel filters. After two attempts at cleaning it was finally solved by having an inspection hole fitted and it cleaned properly. Well worth the money if you are somewhere you can get it done. See before and after pictures.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

An associate added products as a caution and ended up with a lot of sludge blocking filters. Ended up draining and cleaning tank.

I had my tanks professionally cleaned, built in, larger, and the sludge that came out was significant.

I agree with others, you should clean if you think there is sludge. Honestly, it is worth it.

 

[123QUWERTY]

Thanks for all your replies. My tank is the original and designed for a less thirsty engine so I'm thinking of replacing the tank with a larger capacity.

 

[123QUWERTY]

Thank you all for taking the time to reply. Lots of useful advice!

 

[Refueler]

Serious solvent is needed to remove sludge of non bio ...... enzyme based for bio.

Some Solvents can do terrible things to various in system - so not advised.

Lesser solvents can cause sludge to be lifted and carried - blocking filters and eventually the pumps ....

Better to Pela out ..... than use some fancy potion ...

 

[123QUWERTY]

Yeh. Not sure what pela out means. Spoke to my engineering friend and he says if you've never had a problem with blocked filters then leave well alone. I've never had any sign of water or sludge in my two filters so plan to carry on as before.

 

[burgundyben]

It could be a false economy not to have the tank properly cleaned. My tank (like yours around 30 years old) got shaken up in some rough weather and the gunk at the bottom of the tank was so thick it didn’t have a chance to get to the fuel filters. After two attempts at cleaning it was finally solved by having an inspection hole fitted and it cleaned properly. Well worth the money if you are somewhere you can get it done. See before and after pictures.

This is the only correct answer.

Bottles of snake oil and polishing systems are a waste of time and money.

 

[Refueler]

"Pela' out ?

Pela is a vacuum system to drain oil out of engines by a pipe down the dipstick tube. Many - like me - add another tube that is then used to drain bilges / sludge from tanks etc.

Pela Products | The new way to change oil

 

[harvey38]

This is the only correct answer.

Bottles of snake oil and polishing systems are a waste of time and money.

I agree with snake oil but why is fuel polishing a waste of money?

If it is known there is crud in the tank and the tank being drained of fuel to clean the tank, surely fine filtering the fuel is a sensible move otherwise the detritus in the fuel will settle over time when back in the tank and to a lesser degree, back to square one with less money in the the wallet?

 

[ChromeDome]

A read for you is attached: PBO additive test, 2011

Deleted - no longer relevant

 

[Refueler]

A read for you is attached: PBO additive test, 2011

Oh not this old hat again ....

Time that article was confined to an old archive ... its actually a lot older than the reprinted 2011 date .....

World has moved on since then.

Plus its not actually dealing with the OP's situation.

 

[ChromeDome]

Oh not this old hat again ....

Time that article was confined to an old archive ... its actually a lot older than the reprinted 2011 date .....

World has moved on since then.

Plus its not actually dealing with the OP's situation.

Please share any more recent you may have.

 

[rotrax]

I agree with snake oil but why is fuel polishing a waste of money?

If it is known there is crud in the tank and the tank being drained of fuel to clean the tank, surely fine filtering the fuel is a sensible move otherwise the detritus in the fuel will settle over time when back in the tank and to a lesser degree, back to square one with less money in the the wallet?

Fuel polishing will be unlikely to remove heavy sludge deposited on the bottom of a fuel tank, or in its corners. Serious suction would be required, plus getting the probe to the sludge. The two pro polishers I have seen in action, apart from their huge filters/sediment traps were little better than my home made job. Getting a probe into the corners of my 900 litre "H" shaped tank would be impossible. The only access is through the central fuel gauge fitting, a 32mm threaded hole. Marine 16 and getting my annual fill from a supplier of known top quality fuel with a high volume turnover works for me.

 

[ChromeDome]

One important aspect of selecting a product, not known at the time of writing early test reports, admittedly is

The sale of diesel additives containing formaldehyde-separated MBO to private consumers is no longer permitted as of 01.12.2018, by the authorities within the EU. The reason for this is that this component of the fuel additive is classified as carcinogenic.

Sorry for not realizing this before sharing an obsolete test report.

 

[reallycoliholic]

Perceived wisdom a decade ago was to use Soltron, it seemed to cure everything including sludge and MMGW, well it must have done 'cos we didn't have it then, Not sure if it's still sold or on the banned list. Poster hereabouts, Dom in Channel Islands was their UK agent but not sure if he still is. What is Soltron®?