Diesel - with biofuel or not?

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rolf.nielsen

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With motor boats in Denmark I'm used to getting diesel without biofuel. The general wisdom in Denmark is that "pure" diesel is safer for fuel that sits for extended periods of time in tanks in the boat. It is also occassionally used as justification for the non-biofuel diesel being a bit more expensive than the regular stuff you put in your car in gas stations which in Denmark typically contains 8-10% biofuel.

I have now moved my boat to the Netherlands and am preparing to fuel about 5.000l (it's a big boat). Here I'm told that the diesel supplied is regular gas station diesel that includes 8-10% biofuel. No-one here seems to worry about the potential effects of stale biofuel diesel.

Before I go ahead and get so much bio-fuel diesel I thought I'd ask for wisdom in this forum - should I worry about the biofuel component and search harder for a supplier of "pure" diesel?

Biofuel component or not, I'll use appropriate additives.
 
My understanding is that biofuel is hygroscopic, which is why it is more able to cultivate the diesel bug. Biofuel petrol definitely attacks the plastic of fuel pipes and gaskets in chainsaws, and I avoid it liek the plague.

I'd go for pure diesel, and still use the recommended bug treatments, unless you can persuade your supplier to add it in as part of the deal.
 
rolf.nielsen said:
With motor boats in Denmark I'm used to getting diesel without biofuel. The general wisdom in Denmark is that "pure" diesel is safer for fuel that sits for extended periods of time in tanks in the boat. It is also occassionally used as justification for the non-biofuel diesel being a bit more expensive than the regular stuff you put in your car in gas stations which in Denmark typically contains 8-10% biofuel.

I have now moved my boat to the Netherlands and am preparing to fuel about 5.000l (it's a big boat). Here I'm told that the diesel supplied is regular gas station diesel that includes 8-10% biofuel. No-one here seems to worry about the potential effects of stale biofuel diesel.

Before I go ahead and get so much bio-fuel diesel I thought I'd ask for wisdom in this forum - should I worry about the biofuel component and search harder for a supplier of "pure" diesel?

Biofuel component or not, I'll use appropriate additives.
Click to expand...

It might be worth saying how long you expect 5,000 litres to last. I have been using road diesel in France, Spain, Italy and Greece for about 7 years now. I never used to see any black stuff in the tank. However, it has steadily become worse every year. A tank lasts 2-3 months in summer and about 8 months over winter. I add Marine16 2-3 times each year with a high dose pre-layup.

I used to find a teaspoon of black material in the sump twice each year and this has grown to approx. 100mls with 2 litres cloudy fuel. A lot of this may well be due to warmer temperatures than UK. I think that 6-8 months is about the limit for me and I'm going to switch to leaving the tank almost empty over winter.

PS
Nice and wet here in Copengagen, a lot of drizzle over last few days. I hope Holland turns out to be drier. It will certainly be cheaper, my wife paid 15DKK today for a small glass of tap water. :D:D
 
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After my own problems with asphaltine deposits in our tank ( road diesel in Spain ) I spent some time reading the various papers and opinions.
I am still no expert but would try to get pure diesel or at least ensure the road diesel was used quickly.
 
I guess it all depends on the time it takes you to turn over a tank. I like to run my tank as empty as I dare although obviously not best practise at sea! Using the diesel heater on a nearly empty tank over winter does a nice job of this, with new diesel in the spring.

Certas delivered me a certified FAME free product which has no biofuel, it was no more expensive than regular diesel and I then added some fuel bug treatment as a shock dosage whilst it was pumped in.
 
5000l will take me a year or two, I could of course go for less but it's a bit of a hazzle fueling so the fewer times the better. In my research I have been referred to "GTL" fuel: http://www.gtlfuel.nl/watisgtl/. It's supposedly a cleaner and better version of diesel and it does not contain biofuel. I'm just not very keen on experimenting on something as essential as fuel. I gather from these posts that I should stick to non-biofuel diesel, so now I just have to find a supplier here in Rotterdam...
 
Mistroma said:
It might be worth saying how long you expect 5,000 litres to last. I have been using road diesel in France, Spain, Italy and Greece for about 7 years now. I never used to see any black stuff in the tank. However, it has steadily become worse every year. A tank lasts 2-3 months in summer and about 8 months over winter. I add Marine16 2-3 times each year with a high dose pre-layup.

I used to find a teaspoon of black material in the sump twice each year and this has grown to approx. 100mls with 2 litres cloudy fuel. A lot of this may well be due to warmer temperatures than UK. I think that 6-8 months is about the limit for me and I'm going to switch to leaving the tank almost empty over winter.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that with the increase in biodiesel percentage, the shelf life of diesel is much reduced. One article has an explanation here http://www.mycleandiesel.com/pages/FuelDegradation.aspx

I used to keep the tank topped up to full over the winter but having had diesel bug and gunk, I had the tanks emptied and cleaned. For the past 3 winters I run the tank as low as I dare at the end of the season. In the spring, I suck some fuel from the bottom of the tank to see if there is any water or cloudiness (squeezy bulb and tubing). There has not been. Then I fuel up with nice fresh fuel and tend not to fill to the brim, so I refuel a few more times during the summer. My yacht lives in the med where the winters are cool and condensation is a theoretical problem
Oh yes. I also use Marine 16 every time I fuel up.

TudorSailor
 
When we chartered a small motorboat in the Netherlands last year, the charter company used GTL (Gas-To-Liquid) - they reckoned it was better than road diesel. They had their own tank installed, so definitely a conscious business decision.
 
tudorsailor said:
My understanding is that with the increase in biodiesel percentage, the shelf life of diesel is much reduced. One article has an explanation here http://www.mycleandiesel.com/pages/FuelDegradation.aspx

I used to keep the tank topped up to full over the winter but having had diesel bug and gunk, I had the tanks emptied and cleaned. For the past 3 winters I run the tank as low as I dare at the end of the season. In the spring, I suck some fuel from the bottom of the tank to see if there is any water or cloudiness (squeezy bulb and tubing). There has not been. Then I fuel up with nice fresh fuel and tend not to fill to the brim, so I refuel a few more times during the summer. My yacht lives in the med where the winters are cool and condensation is a theoretical problem
Oh yes. I also use Marine 16 every time I fuel up.

TudorSailor
Click to expand...

Yes, I did mean to switch to an empty tank over last winter but ended up with too much and just filled it as usual. I'm going to run it down at end of this season.

I've had small asphaltine deposits and other crud but luckily only small quantities so far. Almost all fuel is ex. cans and filtered before adding to the tank. My regular checks and use of some Marine16 do seem to keep on top of it. I believe that this is getting to be more of an issue for me over winter.

I use a diesel fuel improver/preservative/stabiliser in my car over the summer as it also sits unused for 6 months when I'm sailing.
 
It looks like BS ISO 8217 is what you are looking for. Another issue with "road diesel" EN 590 is the low sulphur content, which is fine with modern diesel road engines, but not great for more agricultural marine diesels. That is my understanding. I am looking for fuel soon, but want a sullpy that has been lying in a tank since the end of the sailing season last year. Perhaps a fishing port may be an option due to higher volumes of use?
Angus

BS ISO 8217 Standard marine fuel, no bio-diesel.
BS 269 Up to 7% bio-diesel, low sulphur Rated for non-road use & inland waterways
BS EN 590 Road Diesel – up to 10% bio–diesel by 2020
 
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