New product Aquasolve

SolentPhill

Well-Known Member
Joined
9 Feb 2007
Messages
1,101
Location
Solent
Visit site
At boat show there was stand selling the above, in their demo they put an inch of water in the glass and then a few drops of water saying the water was about 2 - 5% of the diesel, then he put in a few drops of this stuff and stirred it and the diesel went a light blue colour and the water dissapeared. He said that is what happened to fuel in tanks, I asked if was volvo approaved and he said it will do no damage to engines and went on about how its going to be in boat mags and all the major boat builders have asked to use it.

the question is has anyone heard of it? used it? and are we thinking its safe, cause it sure looked good.
 
Assuming you have water separators, twin in our case, what would be the need for such a product?

Is there a danger that by using it as standard procedure you fail to spot and correct the source of water in your fuel?

Henry :)
 
Assuming you have water separators, twin in our case, what would be the need for such a product?

If water condenses in the tanks and sits in the fuel, it can promote bug growth, before it gets anywhere near the seperators.

Solent Phil, there's nothing new about this product's claims, Fuel Set has been around for years and claims to do exactly the same, as do a number of other products. As for the claim that all the boat manufacturers can't wait to get their hands on it, did he show you all the pleading letters ... :D
 
Im only asking!!!! not selling it

Good post.

Old engines can burn some water, adding a dispersant to hold the water in suspension as it passes through the injectors can be a lazy way to get rid of small amounts of water.

Modern engines will simply shut down or go into limp mode as soon as water is sensed.

The water will be sensed even when suspended in the diesel.

Small amounts of water in a modern diesel engine could cause expensive repairs.

Most boats have old diesel filter designs such as separ, raccor,cav, Volvo Penta own branded, these work by spinning diesel around which allows free water to sink to the bottom , the cellulose paper then removes any debris.

If some clot has added something to hold water in suspension then the water separator will not remove suspended water at the pre filter stage.

The suspended water will head straight for the engine filter where hopefully it will be sensed and the engine shut down before any damage is done, of course it can be inconvenient.

If anyone has quality modern filters such as FS1000 then the suspended water should be removed .

Cellulose paper can be treated so it grabs more suspended water , usually the suspended water from the actions of fuel pumps and the pre filters spinning fuel around, a treated cellulose paper will not be very effective against fuel which has been deliberately laced with water by using an additive.

If you are bothered about water ( we all should be) then the most effective remedy is a quality modern filter which is designed to remove free water and suspended water such as FS1000 ( stratopre).


I always fill my tank to the top during winter in order to keep the tanks in good condition.
Condensation during winter is a bit of an old wives tale, the only air that can enter is via the breather, there is no reason for large amounts of air to circulate in/out the breather, very little water will enter a system in this way.

It is far more likely that rain water runs down the deck and enters the filler via a poorly fitted /perished o ring, these should be changed every other year (nitrile O ring, not neoprene) and smeared with petroleum jelly over layup.

Its a worry that additives are now being added prior to us buying the fuel, it is important that all boats(except perhaps old engines like 2 stroke diesels which can burn small amounts of water) are upgraded to a prefilter and or engine filter that is able to remove suspended water (cellulose paper does not remove suspended water, not even when called water separator filters)



Think about for a minute, if these fuel additives really worked we may as well put 10 gallons of water in our fuel tanks before filling with diesel, it would save loads :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
I have a theory that insulated fuel tanks as fitted to our current a past Princess largely solve the problem of condensation.

Clearly a subject with opposing views.

My own thoughts are that the external pre- engine separators can be easily drained and the fact there are two of them means you can swap over whilst doing so. Changing the engine filter is a far more involved task and being metal you can't see what's going on inside.

I like to be able to see the state of the fuel as it goes into the engines.

Henry :)
 
there's apaper on the Aquasolve site, which is worth a quick scan. Strangely, it only references one other paper, which appears to indicate a paucity of corroborative evidence. AND it seems to be sponsored by Shell.


http://www.covalaquasolve.co.uk/wp-...xtures-of-distillate-fuels-water-Nov-1990.pdf

They do note that Aquasolve seems to affect brass and copper fittings, though in a very small way.

"the slight reactions with brass and copper are not regarded as important since there is very little of either of these materials in the fuel system"

Unless you have a boat of course !


I should add that the paper was presented in 1990, some 22 years ago. One hopes that progress in the technology and formulation has not stood still in the intervening years. :)
 
Top