Tank cleaning advice pls

hector

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Reckon our three tanks could do with the fuel coming out and cleaning, one of them is full,
And tuther two, thee quarters full. I've put glass bowels on the filters,and a quick trip to Cowes, and the bowls are half full with water. The questions are, can anybody recommend
someone to to the job,and secondly should it be done on the hard or on the pontoon.
Thanks in advance.
 

hlb

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For the umpteen thousdanth time. Takie the bung out the bottom of the tank, replace with a tap, see you plumbers merchant. BSP it is. Add a piece of clear pipe, then another tap.

Cost you about a tenner, job done.
 

oldgit

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As temp ? measure and to get out worst of it do you have ANY access from top ie,dip sticks or inspection plate?
Get one of them cheapo little brass pumps and length of rigid hollow tube,we used 1m of ex arial alloy tube.Using small bit of suitable rubber hose(cable ties will hold if hose bit big)to connect pump to pipe.
Shove in lowest corner of tank and pump contents in old pint clear milk containers.
Watch horrified as the gunge of ages appears as lumps and slimey goo and water.
 

volvopaul

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So there is water in there from last year when you changed filters with my strap etc.

If there is that much in then please tell us all where you bought your last tank of diesel.

Or are the tank and water tank fillers next to each other in which case you can blame the Mrs for filling up the wrong tanks, only joking I would say if you can move the boat close enough to the walkway then it can b done while boat still in, when you ring round for quotes, one company has its machine on the truck so not portable, the other has a portable system on a trolley that can be wheeled right up to the boat, then plugged into shore power and do its trick.

Where I think you may come unstuck is getting into your 3 tanks without some GRP surgery to get the best results, and as you hopefully only need to do this once id take your time rather than someone just come along, drill one hole to get in the tank, suck it out and clear off, what you really want is multiple cleaning points for a proper job.

I have seen one company do a broom through 1 hole for it to be a costly job and it return very soon after, all a waste of money unless its done right with various cleaning points in each tank.

If its only water and not dirt my mate has built his own system that can polish fuel just by tapping into each tank, the system you can buy from him, use it then sell it on after, its John who has the 43AC so send me a pm if you want his details.
 

oldgit

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Is this just one more sign of useless builder not giving a toss about maintaince.
Glassed in fuel/water tanks and no hatches for inspecting anything including inner hull or bilges without dismantling half boat and as for getting to impellor pumps in a hurry ?
 

hector

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I'm thinking it might have got in since we had flexi teak decking put on,and fillers not screwed down properly. I've tried getting a hand pump in from the top,and there didn't seem more than a pint or so in there,and I was def touching bottom of tank. Was driven me to think I must drain em is,fuel is quite cloudy and someone mentioned I'd be buggering up my injectors. I've treated for bug but filters havn't been a prob. Thanks Paul I'll pm if going that
route.
 

David_J

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Reckon our three tanks could do with the fuel coming out and cleaning, one of them is full,
And tuther two, thee quarters full. I've put glass bowels on the filters,and a quick trip to Cowes, and the bowls are half full with water. The questions are, can anybody recommend
someone to to the job,and secondly should it be done on the hard or on the pontoon.
Thanks in advance.

We had the diesel bug in both tanks a few years ago so had to have both tanks thoroughly cleaned. One was much worse than the other but had them both done anyway. I used Expresslube who are based in Burgess hill. They did a really thorough job by taking any an all inspection plates etc off and inserting a long probe into all the nooks and crannies, they flushed all the delivery pipes and changed all the filters. They pump the fuel out of the tank through a centrifuge and into a tank in the van. Then pump it all back in and repeat two or three times. They can do it with the boat in the water if you can moor close to vehicle access as the industrial scale centrifuge is not really portable. It is not cheap! My two tanks total about 660L and I seem to recall the whole operation cost around £600.

Before Hlb dives in, no I dont have drain fittings on the bottom of the tanks, criminal I know but thats Beneteau for you. Really good boats but built to a price.

Just for the record I still have the bug in both tanks but its manageable with additive, again from Expresslube and again V expensive. 10 hrs running produces enough tiny little black bits in the primary filter to cover (say) a little finger nail. I just keep dosing it and keep an eye on the filters. As Hlb will say you really need to burn a few tankfulls through!!
 
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