Scotty_Tradewind
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Water in diesel tanks
- Thread starter Scotty_Tradewind
- Start date
wonkywinch
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Unmunged your Google > Subscription Third Party link for you ..
Absorbs Water Water Worm - H2O Control
Absorbs Water Water Worm - H2O Control
Scotty_Tradewind
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William_H
Well-known member
Interesting concept which may work in a satisfactory manner. Of course proper low point drainage and regular draining is far better but not always possible. Presumably when it is full of water you can remove it and dry it out as with other desiccants. Could be expensive if you have to replace the sock each time. ol'will
Stemar
Well-known member
$42 for a single use item to get <1/2l of water? I'm going to need some convincing.
Freebee
Well-known member
this one is much cheaper Cim-Tek Tank Dryer | Commercial Fuel Solutions Limited
but if you dont remove it quickly once it has soaked up the water it becomes a wonderful garden for bug breeding. not only collected the water together for growing but probably given them a nutrient bag to feed on.
and I certainly would not recommend drying it out for reuse because, you will just reintroduce a bag of bug spores into your tank ready to grow some good microbes.
so on the whole probably better to remove water by almost any other means is preferable IMHO
but if you dont remove it quickly once it has soaked up the water it becomes a wonderful garden for bug breeding. not only collected the water together for growing but probably given them a nutrient bag to feed on.
and I certainly would not recommend drying it out for reuse because, you will just reintroduce a bag of bug spores into your tank ready to grow some good microbes.
so on the whole probably better to remove water by almost any other means is preferable IMHO
Farmer Piles
Well-known member
I have started using this https://covalaquasolve.co.uk/ on the recommendation of a local fuel specialist that does everything from scores of standby generators to superyachts. If you already have water in the tank then this will only partially help but it will stop it building up.
RupertW
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Just to confirm it will soak up water but not diesel?
Freebee
Well-known member
from my experience it soaked up water but the outer sock had diesel content as well when I pulled it out,.........it was not entirely diesel free.
Freebee
Well-known member
Its a surfactant additive ,there are a few fuelset is another, it does not magically disappear the water it allows it to mix with the fuel as the video shows , but surfactants are known to disarm coalescer filters so once you have used this NONE of the filters downstream will separate water even after you stop using the additive, there may be some separation by gravity but none by filtration. plus the dissolved water is passing through the injectors with the diesel with all the problems that may cause long term.
Bilgediver
Well-known member
I do not think Aquasolve is effective regarding water. The sleeve will only work under ideal conditions as the water has to be in contact with it in order for the sleeve to absorb it . Remember water is entering your tank every day as the tank breathes in and out. This water drains and collects on the bottom of the tank. The easiest way to remove it is to trim the boat so there is a low corner in the tank where the fuel will collect and then introduce a tube down to that corner and draw out the water. On my wee boat this is a doddle but on some boats may not be possible. Heaven knows why boat builders build very expensive boats that do not have drain cocks at the bottom of the tank. The water fuel interface is a great breeding ground for the bugs as is the interface surrounding all the droplets floating in the fuel.
Container ships do not use products such as this. They centrifuge the fuel before use however most of the water comes out by being drained from tanks prior to centrifuging.
Container ships do not use products such as this. They centrifuge the fuel before use however most of the water comes out by being drained from tanks prior to centrifuging.
14K478
Well-known member
hahahaha!
Read this a couple of hours after reading a report from the super drydocking one of our container ships; one of the things on the dock list was to clean out a fuel oil tank and turn it into a gas oil tank. The report said that he found between a metre and a metre and a half of sludge in the tank! the purifiers hadn't sludged up so I make the working assumption that this was incompantibility. Bill for removing that lot is heading in the direction of the time charterers... We don't use scrubbers - we buy VLSFO....
(I do use Aquasolve, because I was persuaded into it by the outfit who last cleaned my tanks).
fisherman
Well-known member
I have found that sludge generally becomes immobile and stays in the tank or trap. It has to be mechanically removed. We built an exotic trap, about 6lt capacity. After ten years or so it contained 6lts of muck, despite regular draining. My small sedimenter had to be shaken to get the muck out.
Bilgediver
Well-known member
I suspect that this was a double bottom tank where the dirty oil is stored prior to centrifuging and use. These tanks should get regular attention so maybe some undesirable bunkers had been loaded . Bet the chief engineer was peed off
I would hope you do buy VLSFO. Most owners must be going this route. Continue talking about operating containerships and on of the other forumites may pop in
The sludge and the water may be two problems. The Aquasolve is designed to work with water where it is present. The bugs when dead do form a sludge but not always the same colour as non buggy sludge
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Freebee
Well-known member
the sludge can be dead bugs or asphaltenes derived from the fuel - small pieces of tar about 2 microns in size. These asphaltenes turn the fuel a dark brown color and can congregate and clog your fuel filters. They also can make up a significant part of the dark sludge that you see in many fuel storage tanks. The solids form a layer of tacky, gummy slime that grows over time and eventually must be removed.
Stemar
Well-known member
A good way to shift it is a hard beat into an F6/7 with the tank 1/4 full.
I installed twin filters that I could switch between shortly afterwards...
B27
Well-known member
I don't think that's entirely true, as water has some solubility in fuel.
If the gadget removes the water from solution, it will eventually remove the water from the tank.
However, I'm not going to buy one!
One of my jobs this month is to remove the excess diesel from my boat and put it in my car.
Freebee
Well-known member
yes but solubility of water in straight non adittivised diesel varies with temp is of PPM (parts water to million parts of fuel) levels, its the free water that causes the problems, dissolved water is insignificant, and expecting dried diesel to absorb the free water will take an eternity.
Farmer Piles
Well-known member
Apart from the recommendation to use Aquasolve by a fuels specialist, my other reason is the inaccessibility of my fuel tank. It's a mobo and the tank is flat bottomed with no drain. It is built in a U shape around the engine with only about 100mm clearance above and almost none below. I found a stack of bug in there last spring and had to cut a hole in the cabin and then another in the top of the tank - stainless steel accessed through the new small hole in the cabin, a pig of a job.
Anyway, cleaned the tank of water and sludge and now I don't want the water to build up again hence the Aquasolve. I looked at Marine 16 but that causes the water to drop out of the fuel which is fine if you have a sump and a drain point in your tank. With neither I figured that it will just accelerate the build of of water and bug in my system.
I have filled the tank for the winter with a good dose of Aquasolve and some biocide.
Anyway, cleaned the tank of water and sludge and now I don't want the water to build up again hence the Aquasolve. I looked at Marine 16 but that causes the water to drop out of the fuel which is fine if you have a sump and a drain point in your tank. With neither I figured that it will just accelerate the build of of water and bug in my system.
I have filled the tank for the winter with a good dose of Aquasolve and some biocide.
fisherman
Well-known member
I have fretted about tank design all my fishing life. Having a pickup pipe just off the bottom is like having a credit card, delays the fateful moment. I have religiously drained sumps and sedimenters only to find the clean fuel found a way through the muck which stayed behind. Once the muck reaches the pickup you are having to trap it in the line to the engine. The solution I never got round to is the small day tank option. I would ideally have a constant circulation of fuel from the main tank via filters up to the day tank and overflowing back, so constant polishing. The day tank would gravity feed the engine, it would have a filler and sump/drain so it could be used independently. The only way I got good service from the sedimenter was to have it clipped to the bulkhead, on flexi pipes, so I could take it off and shake it. As my engine was a dinosaur Ford dover, it would run on fuel that would cause modern engines problems. The diesel engineer described it: your injector nozzles are like a biro size compared to a needle in a new engine. The high pressures needed cause erosion particularly with modern hygroscopic fuels, hence injector failures. I was asking should I service the injectors and pump. He said does it start easily, does it smoke, yes, no, don't touch it. 12000 hours.