Water in my diesel

[driftus]

Hi,my filler cap has leaked water into my tank,the problem i have is the tank cannot be removed as the tank was probably installed before the deck was constructed.the boat in question is an Arvor 20 fast fisher the tank is an 80 ltr polythene type with no drainage tap both feed and return pipes are situated in the top of the tank so draining through them is not an option,i have tried to get a syphoning tube down through the filler tube but it meets with a restriction at the top of the tank,however part of the tank is accessible and i was looking to put a hole in the top to enable a tube to be inserted through for pumping,is there any fittings available to enable me to blank this of after drilling remembering that i can't get inside the tank?????

 

[Pete7]

Recon you have a choice, use one of these down the breather pipe (which might be your source of water) or fuel filler pipe to remove all the water.
http://www.gelplane.co.uk/pelapumps/product.asp

Or use a Vetus fuel tank tank off plate which can be fitted to the top of a plastic tank, in fact yours may already have one.

Pete

 

[pappaecho]

Have had a similar problem of diesel bug. The Gelplane Pela oil extrator is excellent as long as you replace the thin tube from the receptacle with polythene tube of about 12 mm internal bore, so that you get a good "suck rate".
If you really want to increase the transfer rate then you can use a drill pump - I got mine from MAchine Mart for £12, and it pumps at about 3 gallons a minute - all depends on how large your tank is and if you have got mains or not.
In any event, you will need to separate the water residue from the diesel, so if you fill up 25 litre cans.drums you can safely decant 20 litres back into the tank and then store the residue and then separate the diesel from the water, which is heavier and will be in the bottom, as long as you dont shake it up.
You can also get chemical de watering products, which would be best to clean up the bottom of the tank, where you obviously will never get all the fuel/water out, and which will be largely water as it is heavier than diesel. Most good chandleries do the diesel dewatering product, but I suspect that your local supplier of product to the lorry haulage trade will will do similar at half the price

 

[hlb]

I found the answer to this problem a few years ago, it's a recurring problem. Anyway I poured about ten gallon of water in the tank a few years ago. Then got it out again with no problem.

First step, establish BSP pipe size of the drain plug, replace with a tap, the sort you can add a pipe to. You can do this with the tank full, just put your thumb over the hole, then screw the tap in. If you have two tanks, do the same with the other. Now join the two tanks together, with a tee piece down into the bilge, then another tap. Or if just one tank, a pipe down as low as you can get and a tap on the end. Now you can move water or fuel about in a number of ways.

The water will be at the bottom of the tank, so open taps and watch the water come out till it turns red. Close the bottom tap and leave the tap on the tank open. Any remaining water, will find it's way into the pipe. So just drain off. Cost you maybe 20 quid. But you've now got a fuel transfer system along with a big water separator , right at the bottom of the tank.

 

[savageseadog]

Use one of the sump pumps (see post above) they have a pick up tube which is small enough to get through I would have thought.

To clean all the water and muck out I would suggest a few litres of alcohol like meths or iso propanol . This is miscible with water and diesel and will clean it a treat. Give it a couple of goes and pump after you've swirled it around as best you can Don't worry about leaving a bit in the tank, it won't do the engine any harm.

 

[davidbfox]

If you haven't got all the gadgets, just use a simple tube and a clear bottle to syphon the water out. I taped the tube to a cane and sort of vacuumed the water and a load of grot out of the bottom of the tank.

If the boat is on the water, I found it worked best sitting is the dinghy so you get a good vertical drop to make the syphon run fast and make it easier to avoid sucking diesel into your mouth.

(I'm sure the gadgets must be a healthier option)

I got about 1.5 litres of water out before clear diesel started to flow through syphon. In the bottle there was an intemediate layer of about 1cm of fluffy white gunge, which I assume is the bug.

Engine now runs fine.

 

[MarkGrubb]

How much water do you think has leaked in? Can you treat with some sort of dispersing chemical and then just keep an eye on the water trap of your course filter, and drain it every so often.

I'm always draining the filter on my boat. It had sat on the hard for some time until I bought it last year, and I think a lot of condensation had collected in the fuel tank. Engine runs fine though. I check the filter after every trip.

 

[driftus]

Many Thanks ,i have managed to get a 10 mm tube down through the filler cap and into the tank,but have had no joy using a drill pump,i borrowed the pump so maybe it is faulty or the cordless drill i'm using is'nt powerful enough but will keep perservering!!!

 

[driftus]

Many Thanks the water dipersing chemical sounds good will try this, i have been told that halfords sells this product!!