Which Diesel Fuel Biocide Treatment

[John100156]

It's been about 8 years since PBO published their test results which I personally found quite informative. Perhaps with recent developments/products on the market and clearly a lot of interest, they might consider re-testing/updating that which was published in 2007 (see #17 above)....?

 

[Neil]

That looks very interesting. If it actually does what it says, then it's the whole answer to the problem. My chemical knowledge is zero, so I don't know anything about the following:
Two non- ionic surfactants, one a polymer. Index xi. , Diethanolamine, 2-butoxyethanol, index xn. The claim is that these chemicals 'break down water at a molecular level' and 'combine the hydrogen and oxygen with the fuel'. Perhaps a little paraphrasing there. I'm sure there's someone here with knowledge of these things.

After my garage man swore by a new product to get my Disco2 through its emissions, I looked at the tin to see it was 2 butoxyethanol. I bought a litre through the lab suppliers for my wife's car. I've saved some for the boat, but I see it more as a surfactant to clean injectors etc rather than as a biocide. However if it makes any water contamination miscible with diesel, it might work to deter bacterial growth.

 

[Rivers & creeks]

The most important ingredient is your fuelling regime. I only ever fuel from large marina outlets with a high throughput of fuel and who certify FAME free. I always ask them when they last filled their main tank. If the answer is less than a week or more than three months I don't buy any. This winter we're taking out the old rusty port tank which we've never used and replacing it with a semi translucent tank. I hope I don't get lazy in my filling regime once I know I've got a back up.

 

[PetiteFleur]

On my previous boat several years ago I did get diesel bug - a small fuel filter had been inserted in the fuel line from tank to engine. The engine would not rev above 2000rpm. This filter was totally blocked with black gunge, it was removed and the engine immediately ran to 3600rpm! When the primary(CAV type) was replaced at lay up it also had gunge in the top of the element. I used Marine 16 and had no more problems or evidence of bug. My present boat, after I had fitted a new tank, fuel lines and engine I dosed the fuel as a precaution. I used Marine 16 from a local chandlery. When filters changed last week there was no evidence of bug. A small price to pay for piece of mind. I have used road diesel for the last 4 years as my local boatyard stopped selling to leisure boaters.

 

[NornaBiron]

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is, I suppose. Hopefully, NornaBiron will give us some feedback, but it wouldn't be easy to tell if it worked on my boat, as I can't see into the fuel tank. I suppose a siphoned 'before and after' sample might do it.

After studying Coval Aquasolve's website at greater depth we decided that there was nowhere near enough scientific or independent evidence to support the claims. We contacted the company with a business proposal to demonstrate the product locally and to try it ourselves but we've heard nothing from them for 4 days.

Will update if they come back to us.

 

[{151760}]

After studying Coval Aquasolve's website at greater depth we decided that there was nowhere near enough scientific or independent evidence to support the claims. We contacted the company with a business proposal to demonstrate the product locally and to try it ourselves but we've heard nothing from them for 4 days.

Will update if they come back to us.

Good idea. Look forward to your feedback.

 

[NormanS]

After studying Coval Aquasolve's website at greater depth we decided that there was nowhere near enough scientific or independent evidence to support the claims. We contacted the company with a business proposal to demonstrate the product locally and to try it ourselves but we've heard nothing from them for 4 days.

Will update if they come back to us.

Yes, I've tried that with distillers and breweries, and strangely never hear back from them either.