Which diesel fuel biocide?

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Deleted User YDKXO

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A few years ago, I bought a stock of Soltron and shipped it out to my boat in the Med. I've now exhausted my stock and I need to buy some more. To be fair, either I've been lucky or the Soltron has worked but I've never experienced any problems with blocked filters so I'd prefer to stick with Soltron or similar.
I remember a couple of years back, there was some kerfuffle about Soltron being rebranded as Startron with legal stuff flying about. Does anyone know whether the product being sold now as Soltron is the same as before? Is Startron the same? Are there any different products on the market which I should be considering?
What about the shelf life of this kind of product? Last season I used my last bottle of Soltron and that was more than 5yrs old. Does this stuff degrade over time?
 
Deleted User said:
A few years ago, I bought a stock of Soltron and shipped it out to my boat in the Med. I've now exhausted my stock and I need to buy some more. To be fair, either I've been lucky or the Soltron has worked but I've never experienced any problems with blocked filters so I'd prefer to stick with Soltron or similar.
I remember a couple of years back, there was some kerfuffle about Soltron being rebranded as Startron with legal stuff flying about. Does anyone know whether the product being sold now as Soltron is the same as before? Is Startron the same? Are there any different products on the market which I should be considering?
What about the shelf life of this kind of product? Last season I used my last bottle of Soltron and that was more than 5yrs old. Does this stuff degrade over time?
Click to expand...

We used Soltron for approx 3yrs but then got a mild attack of "The Bug".
Changed to Marine 16 which won a comparative test - tied with Grotomar - done by one of the mags a couple of years ago. No problem since then.
However I think that MB&Y are about to publish another test. May have just dreamed that so perhaps one of the "staff" will confirm.
 
We dont use anything other than diesel in our tank and have yet (touch wood) to have a problem. We change the filters on a regular basis and there is never any sign of bug. We do have a relatively high turn over of diesel through the tank though.
 
Deleted User said:
A few years ago, I bought a stock of Soltron and shipped it out to my boat in the Med. I've now exhausted my stock and I need to buy some more. To be fair, either I've been lucky or the Soltron has worked but I've never experienced any problems with blocked filters so I'd prefer to stick with Soltron or similar.
I remember a couple of years back, there was some kerfuffle about Soltron being rebranded as Startron with legal stuff flying about. Does anyone know whether the product being sold now as Soltron is the same as before? Is Startron the same? Are there any different products on the market which I should be considering?
What about the shelf life of this kind of product? Last season I used my last bottle of Soltron and that was more than 5yrs old. Does this stuff degrade over time?
Click to expand...

Mike if I had as much fuel on board as you no doubt do then I would either buy or build a recirculating fuel filtering/polishing system. These are available off the shelf and most dutch motor boats seem to fit them. They do not need to run continually but should be operated from time to time. Not only does one of these systems keep the fuel claen but you will get an early indication that things may not be as they should be.

Unfortunately due to the new EU rules regarding marine fuels the bug problem is going to become a bigger factor of life and dosing new fuel taken on board may become a regular occurence for all due to the instability of the bio /fuel mixture . No doubt many more companies will jump on the bandwaggon and we will be offered a greater selection of liquid quick fixes.

YOu question the shelf life of the treatment. Just bear in mind that we are now being told that due to ithe instability of the bio/fuel mixture the fuel itself may have a shelf life.:confused:

I believe an articly on this matter is being prepared by MBY/mbm so should appear soon.

Soltron are very much in business in the UK but I am not sure if they cover the yachting market. However their product maybe available overseas from other distributors. I do not believe their product is related to Starton.

http://www.soltron.co.uk/

Startron is available in the UK
 
Deleted User said:
A few years ago, I bought a stock of Soltron and shipped it out to my boat in the Med. I've now exhausted my stock and I need to buy some more. To be fair, either I've been lucky or the Soltron has worked but I've never experienced any problems with blocked filters so I'd prefer to stick with Soltron or similar.
I remember a couple of years back, there was some kerfuffle about Soltron being rebranded as Startron with legal stuff flying about. Does anyone know whether the product being sold now as Soltron is the same as before? Is Startron the same? Are there any different products on the market which I should be considering?
What about the shelf life of this kind of product? Last season I used my last bottle of Soltron and that was more than 5yrs old. Does this stuff degrade over time?
Click to expand...

After spending a lot of time attempting to find out just what was in it I came to the conclusion it wasnt strong enough to cope with anything that filters couldn't.

It appears to be made from a seaweed derivative, same stuff they put in shampoo.

As mentioned above Marine 16 came out well in tests, its similar to gromar 71 which appears to be the professionals choice.
'Biocide' is what you should be looking for.

download PBO test here


.
 
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DAKA said:
After spending a lot of time attempting to find out just what was in it I came to the conclusion it wasnt strong enough to cope with anything that filters couldn't.

It appears to be made from a seaweed derivative, same stuff they put in shampoo.

As mentioned above Marine 16 came out well in tests, its similar to gromar 71 which appears to be the professionals choice.
'Biocide' is what you should be looking for.

download PBO test here


.
Click to expand...


Thanks DAKA and everyone else. Just ordered a load of Marine 16. One good point is that it is available in individual 100ml bottles which treats 2000 litres of fuel which is my average fill up so I can just use 1 bottle per fill. One of the issues I had with Soltron was that the part used containers used to leak easily and stink out my cockpit lockers
 
Deleted User said:
either I've been lucky or the Soltron has worked but I've never experienced any problems with blocked filters
Click to expand...
Or you just wasted some money.
None of the (many) pleasure boaters I've met in my Med experience - which includes a decade of Croatian cruising - have ever had bug problems, and most of them aren't even aware that Soltron exists.
...not to mention commercial boaters - though arguably the problem should be worse with less used boats.
In fact, on paper, my boat should be among the most affected ones, because she has 4 tanks of 1k liters each, and burns just 20 to 25 L/hr. After moving from Croatia to Sardinia (some years ago, in April), I refilled in Lastovo and upon arrival I still had enough fuel for the whole summer, and up to the beginning of the following season.
So, I had the same fuel in half-empty tanks for 14 months, with no filters cleaning whatsoever.
 
MapisM said:
Or you just wasted some money.
None of the (many) pleasure boaters I've met in my Med experience - which includes a decade of Croatian cruising - have ever had bug problems, and most of them aren't even aware that Soltron exists.
...not to mention commercial boaters - though arguably the problem should be worse with less used boats.
In fact, on paper, my boat should be among the most affected ones, because she has 4 tanks of 1k liters each, and burns just 20 to 25 L/hr. After moving from Croatia to Sardinia (some years ago, in April), I refilled in Lastovo and upon arrival I still had enough fuel for the whole summer, and up to the beginning of the following season.
So, I had the same fuel in half-empty tanks for 14 months, with no filters cleaning whatsoever.
Click to expand...

Yup, maybe I'm wasting my money but its a small price to pay for a little peace of mind. Blocked filters due to diesel contamination can sure ruin your day, maybe even your holiday. I'm surprised to hear that there are no cases of diesel bug in the Med because its supposed to thrive in warm moist conditions. Certainly there have been quite a few cases of it in the UK and an article in this months MBY gives a couple of examples. And its supposed to get worse in the future as sulphur is to be removed from diesel and 5% biofuel added
 
Bilgediver said:
Soltron are very much in business in the UK but I am not sure if they cover the yachting market. However their product maybe available overseas from other distributors. I do not believe their product is related to Starton.

http://www.soltron.co.uk/

Startron is available in the UK
Click to expand...
May be so. But I have not managed to locate a retailer in Poole. Neither Piplers or Force 4, nor the chandlers based at marinas.

Wonder why?
 
I had a problem a few years ago and i now use Grotamar 71,

I am not a fan of any product or device that dissolves crud and water and passes it through my very expensive and delicate fuel injection system.

I use a biocide religeously, remove water and filter carefully.

Grotamar are bringing out a new formula Grotamar 82 thet delas with biofuel content better.
 
soltron

soltron is still available and is nothing to do with startron there is a new comparison test coming out in next months MBY if you decide to carry on with soltron after reading report my contact details will be printed in magazine article
 
Bandit said:
I am not a fan of any product or device that dissolves crud and water and passes it through my very expensive and delicate fuel injection system.

I use a biocide religeously, remove water and filter carefully.

.
Click to expand...

Isn't that what Biocide does? Certainly reading the test and the explanations of the chemistry behind the actions of Biocide suggests so, that the Bug is killed, seperated and allowed to pass through the filtration/fuel system, along with the chemical itself.

Not a massive student of this issue, so I apologise if I'm getting your point or the gist of the article wrong. Just trying to understand it...
 
FishyInverness said:
Isn't that what Biocide does? Certainly reading the test and the explanations of the chemistry behind the actions of Biocide suggests so, that the Bug is killed, seperated and allowed to pass through the filtration/fuel system, along with the chemical itself.

Not a massive student of this issue, so I apologise if I'm getting your point or the gist of the article wrong. Just trying to understand it...
Click to expand...

Im not an expert but spent a lot of time a few years ago in personal research in an attempt to learn what was going on.

Biocides are a weed killer an enhanced nerve gas.

Soltron/startron isnt a biocide, it is claimed to have enzymes (as far as I can tell its a seaweed extract that is also used in hair shampoo).


Biocides are designed to kill growth, as a by product the death of the growth causes the sludge to be broken down.

enzymes dont work, I am mystified why Premier marinas have started to add it to their tanks, I assume its been give away free in an attempt to add perceived value to the snake oil, or perhaps there was a fair bit of champagne flowing at a boat show stand ;)
If premier marinas get a bug issue in their tanks I suspect they will turn to grotmar 71 or another Biocide.
 
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Cheers Daka,

Though, my post was in response to Bandit saying that they are not a fan of a product which breaks down the bug into it's individual organisms, which is what the Purafiner pre-filter does, so that they pass harmlessly through the filter/fuel system and get burned up in the engine, as this means that the crud is going through the injector system - but my understanding was that the function of biocide was to kill and/or disperse the bug, which means the injectors are still subject to the bug being passed through them...unless the microbes are just killed and left in the fuel tank as dead matter...
 
sorry.
Just my opinion but the pura filter goes inline with the fuel pick up ?

In which case it will never get to the bottom of the tank where the water and bugs live.

Fuel picks dont go near the bottom of the tank.

If you run low on fuel during rough conditions and stir up loads of crud then the blockage could be well before the purafilter.

Another snake oil, the time spent fitting it would be better spent draining the tank bottoms out.
 
As I understand it, it is installed in the Fuel Delivery Hose...

http://www.purafiner.com/instalation.htm

Simple cut and install in the same way as an in-line filter, if I get it correctly.

I see what you say about the crud collecting in the bottom of the tank though, but does that not also happen with some biocides, in that the dead matter is still left in the tank as sludge?

Or is it a case of a little bit of A and a little bit of B being the optimal solution? Using a biocide for the kill and disperse, and then also using a "bug filter" in-line to keep any microbes seperated as they pass through and get burned off, reducing the need to re-treat going forward?
 
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FishyInverness said:
As I understand it, it is installed in the Fuel Delivery Hose...

http://www.purafiner.com/instalation.htm

Simple cut and install in the same way as an in-line filter, if I get it correctly.

I see what you say about the crud collecting in the bottom of the tank though, but does that not also happen with some biocides, in that the dead matter is still left in the tank as sludge?
Click to expand...

Hopefully the biocides kill the bug and prevent the situation getting worse.

puafiner would just leave the bug in the tank to get worse.

Answer has to be to drain 10L of tank bottoms as routine maintenance , allow it to settle and pour 9 L back in.

I deliberately run my tanks low before each filter change and check what is in the filter in an attempt to monitor the tank bottoms and guestimate just how often the routine tank bottom drain is required.
 
DAKA said:
Hopefully the biocides kill the bug and prevent the situation getting worse.

puafiner would just leave the bug in the tank to get worse.
Click to expand...

I'm probably being Devil's Advocate here, but surely the Bug isn't in the tank if it goes through the Purafiner system, gets broken down into the individual microbes and then gets burned up in the engine? That's what the unit is designed to do after all....

I get what you mean about the bottom of the tank though, in that if the fuel pick up isn't to the bottom, the bug can thrive there and isn't "sucked in" to the fuel system to be broken down by the Purafiner...Cheers, got a mental image now!

Shame that the "bug filter" route wasn't available for the PBO test, I would have liked to see the results.
 
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