Contaminated Fuel & DIY Fuel Polishing

[richard5933]

Had a recent bought of low power. Found the primary filter covered in what appears to be brown mud/sludge. I'm guessing I've got something living in the tank (bacteria, etc.) causing the problem.

Step one is obviously to treat with a good biocide.

Step two is to get the fuel cleaned. One way would be to simply run it through and continue to change fuel filters till it's all gone, but that will be tedious. Since I don't have spin-on filters changing my primary filter is a royal PITA and I want to avoid doing that any more than necessary.

So, the question...

Anyone have a solution for rigging up a fuel polishing system at an affordable price? My goal is to pump the fuel through a filter to clean it and then return it back to the tank.

Thoughts?

[wildebill308]

I would Treat with Bio Kleen Diesel Fuel Biocide to kill the microbes and Clear-Diesel Fuel & Tank Cleaner to remove the residual water and contaminants. By Power Service, the only Cummins approved adaptive. https://powerservice.com/psp_product/diesel-fuel-supplement-cetane-boost/

Bill 

[richard5933]

Any thoughts on how to get the little beasties out once they've been killed?

[manholt]

Wait until Joe L., comes on or send him a PM...He became an expert on bug removal about 3 years ago!

[dickandlois]

3 hours ago, richard5933 said:

Any thoughts on how to get the little beasties out once they've been killed?

Richard, This is the information regarding using the listed Biocide and the tank cleaner.

 

Bio Kleen Diesel Fuel Biocide

At least quarterly or as needed

This will kill the microbes, then use Clear-Diesel Fuel & Tank Cleaner to remove the residual water and contaminants.

Clear Diesel Fuel and Tank Cleaner

This will remove water, disperse contaminants and ensure fuel is stabilized for long-term storage.

At least quarterly or as needed,

IF  you use there products, you do not need to polish the tanks. Should you have a bad case contact Power Services ,https://powerservice.com/connect/,orhttps://powerservice.com/learning-center/

Rich.

 

[richard5933]

4 hours ago, dickandlois said:

Richard, This is the information regarding using the listed Biocide and the tank cleaner.

 

Bio Kleen Diesel Fuel Biocide

At least quarterly or as needed

This will kill the microbes, then use Clear-Diesel Fuel & Tank Cleaner to remove the residual water and contaminants.

Clear Diesel Fuel and Tank Cleaner

This will remove water, disperse contaminants and ensure fuel is stabilized for long-term storage.

At least quarterly or as needed,

IF  you use there products, you do not need to polish the tanks. Should you have a bad case contact Power Services ,https://powerservice.com/connect/,orhttps://powerservice.com/learning-center/

Rich.

 

That's the stuff I plan to use to kill the beasties...

Any suggestions on getting them out once they're dead other than continual filter changes?

[jleamont]

Richard, I had the same problem back in 2016. Biocide and swapping the primary fuel filter about every 5-800 miles. Took about 6 primary filters and it became clear. I bought the products through this company AFTER they resolved a serious inground tank bio/water issue at work. The "Tank Tonic" product killed and broke down the micro organism's and the primary filter trapped the leftovers. I ran their additive for two year afterwards to make sure it was clean, now I ONLY use an additive at every tank fill up. I run Diesel Kleen now due to the cost.

https://www.diesel-mate.com/additive-package-and-specification-data.html

You could have the tank polished, that's the quickest resolution but costly. I had a friend get bad diesel in Colorado last summer, he found a mobile truck repair that came to him on the road side, on a mountain and polished his tank for around $2000.00. Took a few hours and they were on their way up over the mountain. 

Edited September 24, 2021 by jleamont

[rayin]

Reading this article might be informative: http://criticalfueltech.com/faq.html

Edited September 25, 2021 by rayin

[wildebill308]

Richard do you have a big marina near you? fuel polishing is quite common in the boating circles. Any big marina should know of someone who can do it.

Bill

[richard5933]

8 hours ago, wildebill308 said:

Richard do you have a big marina near you? fuel polishing is quite common in the boating circles. Any big marina should know of someone who can do it.

Bill

There are some marinas near Lake Michigan just east of us in Milwaukee, but apparently fuel polishing is not a thing up here. No luck with them having any advice either.

Right now the plan is to shock the tank with biocide. Trying to decide between the two available locally - E-Zoil Bio Blast and Power Service Bio Kleen. Any thoughts on these two products would be appreciated.

I'll add the biocide before leaving the shop where the coach is right now. Then I'll drive it with its nearly-full tank home 30 or so miles. That should be enough to mix the biocide into the fuel and let it start doing its work. 

The next step will be to use my homemade external filter system to try and remove as much of the dead bio load as possible along with any resulting crud in the tank from it. I've rigged up a 12vdc fuel transfer pump with a Donaldson fuel filter and will suck the fuel from the bottom of the tank through the fuel filler, run it through the pump & filter, and then return it to the tank again.

The pump has a 30 minute duty cycle with 10 gpm flow. That would mean I'd be filtering twice the tank's capacity in that time if all goes well. My hope is to run through a dozen or so cycles like this until the Donaldson filters don't look to be dirty after being cut open.

Hopefully all this will minimize the need to change the coach's fuel filters on the side of the road or while out on a trip somewhere.

[jleamont]

Richard, your homemade pump/filter is a great idea! Either of the products above are good. The only reason I went with the link above, we had an underground tank at work that had water and it looked like Italian wedding soup in the bio diesel. Their products cleaned it up in 7 days. I was so impressed I splurged on their products. We had a company pump the water off the bottom first, their biocide all but dissolved the floaters. Keep us posted.