Author Topic: Fuel polishing  (Read 1452 times)

Jam

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Fuel polishing
« on: April 04 2022, 20:42 »
Hi
Looking for some advice as my Bavaria 38 ocean has been out of the water for 3 season a first for me!!
The tank was full of diesel and I am worried that it may be now not great to use.  I was thinking of making up a fuel polishing system and running for a few hours before I use the fuel…it’s a lot of fuel to discard.
Has anyone made one up….?
Sorry if this post is in the wrong place
John

Yngmar

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Re: Fuel polishing
« Reply #1 on: April 04 2022, 20:58 »
On our 40 Ocean we use a copper pipe I stick down an unused tank take-off with a Mityvac hand pump to slurp up the bottom corners of the tank into a small cup.

We do this once a year. I started because on our Biscay crossing the "fun" three-directional waves stirred up some dirt from the tank bottom and blocked our filter, which needed changing underway, which involved some swearing and spilled fuel.

The first time (after said Biscay trip) a few cups of dirty fuel came up (most had already been filtered by the engine!), the second year only a little bit of dirt, the following years none worth mentioning anymore. I let it settle to see if there was any water, which there never was. I then pour the fuel through a Melitta coffee filter and back into the tank (or use it for degreasing winches sometimes).

We even got about a hundred liters of Diesel from another boat who were paranoid about the old fuel in the tank of the used boat they'd bought. That one had an inspection hatch. It looked mildly dirty with zero water in it, so I pumped it all through a small filter with a 12V fuel pump and via jerrycans into our boat. Cheapest tank fill we ever had! ;D No problems, of course, although being a cold winter we ended up using much of it for heating.

So you probably don't need to get rid of it, and fuel polishing systems are IMHO a fun thing that boaters like to build to entertain themselves, but since a typical diesel engine returns most of the fuel it just sucked through a filter back into the tank, it's kinda redundant to build another.

A glass bowl filter that is easy to change filters underway with (search for "Facor" on here to find that post) is however an excellent idea. IMHO  :kewl
(formerly) Sailing Songbird  ⛵️ Bavaria 40 Ocean (2001)

Odysseus

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Re: Fuel polishing
« Reply #2 on: April 05 2022, 10:18 »
I have polished my fuel for some time now, I find it's the bits of brown crud that get compacted on the bottom of the tank and these get re circulated in a  bad sea, so it is well worth  building a system. You find out filters are blocked at the most inconvenient times!!!
Cost around £30 to buy and build.
Photos are crap but you can see the crud in primary filter.

Odysseus
Ban 38
Odysseus

Jam

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Re: Fuel polishing
« Reply #3 on: April 05 2022, 21:08 »
Thanks for info, appreciated.  As boat is out the water can’t run the engine for long periods due to poor hose water supply so filtering before running may be useful….the initial trip from the yard is down a river so not great place for a filter change.
Cheers
John

Yngmar

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Re: Fuel polishing
« Reply #4 on: April 05 2022, 22:26 »
Just get a jerrycan of fresh diesel for that critical first leg and stick a hose in it, connecting the other end to the fuel filter.
(formerly) Sailing Songbird  ⛵️ Bavaria 40 Ocean (2001)

Jam

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Re: Fuel polishing
« Reply #5 on: April 09 2022, 23:07 »
Good idea never thought to to that!!
Thanks