Fuel polishing and tank cleaning

[PRBuzz]

Bacteria and fungi are very good once established at creating their own micro-environments and being able to thrive in places you would never imagine. Decontamination of such established slimes takes much harsher treatments than you can imagine: killing the outer layer(s) of the slime colony actually protects the inner sides. Ethanol in gas or the gas itself can serve as the only food source.

[Mr. Sandman]

Bottom line is that if your boat sat for a while particularly in a warm region, you have something growing in your tank. Alot of the stuff will adhere to the walls of the tank, when you move the boat it breaks free and gets picked up in the filters, clogs them up and well, you know the rest.
They have stuff that you can add to the fuel that will kill everything in the tank...however the dead bodies sink to the bottom so you need to filter them out.

Big boats carrying large quantities of fuel (mainly trawlers and comm boats) have on board fuel polishing systems. These essentially filter the fuel (or polish) constantly, 24/7 , ensuring that your fuel is in top condition.

I picked up a boat that has been sitting for a while in Florida and I just know there is bad %$%$%$%$ in that tank (diesel) and before I run it I want the tank and fuel cleaned. It is a larger problem with diesel than gas but I have heard it can happen in both fuels.

I had read about this and was just wondering if anyone did it up here.

[likwid]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

Big boats carrying large quantities of fuel (mainly trawlers and comm boats) have on board fuel polishing systems. These essentially filter the fuel (or polish) constantly, 24/7 , ensuring that your fuel is in top condition.

Alot bigger than that, comm boats go through fuel alot quicker than big yachts etc. and don't need fuel polishing systems. Fuel polishing systems are good if you're carrying 1000+ gallons of diesel then its rotating between 2 tanks while being filtered constantly.

Anything smaller than that? Not really worth it, throw some stabilizer in there and keep cleaning your filters. You'll be fine.

[Mr. Sandman]

Well after talking to a couple folks who do this and reading more about it...I am going to just have the fuel that is in there pumped out and disposed of properly and start with a full tank of fresh fuel. I think some of the fuel that is in there has been in there for more than a year or two, perhaps longer. I know some fresh fuel was added just before my sea trial but this thing sat around for a while in the hot sun. The last thing I want is to have all the new filters get clogged up with contaminants from the old fuel.
The cleaning/polishing thing sounds like a good idea but I think some of the fuel that was in there is kinda stale and in order for my own peace of mind I am just going to remove it all and start over with quality marine diesel.

Think spring, it is coming