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Archive for month: December, 2015
Dyed Diesel with bacteria and water – you should be able to see through the fuel
I often hear fleet managers, building property managers, engineers, mechanics, and others who manage fuel tanks and have been involved with fuel storage over many years ask “why fuel polish”? We never did that 20 years ago!
5 reasons to fuel polish and clean your tanks
1. Contained Tanks – The fuel tanks today are double walled and protect the environment from accidental spills of oil,gasoline and diesel fuels. If the inner tanks fails the outer tank catches the product before it goes into the environment. 20 years ago single walled tanks were common and a single walled
tank had a spigot or valve at the bottom of the tank to let the water, sludge, algae in diesel and bacteria collected on the bottom to run out of the tank. Environmentally that wasn’t safe because if you forgot to close the lever all the fuel in the tank would run into the ground creating a spill. It was also a weak point in the tank.
Today the only way to access the tank to fuel polish and remove the water, algae in diesel, bacteria and sludge is to access the tank bottom from the top of the tank. This requires specialized equipment to clean fuel and that’s where a fuel polishing company like Fueltration Inc. comes in. We can take the contamination out of the tank and clean the fuel removing the algae in diesel, water and bacteria before it gets into your equipment.
2. Sulphur – Today in the interest of lessening air pollution our diesel fuels are low sulphur making them susceptible to bacteria, algae in diesel and other organisms. Bacteria, algae in diesel and fungus thrive in the low sulphur environment. There is more contamination with the sulphur removed as the bacteria create a friendly environment by darkening the fuel, causing more condensation and therefore more water to be removed.
3. Ethanol – Ethanol was introduced to lower emissions in gasoline. Billed as clean fuel one drawback to Ethanol is that it attracts water. When you have water you have the chemicals ( that the refineries put in the gasoline) dropping out of the fuel and running around the bottom of the tank like a big black blob. This can foul filters. There is also a fungus in fuel today that wasn’t there 20 years ago.Fuel polishing is necessary to remove all of these new contaminants.
4. Bio Fuels – Biofuels are very attractive to living organisms like bacteria and algae in diesel. The biofuels are friendly to the environment and are a food source for bacteria. Add water and you have the makings of a healthy colony of algae in diesel and bacteria.
5. Fire Codes – In the Fire codes both National and Provincial it says that all Emergency Generator Tanks over 900L must be a) have new fuel put in the tank b) full filtered (fuel polish) to remove particulate and in either case the tank bottom must be cleaned to remove contamination. You may be one of those mandated by the Fire Code.
Remember “tank” companies look after tanks and “Generator” companies service generators. Fuel polishing and tank cleaning companies like ours are experts in cleaning fuel and tanks.
Please contact me at info@fueltration.ca if you have any questions or corrections.
That is the first question that everyone will ask!
Let me get that out of the way. It is $225.00 to $240.00 per hour or $800 – $3000 depending on the ease of access to tanks, the number of tanks, and where the boat is located.
Now, what is the cost of NOT doing your boat? That is the question you really need to ask. $ 35,000 – $ 1,000,000.00. What is your boat worth?
A fuel problem always presents itself in rough water with souls on board headed to the rocks or the beach. In calm water, the bacteria in your tank grows on the walls of your tank and the sludge from the dead bacteria settles on the bottom of the tank as sludge. No problem as long as they stay there.
The trouble begins when the water gets rough, the fuel starts sloshing around and cleaning the bacteria off the walls of the tank plugging up the filters and shutting the engine down. Any loss of power or surging is an indication of trouble.
In a small sailboat, for example, a 30-gallon tank that is fouled can reduce a $30,000+ boat to rubble.
Getting a bad load of fuel is rare. The cause is usually water getting into the tank and bacteria growth over time. The good news is that you probably only have to clean your fuel tanks once in the lifetime of your vessel.
The following video shows fuel polishing in action in a fairly small tank where the tank is clean to begin with. The video is 12 minutes to clear diesel. What it doesn’t show is the decanting process where the sludge is taken off the bottom of a tank and where the tank is cleaned of the bacteria that clings to the tank walls in a real-life situation.
For more information contact us at 1 888 713 1090
#costoffuelpolishing
#fuelpolishing
Cetane number or ignition quality, cleanliness, and stability are things we think about when we have stored diesel fuel.
The Cetane number is a measure of the fuel’s ability to ignite and should be a minimum of 40. A higher number does not necessarily mean better fuel but a lower cetane number indicates fuel that will not meet the standards of most engine manufacturers.
Cost- Cetane testing can be expensive, as much as $1200 per sample, but mostly because of the shipping requirements involved with sending fuel to a lab. Cetane testing by your fuel polishing company on site or when the sample is transported back to the company office to be graded is more convenient and less expensive – $ 150.00 to $ 200.00.
Definitions: A gasoline’s octane number is a measure of its ability to resist knocking as it burns in the combustion chamber of an engine. The cetane number is one of the most commonly cited indicators of diesel fuel quality. It measures the readiness of the fuel to auto-ignite when injected into the engine. It is generally dependent on the composition of the fuel and can impact the engine’s start ability, noise level, and exhaust emissions.
Building Engineers usually like to know what the cetane levels are and want a cetane test for stored generator diesel tanks because those fuels sit in the tank for over a year in most cases waiting to be used for emergencies. Having an annual cetane test of standby generator fuel is recommended along with annual full filtering or fuel polishing of your fuel and reduces liability for the building engineer.
Annual full filtering or fuel polishing does ensure the cleanliness and maintain cetane in stored fuels. What is cetane in Diesel fuel?
Contact us for more information or to have your fuel polished and cetane or octane tested.
Clear & Bright is a term that describes the visual quality of Diesel fuel.
Good quality diesel fuel will look like apple juice.
Over the years I have sampled many Generator fuel tanks. Probably over 200 samples were done and I have found contamination – particulate, water and bacteria – in all of those tanks. I am referring to fuel contamination that builds up over a period of a year.
Engineers ask me why those tanks develop sludge and particulate over a year even though they are running the Generators every month. I have an answer but I found an article that explains it better than I could in a million years. http://www.wpowerproducts.com/news/white-papers-articles/fuel-polishing-and-cleaning-secrets-to-diesel-generator-longevity-and-performance
Our company will sample your tank free of charge just to introduce ourselves. So take advantage of our free service and find out if your tank is clean and your fuel is Clear & Bright.
Call or email for more information on annual fuel polishing for generators.
We have a new product! It is called Knock it off and to the left is a picture of an engine leg with calcium, barnacles etc. This is usually what you see when you take your boat out of the water to the mechanic for the annual service.
Your mechanic or you usually go to the marine store to see if there is anything new to take off the calcium. Usually, the marine store will tell you to get some muriatic acid or toilet bowl cleaner. Nothing up until this point has worked very well.
After a spray and a wipe, the motor shaft is clean! Knock it off works! It is also an Ecologo product safe for the environment. It is a unique natural acid cleaner that won’t harm the paint or surfaces with calcium deposits.
It also works really well in Marine toilets – saltwater and freshwater eliminating odours and calcium buildup that can plug your system.
Call or email if you would like to try this product.
#boatbottomcleaner #boating
A US Quart bottle is $30.00 and it comes concentrated
#Knock it off
Marine Uses
- Marine Bar B Q cleaner – cleans outside stainless cowl with a swipe
- Fibreglass – removes streak from acid rain
- Fibreglass – removes yellowing
- Barnacle Dissolver – boat bottoms, props, etc.
- Green Slime – Removes on teak or wood or canvas
- Teak Cleaner – Cleans Black off teak decks
- Teak Deck Cleaner – removes green slime
- Saltwater Toilets – remove odour and calcium
- Freshwater Toilets – remove odour and calcium
- Prop cleaner – apply once and wipe clean
- Stainless Steel rails
- Removes green slime from wood on boat canopies
- Removes green growth on docks and rails
- Removes calcium from boat bottoms
- Removes calcium growth from docks
- Removes rust stains on fibreglass and painted surfaces
- Removes barnacles from canvas and sail covers
Household Uses
- Cleans coffee pot scale from interior of coffee pots
- Cleans scale from kettles
- Bacteria stains on outside walls – stucco, powder, coated tin
- Removes diesel fuel staining on metal – pipes, lawnmowers, equipment
- Removes gas fuel staining on metal – pipes, lawnmowers, equipment
- Removes calcium from boat bottoms
- Removes calcium growth from docks
Industrial Uses
- Cleans Powder Coated Fuel Tank
- Grease off of floors
- Cleans oil stains off of concrete
- Bacteria stains on the outside of engines
- Bacteria stains on the exterior of fuel tanks
- Removes diesel fuel staining on metal – pipes, lawnmowers, equipment
- Removes gas fuel staining on metal – pipes, lawnmowers, equipment
- Mould on outside of powder-coated objects – fuel tanks
- Drops particulate out of water to bottom of container
Inside your fuel tank
Your boat has dirty tanks and you know there is sludge on the tank bottom but how do you know which company to go with?
Ask them their process – if they are only going to clean the fuel (polish) and do not talk about waste or filters then you are not getting the tanks cleaned. The tanks are the problem in your boat in most cases since the bacteria grow on the sides of the walls of the tank. That’s why when you are in rough water your filters plug up. The rough water causes the fuel to wash the tanks. Better to have this happen at the dock in a fuel polishing process than out in rough weather. We power wash the inside of the tank using the fuel and then polish the fuel to 1 micron.
Do you go with the cheapest? – Compare apples to oranges. Ask what the hourly rate is and if there are filter charges or waste charges. Know what you are paying for and how much.
Are they lowballing you? – As a rule of thumb it is better to go with a company that will give you a firm price and stick to it. If they have too many add-ons that are not in the estimated price beware. Every company has an amount that they need to make every day to pay the bills. If the price sounds too low then it is. An $800 bill will turn into $1500.00 when you add filters and waste.
It is difficult to calculate a firm price up front – How dirty are your tanks? Difficult to say but at least have a ballpark number, the hourly rate, the price of the filters, a written quote, and a good description of the cleaning process.
Get a written quote – Most quotes are a guesstimate. Not many companies will offer a written quote but as long as everyone understands that we are all doing the best that we can to determine how dirty the tanks are and what the access is then we can all get an idea of what the cost of something is. In a service, it is part science and part magic but with enough information, we can certainly get close enough to give a written quote.
Call or email for the best fuel tank cleaning job!
#fuelpolishing
#costoffuelpolishing
Summer is coming! The boating season has started and the month of June, July, and August are typically when our American neighbours show up
The radio starts chirping as they travel in groups and plug up the airwaves on their way to the Gulf Islands, Desolation Sound and the Broughton Archipelago.
Boaters are checking their safety gear and fishing equipment. Don’t forget your extra filters. 10 or 30-micron filters will get you back to the dock in case the sludge and bacteria growing on the walls of your tank decide to break loose and plug your filters.
A plugged filter will shut you down and that is the last thing you want if you are going through some of our famous rapids like Arran Rapids or the Yucultas. Even Johnstone Strait or going around Cape Mudge can be a challenge under the right conditions.
Be Prepared! If you find yourself in trouble and without filters give us a call. We have a 22′ Campion workboat with fuel-polishing equipment that can come to your rescue. Find a place to anchor, take the dinghy to the store and call if you are out of cell range.
Internet is usually available at all the resorts.
Call or email if you need some help.
For years I have been trying to sample fuel in the Condos in Vancouver. Strata councils don’t seem to know the importance of their emergency systems, Property Managers don’t know the fuel needs to be sampled as per the Fire Codes, Fire Codes pertaining to the fuel tanks attached to the Generators are ignored and fuel tanks are dirty because no one knows the code. Fuels that run the generators are the last items that are thought about in the maintenance program. Generator companies don’t clean fuel so they ignore item #5 on the Annual General Maintenance for Emergency Systems.
Just picture this – the BC Hydro electrical grid shuts down, and the only thing keeping your building safe is the generator. Your generator is running fine but 2 hours into running it shuts down because all the dirt and water on the bottom of the fuel tank has made it to the filter and plugged the fuel source off.
Without the generator, you can’t open the doors of the building because all the systems are shut down. The air pressure inside the building is different than the outside pressure and the heat in the building is rising.
Just get your fuel tank sampled and let’s go from there.
We offer a free fuel sampling to customers with larger tanks like property management companies, fuel stations, Works Yards etc.
Many take advantage of the free service to see what condition their fuel tank is in. A surprising number do not. I always wonder why?
What exactly are you afraid of? Logically you would want to know if you have a problem before it starts costing you money in blown fuel pumps or excess filter changes on equipment.
The only conclusion I can come to is that these companies are afraid of what might be in their tanks – so afraid that they want to wait till there is a big enough problem to shut them down.
Typically what we find when we sample your tank is water, algae, particulate and bacteria. Tanks are really expensive and to have that contamination on the bottom is just asking for trouble.
It is best to know if your tank is clean and we can tell you for free! Call us for a free fuel sampling today.