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Old 06-06-2018, 00:30   #1
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Day Tank - Fuel Bladder possible in?

I have an old boat and I have a 50L day tank. The fuel is getting down the engine by gravity.
My engine stopped all the time and then I wanted to look at the fuel quality in this day tank so I emptied it into some jerry cans. The fuel was orange, unusually liquid, and full of black/red pieces (see fuel.jpeg of a sample attached).
I don't know if they are some pieces of metal or just some sort of bacteria. How could I know?

My day tank doesn't have any inspection opening so I can't access into it so I can't see the state of it inside.

I was then thinking to cut the side of it, inserting a fuel bladder. Is that a good idea? For such a bladder I suppose you need a breather line and can it handle a return line even with the heat of the fuel coming back in from the engine?
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Old 06-06-2018, 00:44   #2
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Re: Day Tank - Fuel Bladder possible in?

What is the day tank made of? Obviously, it needs to be thoroughly cleaned or replaced. I suppose you could add a bladder but like any diesel fuel tank, you need four ports: Supply (or fill), feed to the engine, return and vent. I’m presuming that replacing the existing day tank would be difficult due to the nature of its location in your boat but having a properly constructed day tank fabricated won’t be easy or cheap, either. Clearly, something has to change before you can use your engine reliably.

Good luck, fair winds and calm seas.
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Old 06-06-2018, 00:51   #3
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Re: Day Tank - Fuel Bladder possible in?

Cutting an inspection hatch and installing it is of the same complexity as your bladder idea. I wouldgo that way.
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Old 06-06-2018, 01:39   #4
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Re: Day Tank - Fuel Bladder possible in?

Quote:
Originally Posted by zeseb View Post
...........
I don't know if they are some pieces of metal or just some sort of bacteria. How could I know?

.........
Much more likely to be bacteria / microorganisms than metal. If metal, it should sink fairly quickly and will be hard and gritty if rubbed between your fingers. Organic material will be much softer and break up if rubbed.
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Old 06-06-2018, 13:58   #5
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Re: Day Tank - Fuel Bladder possible in?

“Flexible diesel bladder pumping”
This is a posting on this website 2016.
I think it answers your questions.
Cheers, Catman
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Old 06-06-2018, 16:19   #6
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Re: Day Tank - Fuel Bladder possible in?

Just replace the entire tank. Second hand milk tanks or some other food-grade stainless tanks can often be adapted, and I do like them to gravity feed to the engine fuel pump. If they are not already fitted with a conical exit point at the lowest point of the tank, have a funnel made up from stainless of the same gauge and welded into place, so that NOTHING can remain in the tank, and that fuel supplied to the engine fuel pump will always exit from the bottom only. The tank is filled by a pipe coming from just below the lid. The return line from the injector pump can also be vented into this tank. If the top is removable, it will be screwed down on to diesel resistant gaskets. If the top can be removed--fit bafflers to the tank from stainless steel sheeting, fitted and screwed together, and welded at intervals to the sides of the tank

Now, if the tank has a welded-on top, the inspection port needs to be wide enough to allow a length of stainless tubing, about three to six inches (8--15 cm) diameter, and you will need as many of them just a little shorter than the height of the tank, as can be stood honeycomb-like on the lid. Cut a small V in the bottom of each tube.

Reaching through the inspection port with a tube, push it into a corner, and so on, working from the outside towards the inspection hole, putting these baffle tubes into the tank until the entire tank had been baffled. If you can remove the entire top of the tank, a more conventional surge baffle can be made up. If not, then you will find the tubing works OK.

I like to have a glass visual gauge fitted to the tank so I can see the level--and this gauge needs to be screened against accidental damage. Clear fuel hose works OK--but I do not trust it for a large reserve of fuel, because this clear hose can become brittle over time and fractures easily once it has done so.

That is it. The tank will never have pockets where stagnant fuel can remain. It will not have cost you an arm and a leg--any quality stainless 316 or better tank can pretty much be adapted, and sometimes small baffled stainless fuel tanks can be acquired from military surplus. If cost is a problem--simply use a diesel tank acquired from a truck wreckers. They are not usually designed to fit neatly against a bulkhead though, and they are seldom of stanless steel, but they will get you back to a home port in a pinch.

If one wishes to do so, it is OK to run a fuel pump 100% of the time into such a tank, pushing it through filters from the main fuel tanks usually located at or below below engine level, and exiting back to the main tank from an overflow of the day tank, so that the "day" tank is always full. In this way, if extra filters are used--all fuel gets "Polished" and no stale fuel ever remains in either tank.

A breather for this tank can be fitted and taken well above deck level and through a safety filter. I use a piece of stainless steel tube with a screw-off end, to which I have fitted brass hose fittings. Inside the tube are stainless steel scouring pads-the sort with NO SOAP. Air and fumes get out--they are flame-proof, and no insects can get in past the pads.
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Old 06-06-2018, 16:37   #7
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Re: Day Tank - Fuel Bladder possible in?

Quote:
Originally Posted by zeseb View Post
I have an old boat and I have a 50L day tank. The fuel is getting down the engine by gravity.
My engine stopped all the time and then I wanted to look at the fuel quality in this day tank so I emptied it into some jerry cans. The fuel was orange, unusually liquid, and full of black/red pieces (see fuel.jpeg of a sample attached).
I don't know if they are some pieces of metal or just some sort of bacteria. How could I know?

My day tank doesn't have any inspection opening so I can't access into it so I can't see the state of it inside.

I was then thinking to cut the side of it, inserting a fuel bladder. Is that a good idea? For such a bladder I suppose you need a breather line and can it handle a return line even with the heat of the fuel coming back in from the engine?
That pic looks like asphaltenes, the easiest way to minimise the problem would be regular and thorough polishing of all the fuel, not just that in the day tank. There are a number of threads here on fuel polishing.
(Don't ask me how I arrived at this realisation.
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