Running Diesel tank empty?

[Wolfgang.Schau]

If you have a gas engine with a carburetor, run it empty when you will not use it for several month. This avoids moisture causing the fuel to turn into jello clogging your needles. This where this "running empty" comes from.

Injection motors, gas or diesel, are different.

Diesel fuel may grow some organic mold (or whatever it is called) over a long time of no use. The filters will take care of this, make sure you clean them regularly.
Some boaters who have two tanks, they regularly pump the diesel around between the two tanks through a filter. If you regularly use your engine this is a kind of an overkill, if you anchor 6month++, not a bad idea.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Wolfgang.Schau

If you have a gas engine with a carburetor, run it empty when you will not use it for several month. This avoids moisture causing the fuel to turn into jello clogging your needles.

I have never run my gas engines dry, mostly because I never know when this will be the last time I'll be using it. Six months later, they run on the third pull (normally 1 pull).

But that is a USA made Mercury 15 hp 2-stroke, best motor made. This one is 19 years old looks rough but runs perfectly.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by txg

I'm sorry for not coming back to this thread earlier, but we've been out sailing. We did our last long leg that exceeded our range under power (Azores to Spain) and did not run out of fuel, so the question of this topic is not that important for me anymore.



Still, it is kind of sad that most of the many answers in this thread are just completely useless. Why all this discussion about airplane engines?


Also, i feel like most people did not understand what i was actually talking about. Maybe this is due to a language barrier as i'm not a native english speaker, but so far it has never been a problem for our many American friends to understand me.



Anyways, this exactly sums up what i have been talking about:






Some things i would like to add:


-Our tank is clean, so crud is not a problem. This is not a guess but i KNOW it is clean. I open it up regularly (about twice per year) and inspect it.



-At least for our way of motoring, it is NOT true that fuel consumption is always the same. I've written down engine hours at each refill for over 1000 hours of runtime now and the consumption per hour differs a lot depending on use. The range so far is 1.4L/h to 2.7L/h. These extreme numbers are on the one hand from a lot of charging at anchor and on the other hand from fast bashing into headwinds. Still, when taking these extremes out of the equation the range is between 1.7L/h to 2.3L/h for "normal" motoring which is still a considerable difference. We have a 120L diesel tank which equates to 52 hours of motoring at 2.3L/h, while it would be 70 at 1.7L/h. That is a BIG difference or nearly another 100nm of motoring. We carry another 160L in jerry cans which increases these numbers even more.



-Regarding safety: I'm talking about being out at sea (like seriously off shore) in light winds and flat seas. When being this far out, we would never navigate so close to a big ship that a refueling break of one minute would be an issue.



-Regarding refilling at sea: That's easy without spilling a single drop. We have our jerrycans on the sidedecks and near the mast base, strapped down with ratchet straps. When on passage, we use a long siphon hose to transfer fuel to the internal tank without even bringing the jerry cans to the cockpit. Works perfectly fine.





Regarding the other issues brought up in this thread: I don't think that the injection pump will die faster when run dry maybe once or twice per year.

What i'm not sure about is the injector bleeding issue, i get the point that this may be a problem that can't be solved by our electric pump.

First up - you command of the english language is way better than many native speakers that populate CF.

Your approach to fuel management is perfectly fine in my opinion.
Keep posting, CF is better place when thoughtful members ask and answer reasonable questions.

[Compass790]

Originally Posted by Wotname

First up - you command of the english language is way better than many native speakers that populate CF.

Your approach to fuel management is perfectly fine in my opinion.
Keep posting, CF is better place when thoughtful members ask and answer reasonable questions.

Yes agree with wotnames post totally,
FYI in construction diesel mobile welders regularly run out of fuel. Some of them have considerably higher hours than most marine diesels & according to the mechanics the injection pump is a rare issue( if you ask them). I'd bet many of them would still spout the idea that running out of fuel will destroy your injection pump even if it doesn't match their experience.
But feel free to worry about that if you are so inclined.
Personally I'd be much more worried about filtration but each to his own.

[Wolfgang.Schau]

Whether your gas engine makes trouble after a long time of no use very much depends on the quality of the gasoline and the humidity in your environment. E10 has more moisture in it than Marine fuel and will more likely cause problems to your carburetor after several month of no use.

[model 10]

[QUOTE=txg;295
When i tried to google this problem, only car-related answers came up..[/QUOTE]


This is the OP. Perfect English.

[RogerLloyd]

Regarding:- “Diesel doesn't need to be fresh. It needs to be dry and stored correctly. Diesel with no water in it can be stored for a loooooooong time.”

This used to be true, provided the diesel was stored in a sealed can and not in a fuel tank with a breather. Unfortunately, this is NOT true now in UK since bio- has been added to diesel.



Regarding:- "Diesel fuel may grow some organic mold (or whatever it is called) over a long time of no use. The filters will take care of this, make sure you clean them regularly.”

Unfortunately this is NOT true now in UK. Fuel pipes and fuel filters can actually get blocked by diesel bug so that throttling back to reduce the fuel demand of the engine is NOT enough to keep the engine running, because ALL fuel flow can be cut off. I have experienced this.