Diesel in Fresh Water Tank - The Cardinal Sin

[Howler]

Almost too embarrassed to post this. I finally made the mistake I dreaded and avoided for 50+ years of sailing... putting diesel into a water tank">fresh water tank. I'll spare the explanation and bring on the much deserved criticism and scorn!

The good news is I caught it almost immediately so only a small quantity entered. I flushed the tank numerous times with Dawn dishwashing liquid until there was no more evidence of diesel. However, the odor persists.

I found two products that claim to take care of this:

Biomagic

and

Carela Easy Clean Oils Set

but neither appear available in N. America.

- Has anyone sourced either of these products in N. America and where?
- Other suggestions and tips to get rid of the odor?

[dlj]

Well that really sucks. I'm sorry for the mistake.

What material is you water tank made out of, plastic or metal? The problem with plastic is it may be really difficult to get them smell free. Where are the chemists? Somebody here must have the knowledge to give you a solution.

dj

[Howler]

Originally Posted by dlj

Well that really sucks. I'm sorry for the mistake.

What material is you water tank made out of, plastic or metal? The problem with plastic is it may be really difficult to get them smell free. Where are the chemists? Somebody here must have the knowledge to give you a solution.

dj

Thanks. Plastic unfortunately. I've heard about natural solutions by which microorganisms are introduced into the tank to "eat" the residual diesel. Not sure it's something you can find off the shelf.

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by Howler

Almost too embarrassed to post this. I finally made the mistake I dreaded and avoided for 50+ years of sailing... putting diesel into a fresh water tank. I'll spare the explanation and bring on the much deserved criticism and scorn!

The good news is I caught it almost immediately so only a small quantity entered. I flushed the tank numerous times with Dawn dishwashing liquid until there was no more evidence of diesel. However, the odor persists.

I found two products that claim to take care of this:

Biomagic

and

Carela Easy Clean Oils Set

but neither appear available in N. America.

- Has anyone sourced either of these products in N. America and where?
- Other suggestions and tips to get rid of the odor?

When you say the odor persists I presume you mean you can still smell diesel at the inlet. Perhaps your use of Dawn, my go-to, has cleaned the tank sufficiently but not the hose. I would be inclined to replace the hose and proceed with the sniff test from there.

[dlj]

Originally Posted by Howler

Thanks. Plastic unfortunately. I've heard about natural solutions by which microorganisms are introduced into the tank to "eat" the residual diesel. Not sure it's something you can find off the shelf.

It's also not something you may wish to have in your drinking water tanks. The work I've done in that area was aimed at removing heavy metals out of sewage in municipal sewage treatment systems. Not sure it ever became viable.

Sadly, I think your best solution is to replace the entire system. How did you clean the hoses coming into the tank?

You may be able to get it as clean as possible and then put in a high end water filtration system to allow better tasting water at your output end. Perhaps that could be your least impact solution. Problem there is I'm not sure those filters will fully remove the smell.

dj

[Chris Cringle]

Early in her career, someone accidentally put a little fuel oil into the water supply on the USS Kitty Hawk. Decades later her water still had a whiff of fuel. A friend of mine who spent years aboard what he called the “Shitty Kitty” used to jokingly say that he still likeed to add a drop of diesel to his coffee pot to make what he called “nostalgic coffee”. You will need to replace the tank.

[Chotu]

I think you should just get to the end result immediately.

you’re going to spend a lot of time trying to clean that.

You should just pull the tank and buy a new one. That tank is done. I would never drink from that tank again after diesel was in it. it will never come out of the plastic.

And unfortunately while you are at it you are going to have to replace the filler tube as well. And maybe the vent tube. And any part of the plumbing diesel came in contact with including hoses running to your fresh water pump.

just to save time and aggravation I would go straight to that approach.

then buy some of those caps that have the colors. Blue for the water, red or green for diesel, black for pump out.

One day at might be a dockhand or something that makes the same mistake.

[mvweebles]

Yard person put diesel in my water tank - stainless steel. Was not pumped through system do confined to tank. Tried Dawn and all sorts of dispersents such as simple green. Definitely helped, but not a total fix. Ended up hiring a commercial pressure washer with hot (boiling) water that did the trick. Mind you, these are stainless steel tanks. I would not be optimistic with plastic tanks. I received a very generous credit from the yard for the inconvenience.

[SailingHarmonie]

From the chemistry side, I'll give you one suggestion. It's easy and cheap, so worth a try, and it might even work.

Try OxiClean. It's a formulation of sodium percarbonate, aka sodium carbonate peroxide. It will attack the kinds of molecules that are leaving that terrible taste and leave no residue of its own. Fill the tank to over flowing with a mixture of OxiClean and hot water. Be sure to leave to cap off and the vent open, it will offgas significant amount of oxygen gas as it does its thing. Let it sit until the foaming stops or 12 hours which ever is longer. Drain, rinse, taste...

Be sure to use the UNSCENTED Oxiclean. It's a bit harder to find but worth it in this case. Otherwise you will trade one smell for another...

No warrantees on this one, but it's a darn site easier than ripping the tank out. We have found it a powerful tool for this kind of cleaning project.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

Try OxiClean. It's a formulation of sodium percarbonate, aka sodium carbonate peroxide. It will attack the kinds of molecules that are leaving that terrible taste and leave no residue of its own. Fill the tank to over flowing with a mixture of OxiClean and hot water. Be sure to leave to cap off and the vent open, it will offgas significant amount of oxygen gas as it does its thing. Let it sit until the foaming stops or 12 hours which ever is longer. Drain, rinse, taste...

^^^ this is a very good suggestion to use a sodium percarbonate (SP) product to remove the diesel smell/residue.

Oxiclean is ~50-60% SP, while the purer form (99.9%) can be purchased online. Would make a slightly higher concentration SP product w/a little TSP to make an odor free cleaner. Add it to the tank, flush, fill and taste.
Would be worth the effort to give it a shot before replacing everything.

[CarlF]

The trace amount of hydrocarbons still in the tank isn’t hazardous - just unappetizing.

I would 2nd a cleaning with oxickean and or tsp (which is likely in your toothpaste). Don’t use too strong a concentration that will force removing a new chemical smell. You’ve got it pretty clean already

But after a few of those rinses (do a complete fill and let sit for a hour) switch to a cleaner containing d-limone which is extracted from oranges. It is a powerful degreaser and the orange scent removes odor. Completely non-toxic

Use just a few drops until you get a feel for it.

https://www.amazon.com/D-Limonene-So...8311246&sr=8-6

[JPA Cate]

If you try this above combined methodology with the plastic tank, and it works to your satisfaction, please let us know. Plastics are so ready to take up odors, and so reluctant to release them!

What I'm thinking is that the filler hose will still be a problem, and you will want to "refresh" both the filler and the vent hose, as well.

Sorry for your troubles, and I hope a relatively simple and inexpensive solution (pun intended) is at hand.

Ann

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by CarlF

The trace amount of hydrocarbons still in the tank isn’t hazardous - just unappetizing.

I would 2nd a cleaning with oxickean and or tsp (which is likely in your toothpaste). Don’t use too strong a concentration that will force removing a new chemical smell. You’ve got it pretty clean already

But after a few of those rinses (do a complete fill and let sit for a hour) switch to a cleaner containing d-limone which is extracted from oranges. It is a powerful degreaser and the orange scent removes odor. Completely non-toxic

Use just a few drops until you get a feel for it.

https://www.amazon.com/D-Limonene-So...8311246&sr=8-6

Orange oil is a good idea. Scotch (3M) makes a well-known degrease product short order/fryer cooks use to restore their griddles to near new looking. That plus very hot water would be a good idea.

[PiAn]

I've done this once (what a shame ! OK it was the first day after the end of the covid-19 lockdown and a bit of panic, but...)
It was a 2009 Bavaria 40 with a PE water tank. Then : about 13 years old plastic.

I was happy enough to close the tank before any diesel went in the pipes and pump.
1st : recovering about 120 liters of good diesel fuel by pumping in surface.
2nd : recovering about 40 liters of mix diesel / water in order to allow decantation and further recovery as in step 1.
3rd : emptying the end of the very polluted water > to destruction
4th : cleaning the tank with a degreaser. H5 - purple or H7, they are equivalent. Flush rinsing. and pumping out.

5th : cleaning with more "normal" products - say 2 or 3 times, flush rinsing and pumping out.

6th : filling with fresh water, maybe some drops of vinegar or lemon extract - don't remember. Emptying the tanks with the fresh water pump and normal plumbing.
7th : cross the ocean - no other chance if the water appears to be unusable... but actually there was no smell at all.

[Mad Multi]

no advice except this: Don't beat yourself up, its an easy mistake to make, it happens a lot and its not an indication of your abilities as a sailor or anything else, **** happens.