Getting water out of the diesel tank

[boatbod]

Best advice I can give is to get ALL the water out before the black crud starts growing.

If the tank is small and accessible, drain and remove it. If larger, you can try going in through an inspection port or the gauge sender hole, but there will be baffles in the way.

[Scott Berg]

people have the right idea but hose won't do it since it can curl up. Use COPPER TUBING attached to the hose (you can push it in, doesn't even need a clamp in most cases; we use an outboard squeeze bulb on clients boats and work it around the bottom using a vent or level indicator opening if there isn't an inspection hatch (we recommend one for each baffle). Just go to the corners of the tank and pump out the water from the bottom till good fuel comes out (works on Gas also).

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Scott Berg

people have the right idea but hose won't do it since it can curl up. Use COPPER TUBING attached to the hose (you can push it in, doesn't even need a clamp in most cases; we use an outboard squeeze bulb on clients boats and work it around the bottom using a vent or level indicator opening if there isn't an inspection hatch (we recommend one for each baffle). Just go to the corners of the tank and pump out the water from the bottom till good fuel comes out (works on Gas also).

The hose curling is indeed a problem which is why I tie wrapped the hose to a flexible stick. A rigid copper tube wouldn't work for my tank because I needed to bend the hose to get to the very bottom of the tank. Fortunately my tank shape leaves a low corner where the water all collects so it's obvious to see where to go to get it out.

[DeepFrz]

Originally Posted by Tenedos

Thank you. I did some reading about it and at least according to Catalina Direct, a hatch needs to be USCG approved. No idea where it is coming from, I am afraid to cause problems than the ones that I solve.

Henderson hatch looks interesting. Being plastic, does it work ok on an aluminum tank?

They only need to be USCG approved if on a vessel in commercial operation.

[captstu]

Remove the fuel level sensor, gently push a length of refrigerator ice maker tubing in with the bottom cut in a wedge, pump with a small diesel transfer pump into 2 liter clean soda bottles until one bottle has no water on the bottom. Let it settle and pour the diesel back into the tank. Reinstall sender.

No problem in short term but after weeks crud will grow on water/fuel interface.