What about "old diesel"?

[Reefmagnet]

The diesel sat in my boat for 5 years without any additives added and we never had problems with it. General advice is to store diesel in full tanks for long term storage to prevent water getting into the tanks via condensation. In my case, the tank was left about 1/3rd full. Even so just checked it was clean and water free before use and it was fine.

Here's an interesting bit of trivia about diesel fuel that's worth noting, especially since this thread was started by albinvega27 who, I assume, owns an Albin Vega 27. The early Vegas had petrol engines and a fuel tank made from copper. When I converted mine to diesel years ago, I researched the possibility of retaining the existing copper tank and found that the kryptonite of diesel is copper. Apparently, the recommended lifespan of diesel fuel stored in copper tanks is just six months. What's extra interesting is that a lot of solid fuel lines are made from copper so it's probably a good idea to run the fuel out of them at least after long term storage.

[sail sfbay]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Some of the really light crude oils can be happily burned in a diesel engine as they come out of the ground. An industrial centrifuge is used to remove any water and solids.................

Sorry, never heard of that. Cargo ships have burned heavy fuel oil, i.e., bunker, that meets flash point and viscosity specifications. Today that oil is blended with ultra low sulfur diesel to lower sulfur content to reduce SOx emissions OR the ship operator retrofits the boat with a scrubber.

https://www.shell.com/business-custo.../imo-2020.html

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by sail sfbay

Sorry, never heard of that. Cargo ships have burned heavy fuel oil, i.e., bunker, that meets flash point and viscosity specifications. Today that oil is blended with ultra low sulfur diesel to lower sulfur content to reduce SOx emissions OR the ship operator retrofits the boat with a scrubber.

https://www.shell.com/business-custo.../imo-2020.html

The stuff the big ships burn are the dregs of the refining process after they have removed all the lighter distilates.

The "Emma Maersk" burns 6,280 L/hr and operates it's engines about 7,000 hours per year. 7,000 x 6,280 = 44,000,000 L of the filthy, sulphur riddled stuff. It is so thick that it has to be heated to 140 deg C to get it to flow through the fuel system. Since most of this is burned transporting shoddy made goods from NE Asia to the rest of the world I would tend to ignore any pangs of conscience you might have in burning a few L of nice clean, low sulphur in your yacht.

The stuff they call "light, sweet crude" is the premium stuff which is low sulphur and you can run it in a diesel engine. It also tends to produce very little dregs in the refinery

[sail sfbay]

RaymondR..........I trust you are correct. However as a chemical engineer for an international oil refiner, where I designed processing units to manufacture ultra sulfur diesel and bunker fuel in the U.S. and Europe, the bunker we sold into the marine fuel oil market specs are what I posted #32 since that market is regulated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

[Simi 60]

Ours had over 3500 litres of 10 year old diesel in her when we got her.
Discoloured, but not an issue with it
Zero vacuum on the racors but checked the filters after 6 mths and they were spotless

[Compass790]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

The diesel sat in my boat for 5 years without any additives added and we never had problems with it. General advice is to store diesel in full tanks for long term storage to prevent water getting into the tanks via condensation. In my case, the tank was left about 1/3rd full. Even so just checked it was clean and water free before use and it was fine.

Here's an interesting bit of trivia about diesel fuel that's worth noting, especially since this thread was started by albinvega27 who, I assume, owns an Albin Vega 27. The early Vegas had petrol engines and a fuel tank made from copper. When I converted mine to diesel years ago, I researched the possibility of retaining the existing copper tank and found that the kryptonite of diesel is copper. Apparently, the recommended lifespan of diesel fuel stored in copper tanks is just six months. What's extra interesting is that a lot of solid fuel lines are made from copper so it's probably a good idea to run the fuel out of them at least after long term storage.

Yea I read that copper bad for diesel but I cant be naffed replacing the part copper fuel line on our boat as the engine is 42 years old. Take your point about long term storage & wont be making a diesel tank out of copper anytime should a replacement be needed.
Thread drift but what did you make your tank out of?

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by Compass790

Yea I read that copper bad for diesel but I cant be naffed replacing the part copper fuel line on our boat as the engine is 42 years old. Take your point about long term storage & wont be making a diesel tank out of copper anytime should a replacement be needed.
Thread drift but what did you make your tank out of?

Fibreglass and polyester resin. I must have researched it to make sure it was diesel safe, but our current boat has near on 40 yo fibreglass diesel tanks so it must be ok!

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

.

What's extra interesting is that a lot of solid fuel lines are made from copper so it's probably a good idea to run the fuel out of them at least after long term storage.

Ours are all copper
Being an ex commercial vessel she would have been in survey
Can't say I've seen anything but copper on any commercial vessel I have been on.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Joh.Ghurt

You easily can polish the diesel to remove particles, but when it turns dark like caramel, I've been told it isn't wort the risk using it engine but it still fine for a furnace in a house. But I'm talking here about 15+ year old diesel.

In Trinidad I got 20 gallons of free diesel from a Brazilian boat whose engine had died and the owner was ripping the engine and fuel tanks out of the boat. The fuel was the color of black coffee, but I ran it through my Baja Filter and put it in my tank. I've run old diesel, red diesel, blue diesel, diesel so clear it looked like water (Aden) and black diesel. The only problems were when it was full of water or algae.

[Compass790]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Ours are all copper
Being an ex commercial vessel she would have been in survey
Can't say I've seen anything but copper on any commercial vessel I have been on.

Yea that was part of my thinking as well to not stress about copper, used to do stinking fish boat repairs but they never sit here either, well nowadays as we move to 996. Seen plenty in B.C. that sit though.

[Compass790]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

Fibreglass and polyester resin. I must have researched it to make sure it was diesel safe, but our current boat has near on 40 yo fibreglass diesel tanks so it must be ok!

Thanks for that, wuda sprung for epoxy but happy to see polyester works as I'm cheap according to my GF lol . Hopefully current ss tank will see me out.
My default position is to fabricate out of ss as that is part of my background but why if FRP works?

[Reefmagnet]

Now that I think about it, I probably used vinylester at the time, although polyester pretty much does the some job.

[captndale]

Originally Posted by Albinvega27

Thanks for all the replies! My only worry is the diesel injection pump. I will just mix it with some new One and then install a session with Poseidon, to see if he´approves. If not, I will se him in Hadas...

I think you mean that you will see him in Tartaros, the underworld of which Hades is king. Be careful though, Hades and Poseidon are brothers.