Diesel additive added to water tank

[expatria]

today I did what I think was the most stupid thing ever on my boat. I went to add 100ml of Diesel Power to my 150 lr diesel tank, fuel additive (Chemtech by ITW AAM Tech in NSW, Australia) and accidently poured it in my 240 litre water tank!! I could just kick myself so hard and I feel so so bad. However that doesn't fix the problem. I tried phoning the Chemtech helpline, but nobody home, even though 2pm. I then phoned the New Zealand poison centre and explained the sad saga. They suggested, to simply empty the tank ( I have already emptied half the tank, but didn't want to burn out the water pump) and refill. And maybe rinse once of twice if I wish, but not essential for safety reasons, only to get rid of smell they suggested.
Please, please does anyone have any additional or any other good suggestions, besides replacing the tank, which is not an option. How about neutralising the additive ...?
I look very much forward to hearing from you.
A happy Christmas to you all and don't make any silly/stupid mistakes I did today.
Cheers from N.Z.

[Wotname]

Sorry but someone will say it so it might as well be me .

Drain the tank and refill with diesel

OK, back to sensible suggestions - I'd be inclined to drain, refill with water (say 85% full) and a good sized squirt of dishwashing detergent. Let sit and if possible, agitate or go sailing on a windy choppy day. Drain and rinse twice.

Do you have a water filter; if so replace after the finial rinse. If not, fit a filter.

[NYSail]

Don’t empty the tank through the system! Keep it contained to the tank.... get a pump and pump it dry then begin cleaning. Once you pull it through your lines you are left more contaminated and have other issues to deal with.

Good luck

[Dsanduril]

According to the SDS it is a floater and doesn’t mix with water. Vapors are explosive.

Don’t continue to use normal pump and plumbing, find a way to hook up a temporary pump, preferably manual or suitable for fuel vapors (don’t want to have a bigger problem ).

If you have an inspection port take an oil diaper and shove it through the inspection port, let it float on the surface of the water, that should get most of it.

If you don’t have an inspection port, and can’t drain the tank from the bottom... CDP is a floater and doesn’t mix with water it will only come out when the pump suction is at the surface of the liquid in the tank. If you can shove a temporary suction down the fill pipe or through an inspection port try to use that to pump from the liquid surface. You want to be getting water and air together (although that will cause the worst case in terms of explosive potential), that means you’re pulling from the surface where the CDP should be floating.

Pump from the surface, put 1-2 cm of water back in the tank, pump again, repeat several times. Ideally (!) you’d pump through a carbon filter to capture the stuff before discharging. Get as much as you can, then, as Wottie says, try to emulsify the rest with detergent/soap, then rinse several times.

It sounds like a lot but I suspect it won’t be too difficult, take a deep breath and allot a couple of hours...

[CarlF]

I agree with Dsanduril - this stuff floats - put an oil sorb pad through an inspection port. If you don’t have a port, cut one. Every water tank needs one. Change the pad after an hour. Do it several times. It’s unlikely that any got into the fresh water system.

Then pump out with a little utility pump through the clean out. Hold the pump out hose just below the surface to keep skimming the top

Refill part way and add an citrus solvent cleaner that claims to be edible. Many on the market. Usually these are made of orange oil and vinegar.

Do several fill and empty cycles with this cleaner.

Then do several fill and empty cycles adding a bottle of vodka. This should get the taste out (vodka is a great way to kill the taste from winterizing tanks).

Finally a few fill and empty with plain water to get out the vodka

[Island Time O25]

What about using a large shop wet vac? It would vacuum the stuff right off the surface.

[AKA-None]

Didn’t I just read explosive fumes?

[expatria]

Thank you v much for your in depth advice. V much appreciated!! Before starting I will have to check if I have an inspection port (am not on board now) and a water filter. ( the boat is new; ough!!)
Recapping the various suggestions,
It seems best to suction the ‘cdp’ from the surface where it floats.
Use oil soak pads, ideally several times.
Replace filter at the end of the excercise.
When soak pads used and suctioning done, use dish wash detergent or citrus solvent cleaner for cleaning. Which one would be best? I like the idea of the citrus.
Then finally get two bottles of Vodka, one to drink my sorrows and the other to pour in the tank and get rid of nasty taste.
I’m not 100% comfortable w the suggested suctioning and the chance of explosive fumes materialising ... Any more ideas there please?

[Woodland Hills]

I am surprised that nobody had recommended having the water tested after cleaning. Just because you can no longer taste or smell the contaminate does not mean it is not there. Obtain a Material Safety Data Sheet from the maker or the local equivalent to see exactly what you are dealing with and find out what concentrations are carcinogenic. You may not get sick immediately, but you just might get a cancer in 20 years, do you want to risk it or put others that use your boat at risk?

[DougR]

If this stuff floats and doesn't mix with water ( or even if it does mix), disconnect the tank outlet pipe and feed water into the tank from the bottom. Remove the deck fill cap and float the stuff out the fill pipe. Disconnect the tank breather and plug it so it doesn't contaminate the breather hose.

Then do the wash routine as already mentioned.

DougR

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

I am surprised that nobody had recommended having the water tested after cleaning. Just because you can no longer taste or smell the contaminate does not mean it is not there. Obtain a Material Safety Data Sheet from the maker or the local equivalent to see exactly what you are dealing with and find out what concentrations are carcinogenic. You may not get sick immediately, but you just might get a cancer in 20 years, do you want to risk it or put others that use your boat at risk?

Someone posted a link to the Safety Data Sheet earlier. It basically says it's a petroleum product (no surprise there) but nothing else was listed, which I would have expected. My guess is that it has proprietary chemicals that they don't want competition trying to copy. The SDS will also have a 24/7 number to call. Chemtrec also has a 24/7 number but calling the manufacturer might be better in this case and you can ask them what their product does after it has been sitting a few days in a drinking water tank. Is your tank polypropylene? It might be possible to clean it well as long as you have an access port. I'm pretty sure you'll need to put hands in there to scrub out the diesel. If your tank doesn't have an access port, now would be a good time to add one.

[FransvanBuuren]

Do not drain the water tank.
Put a waterhose deep in the watertank.
Slowly fill up the watertank and let it overflow for a while until the floating additive is pushed out.
Give this proces time because the additive can be stuck on the tank walls and so.
Maybe 24 h very slowly constsnlamdly admit fresh water in.the tank.
Then stop this proces and pore in some dishwash soap. Leaf that for some 24 h in the tank.
Than drain the tank and fill up again.
Hopefully the additive is gone.

[anacapaisland42]

HOW ABOUT
Put an near outlet on the top of the tank and run a pipe to an outside drum.

Run a new intake pipe into the BOTTOM of the tank.
VERY SLOWLY fill the tank with fresh water FROM THE BOTTOM
Let the oily top overflow into the outside barrel.
when it looks.smells clear use the additives suggested and run them thru the system.
By then you should be able to discharge the outlet straight into the ocean/lake.
Bill

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Then do several fill and empty cycles adding a bottle of vodka. This should get the taste out (vodka is a great way to kill the taste from winterizing tanks).

Buddy of mine's father used vodka to winterize his potable water tank.

It was always empty come spring. He never did find that leak

But I can tell you, a water & vodka mixture from a plastic water tank tastes awful.

[mboussem]

What is your water tank made of ? If it is stainless, all the advice given already should work. If it is plastic (HDPE) it might take literally for ever before it goes (some compounds permeate through plastics, and this is hardly reversible) - another good reason not to pump any of the contaminated water through plastic piping - Marc