Diesel mushrooms

[MapleLeafFarmer]

almost everyday it seems we hear about diesel fuel contamination. so I cut and paste for s&g's i put together the following for those who have been lucky so far.

Quote:
Diesel bug is contamination of diesel fuel by microbes such as bacteria and fungi. Water can get into diesel fuel as a result of condensation, water penetration AND adsorption from the air

if you buy biodiesel this form of diesel is especially hygroscopic
sulphur in diesel helps prevent the bacteria. so if you are a low sulphur diesel user this natural preventor is no longer present which used to help prevent

what is diesel bugs / fungus?
microbes that live at the transition between water and diesel fuel some call these microbes diesel fungus / diesel virus or diesel snot.
is a potential risk to your engine's fuel system, can cause serious damage and eventually lead to engine failure.
if fuel subjected to variations in weather and temperature or your fuel has been stored for more than aa few months then there is a considerable danger that your fuel may be contaminated.

contamination from water
water is the most common contaminant usually building up from condensation.
biodiesel is hygroscopic (it attracts water molecules from atmospheric moisture) so doing NOTHING is no longer a best practice.
Low sulphur diesel is more highly susceptible versus high sulphur diesel as the sulphur kills the bacteria
Fuel containing any amount of water could seriously damage your equipment’s fuel injection system and would make it more prone to breaking down.

Diesel has inherent bacteria in it. A little water from the atmosphere or contamination starts the growth of this bacteria and the mushrooms. It now breeds and multiply quickly and can easily and completely plug and block a fuel system.

The internet is full of these pictures and stories.

The bacteria will form a layer between the fuel and the water.
It breeds there producing waste which manifests itself as slime, sludge, black/green snot.
Once the bacteria colony grows to a certain load level it will settle out and fall to bottom of tank plugging hoses, filters, increases corrosion, damages pumps, etc.... sometimes very very quickly as the colony sinks from this layer between water and fuel to the bottom of your tank getting sucked into the internals.

Eventually engine will stop and may let you restart, maybe run for a short period of time then kaput!!

there are many things we can do.
- keep fuel clean, tank full, filtered and fresh and seasonally suitable.
- Since water sits at bottom of the system drain regularly if there are drain taps, replace filters more frequently than in the past
- avoid temp changes that minimizes condensation (frequent short trips from heated spaces to unheated work places if a big no-no if trying to avoid problems)
- am am now embracing tank cleaners, biocides, filters more than ever. Never used them in the past but the world has seemed to change
- I added a fuel polisher to my storage tank.


all stuff the larger fuel users have learned in recent years. Just sharing with the smaller tractor users who don't get a lot of hours on their machines so maybe not yet seen this sh@t first hand yet.

cheers

 

[ItBmine]

YIKES! I'm sure glad I have good fuel in my area. I have never had any kind of fuel issue and I keep 400 gallons here in my tank all the time.

 

[amschind]

Bread without preservatives gets moldy in about 2 days, so my idea was to run little UV LED strips inside the breadbox hooked to a tiny 5VDC wall wart. I threw my test loaf away after about 6 months; it was hard enough to kill a man if thrown with sufficient velocity, but it didn't have a speck of mold on it. So why can't we put UV LEDs into a diesel tank? I think that a dry gas purge would also be a big deal as that will dovetail with the LEDs for preventing biological contamination and would be needed anyway to keep water out, but neither of those things are outrageously expensive.

The UV penetration through diesel will be degraded, and I'm not sure if the red dye would interact with UV wavelengths at all (dyes normally interact with a fairly broad spectrum, and often have other peaks). I think the easy way would be a big mesh frame with an LED strip wrapped around it fed down into the tank through the fill cap with a wire lead running out to a power source. The scientific way to do it would be an LED at the bottom of test tubes filled with various depths of "wet" diesel to determine the distance at which the LED prevented growth.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Bread without preservatives gets moldy in about 2 days, so my idea was to run little UV LED strips inside the breadbox hooked to a tiny 5VDC wall wart. I threw my test loaf away after about 6 months; it was hard enough to kill a man if thrown with sufficient velocity, but it didn't have a speck of mold on it. So why can't we put UV LEDs into a diesel tank? I think that a dry gas purge would also be a big deal as that will dovetail with the LEDs for preventing biological contamination and would be needed anyway to keep water out, but neither of those things are outrageously expensive.

The UV penetration through diesel will be degraded, and I'm not sure if the red dye would interact with UV wavelengths at all (dyes normally interact with a fairly broad spectrum, and often have other peaks). I think the easy way would be a big mesh frame with an LED strip wrapped around it fed down into the tank through the fill cap with a wire lead running out to a power source. The scientific way to do it would be an LED at the bottom of test tubes filled with various depths of "wet" diesel to determine the distance at which the LED prevented growth.

You test it and let me know if it works.
Easy way to UV treat the fuel would be to make a scrubber circuit with a flow through element.
One issue is most UV treatment units have glass elements and don't like to be shaken.

 

[amschind]

You test it and let me know if it works.
Easy way to UV treat the fuel would be to make a scrubber circuit with a flow through element.
One issue is most UV treatment units have glass elements and don't like to be shaken.

I agree, thought UV exposure is a time based kill. Meaning that residence time within the loop is the decisive factor, such that for a reasonable pump flow rate, you would need a length of pipe arranged in a labyrinth. As a practical matter, how hard is it to feed baling wire through a coil of copper tubing?

 

[jyoutz]

Seems like the biological treatments are a much easier solution.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I agree, thought UV exposure is a time based kill. Meaning that residence time within the loop is the decisive factor, such that for a reasonable pump flow rate, you would need a length of pipe arranged in a labyrinth. As a practical matter, how hard is it to feed baling wire through a coil of copper tubing?

If you used a scrubber circuit you would continually recirculate the fuel so the fuel would keep being treated, constantly killing the bacteria that is trying to form.
Really as @jyoutz said one added treatment in my storage tank lasts a long time!

 

[amschind]

If you used a scrubber circuit you would continually recirculate the fuel so the fuel would keep being treated, constantly killing the bacteria that is trying to form.
Really as @jyoutz said one added treatment in my storage tank lasts a long time!

I think that's great news, and I'd be thrilled to keep using diesel additives, but most folks that I talk to think that diesel additives buy you at most a year of diesel storage. I would prefer to buy 250-500 gallons at a time when the market dictates and then use that over a period of YEARS; that makes a 1 year shelf life a very limiting factor.

Have other folks had different experiences?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I think that's great news, and I'd be thrilled to keep using diesel additives, but most folks that I talk to think that diesel additives buy you at most a year of diesel storage. I would prefer to buy 250-500 gallons at a time when the market dictates and then use that over a period of YEARS; that makes a 1 year shelf life a very limiting factor.

Have other folks had different experiences?

I have 250 gallons that I treat when I fill it and yea I've gotten 2 1/2 years out of it.
You could just add treatment once a year and still be way ahead.
I use Stanadyne and Soltron and that's it.

 

[Smokeydog]

We used a 300gallon bulk tank for decades with no problem. Got filled just before hay season and contaminated four tractors. After cleaning, flushing, biocide, many filter changes switched to 5gallon containers. Another neighbor had similar experience so maybe a supplier problem?
Last year started new again with smaller bulk tank. Don’t farm as much but 5gallon containers got harder to handle. . Did notice many of the older 5gallon bottles were getting a black inside after 20 years.
Make sure bulk containers have pressure/vacuum vent to limit air exchange thus limiting moisture collection.
Now treat 110gallon batches with biocide and diesel additives. Cheap preventative maintenance. PriD is a good diesel fuel stabilizer. Impressed with PriG for gasoline.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Make sure bulk containers have pressure/vacuum vent to limit air exchange thus limiting moisture collection.

I'll second this, mine has biometric valves controlling pressure and vacuum.

 

[Smokeydog]

I'll second this, mine has biometric valves controlling pressure and vacuum.

Barometric vacuum pressure valve.

Brass Vertical Vent For Petroleum Based Applications, 2 inch Bung | Justrite

BrassIdeal for petroleum based applicationsFM Approved

www.justrite.com

 

[jyoutz]

Barometric vacuum pressure valve.

Brass Vertical Vent For Petroleum Based Applications, 2 inch Bung | Justrite

BrassIdeal for petroleum based applicationsFM Approved

www.justrite.com

Where do you install those on a storage tank? Are they the same size/ thread as a normal bung?

 

[Smokeydog]

Fit 2” bung, 2”NPT and have 3/4” NPT adapter. Also can use a fill port. Closed top 55gallon drums have both.

 

[amschind]

I would have no problem doing a dry nitrogen purge over the tank. N2 is cheap.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Where do you install those on a storage tank? Are they the same size/ thread as a normal bung?

Yes the same bung size as a 55 gallon drum, other tanks will vary.
I have a 3/4" version on my tank.

 

[DustyRusty]

Where do you install those on a storage tank? Are they the same size/ thread as a normal bung?

At $115.00 a bottle or two of diesel biocide is a much better deal.

I had about 300 gallons of home heating oil left in my underground tank that hadn't been used in a few years. When it was pumped out into 55-gallon drums and used in diesel engines it was fine with no bacteria growth. When the tank was removed the contractor commented on how clean it was on the inside and no rust. My oil furnaces both were set up with a recirculation system that returned any fuel that the burner didn't use to the tank. I changed the fuel filters once a year.

 

[DustyRusty]

Duplicate post.... Please delete. thanks