Emptying fuel tank filled with water-contaminated diesel...

J

johnniethek

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
Messages
414
Fluid Motion Model
C-30 S
Hull Identification Number
FMLT29211617
Vessel Name
Salish Searcher
I have a fuel tank that has water in the diesel, which as you can imagine has caused the engine to die repeatedly. I put a bottle of Stanadyne additive in the tank, and have run it twice in a nearby lake to burn off as much fuel as I can.

But there appears to be so much water in the fuel that when I ran the boat for an hour last weekend it die at least a dozen times. I still have 12 gallons left in tank and would rather just have someone empty (then clean out) the tank instead of taking several hours to try and burn off the watered-down diesel.

I live in Puget Sound in Washington. Can someone recommend a place I could take my boat, an R-21 EC, to have that done?

Thanks, in advance, for any solutions you can provide.

JtheK
 
John:

you have 12 gallons in the main fuel tank, right ? Could you use a 5 gallon holding tank to siphon the fuel out of the main fuel tank. Take the 5 gallon holding tank to your local environment facility to have it disposed of. Maybe do this 3 times to empty the tank and then put several gallons of good diesel back into the main tank along with the Stanadyne additive and fire the engine up. I would drain the water off on the fuel filter water catch valve as well as a further measure.

Alternatively. I guess you could use the fuel pump to pump out the fuel to a 5 gallon holding tank with the fuel line at the engine disconnected and routed to the 5 gallon holding tank.... Just be careful doing all of this.

Cleaning up a diesel fuel tank that has significant water in it will be expensive. Let us know what Precision Fuel Solutions quotes you for doing the cleanup. Thanks. 🙂
 
Precision Fuel is a mobile service located in Newcastle. According to the owner, the cost of the service for them to come to Enumclaw, do the work and return will be at most $300.

This includes draining the tank, but also cleaning out so it's squeaky clean when I fill it up again.

J
 
The $300 sounds like a reasonable deal to me. Go for it and put this issue behind you. 🙂
 
You can easily pull The water out of your tank yourself. Purchase a piece of 3/8 inch icemaker refrigerator line at Home Depot. Purchase a piece of 3/8 ID hose at Home Depot or Westbury. Purchase a cheap electric fuel pump, about $25, at an auto store or Amazon.

Hook them up,Remove the fuel tank dip tube, and insert the plastic pipe Stiffened with the Chapstick or some similar device. Make sure it goes all the way to the bottom with the bottom of the tube cutter the 45° angle so it doesn’t suck against the bottom of the tank.

Hope the fuel pump to your battery, place the other end of the fuel pump with a hose into an empty plastic bottles. Pump water out until the bottle is 3/4 full. Shut off the pump and allow the water sit for five minutes. The fuel and water will separate And you can pour the fuel back into your tank safely. If bottle entirely filled with water repeat the process until you have a bottle but is partially fuel and partially water.

Are use 1 L Costco club soda bottles, available at five dollars a case complete with club soda. It is unlikely you’ll have more than three or four bottles worth of water. You can drink club soda as you go.


Stuart Bell
Ranger 25: Shearwater
(561) 352-1796
 
A nice feature of my 1992 R21 is that I can remove the fuel tank in about 10 minutes or less and dump the old fuel. Is the tank on the newer R21 ECs that difficult to remove???
 
Yes, I think it is virtually impossible to remove the tank...
 
cracker39":kn3rykv9 said:
A nice feature of my 1992 R21 is that I can remove the fuel tank in about 10 minutes or less and dump the old fuel. Is the tank on the newer R21 ECs that difficult to remove???
Click to expand...

I posted a photo in my album showing the fuel tank setup in my ‘92 R21. Disconnect the feed line, the return line and the sender connections. Release the nylon strap buckles and lift the tank out. This is a newer plastic tank that replaced the original steel tank in 2003 - but the installation details are similar to the old tank.
 
Guys: just for information, you would not want to try and remove the fuel tank from a 2009 R21-EC or later model. Bloody near impossible, unless you remove/disconnect the battery charger, remove the HDPE flat board which holds the tank in position at the base and then try to slide the tank f'rd and then lift up through the hatch coaming at the stern. I regularly use water finding paste to test my fuel, especially after sitting idle for some time. In the event I detect water, I use a simple up and down syphon hose fitted with a ball check valve at the end. A few quick jerks up and down and the fuel starts flowing into a jerry can or some such container. Luckily, I have never had the problem - here's hoping I don't. Regards, Stevan
 
File this one under "Learning a lesson the hard way."

The boat is nine years old and I've never had the fuel tank emptied and cleaned out. Never put fuel stabilizer in it because I ran the boat each winter, and thought I only needed a fuel stabilizer to combat water condensation if the engine sat unused for several months.

It turns out I had nearly four gallons of water in an 18-gallon tank...no wonder the damned engine kept dying!

I had the fuel tank completely cleaned out, added two new fuel filters ($39.98), two new water separator filters ($93.98), fuel dryers (not sure what these are but they cost $42.96), and added some $45 worth of diesel. Toss in six hours of labor at $300, and the total cost, with tax, was $567.53.

From now on, I am making Stanadyne my new best friend!

JtheK
 
Expensive to say the least.... but well done..... 4 gallons of water is a huge amount... I would want to know how on earth all that water got in there ? Do you have enemies that might want to mess with you ? Some kids in the past wanting to have a prank would plug an auto exhaust pipe with a potato to have some fun.... Could this be similar to what you may have happened here ?
 
Barry,

Some possible culprits:

When it rains (and my boat is outside), water collects on the fuel cap. If you open the cap (without sopping up rainwater first, which I've never done), the collected rainwater flows into the tank.

In addition, I found out today the seal on the vent next to the fuel cap is broken. So it may be that rainwater has slowly been seeping in that way.

I am sure there has been plenty of condensation over the years, especially since I've never used a fuel additive.

I am pretty sure Donald Trump had something to do with this, too! 🙂

JtheK
 
Let's hope the water hasn't damaged the fuel pump or injectors. I treat every single gallon of fuel that goes into my boat year round with FPPF. FPPF is recommended by the Yanmar East Coast distributor Mack Boring. For my Winter lay up I also add Biobor JF. (I recently spoke with Biobor and they recommend 1oz to 40 gal along with the FPPF for Winter storage.)
Fuel additives for diesel and gas is pretty cheap insurance.
 
johnniethek":mgd56y5o said:
Barry,

...snip...
I am pretty sure Donald Trump had something to do with this, too! 🙂

JtheK
Click to expand...

:lol: Yea -- it's fake water, right ?
 
Diesel does have its problems for sure.... 🙁
 
baz":2vkrqe61 said:
Diesel does have its problems for sure.... 🙁
Click to expand...

Gasoline has its owns problems and needs to be treated accordingly.
 
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