Thread: Dirty tanks
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mmc mmc is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jul 2009
Posts: 891
Default Dirty tanks



"Gordon" wrote in message
...

My neighbor, the fuel polisher, had a job yesterday on an older
Beneteau Frst. The client stated he had installed a new filter and it
turned black almost immediately so he wanted his tank cleaned.
Mike began circulating the fuel but was getting no crud. He asked the
owner if he used biocide. The owner said yes, he used Racor brand and
had even used more than called for!
Short story is apparently the Racor stuff is colored blue and that is
what had stained his filter, not crud!
Wasn't a complete bust as there was a short piece of mylar type tape
showed up. That could have been a bummer if the pickup tube had sucked
it up!
Anyway, just a little info.
Gordon
=======

I had about 30 gallons of old diesel I didn't trust. I'd used biocide
regularly but since the boat wasn't used the fuel just got old. It looked
clean in the filter and ran the engine fine but the new owners were coming
to pick up the boat and I didn't want them to have any issues with something
I could fix beforehand.
I tossed around the idea of polishing the fuel but clean wasn't my problem
so ended up buying a 12v pump from Harbor Freight
http://www.harborfreight.com/12-volt...pump-9576.html
ran a piece of garden hose down the fill pipe (hose) into the tank and
pumped the fuel into jerry cans on the dock. Tarp and sorbent pads under the
jerry cans in case of an oops. The pump isn't made for flammable liquids but
not an issue for diesel.
Our county dump takes diesel as part of the recycling service so I dropped
the old fuel there.
$30 for the pump, $20 for 2 jerry cans from Walmart (had the other 4 on
hand), $5 for garden hose fittings, $45 for 15 gallons of diesel; piece of
garden hose, tarp and sorbent pads that I already had.
And the pump still works so I still have it for other jobs. Still got the
jerry cans too, want a couple?
I think I got off pretty cheap and the trip to the new dock was uneventful.
Not as interesting as your post but I just felt like sharing.