Fuel in my water tank !!!

As the old saying starts ... "If you have to ask ..."

Hi,

I would suggest that if you even have to ask that then maybe the land is the best place for someone with your skills and experience with these matters to stay as the previous poster states.

In your plumbing experience or life's experience have you ever worked on any marine vessels that have fixed plumbing systems?

Actually, depending on the size, the OP's boat (Bertram or Hat) probably has a plastic tank. Especially IF someone else is footing the bill I would demand a new tank (and probably settle for a very good professional cleaning) although that is a big IF because I still question why he'd let someone on the dock fuel him unsupervised. Changing the tank (not the whole plumbing system) might even be cheaper depending on professional labor rates in his area.

Your expected reaction would probably fall under the catagory or "justifiable homicide". Hope you pumped a few gallons into his waste hole as a lesson.

9 times in a month? Filling or cleaning 9x?

Shaking it up is great, but you could probably just flush those tanks once or twice a day.

I was a mate on a small salvage/tow boat when we were called to a emergency tow.

The captain stopped at the fuel pier and the attendant handed him a nozzle.
I do not recall how many gallons of fuel ( less than 25 gallons in about a 150 gallon tank ) he pumped before the attendant came running to say it was gas not diesel.

The captain was stunned and pissed at himself.

We added about three gallons of straight 30 weight oil and topped off with diesel.

It was a 671 detroit pumped up to about 450 hp. It never skipped a beat and I never let him live it down.

Hi,

The 6 71 is an amazingly robust old banger, a bit of gas wouldn't make a jot of difference to one of those.

I do believe that before the advent of winter diesel that Gas was mixed with Diesel to stop it waxing and keep the machines running.

I'd never heard that, but it sounds viable. What formula was used if you know?

Hi,

It was something I recall the old boys talking about when I did my apprenticeship.

I also know from experience with folks myself included mistakenly adding Gas to a diesel tank in small quantities not making any noticeable difference.

In large enough quantities I could see that being explosive, but in moderate quantities I could see it working for you. Was just curious where you thought the cutoff point was. We always just kept some a can of ether around to get things started in winter (another thing you don't want to use too much of or smoke around).

Adding gasoline to diesel as a means to lower the temperature at which wax forms (cloud point) doesn't really do much. Adding it once wax has formed will not dissolve the wax, and even a 20 percent blend of gasoline will only reduce the cloud point by a few degrees.

But, and this is the big one, adding even small amounts of gasoline to diesel will lower the flash point to illegal (for boats) levels and create a threat to life, limb, and warranty, not to mention insurance coverage for the loss of your boat and those at the dock next to you.

If winter starting is a problem, or filter clogging by wax is possible (why are we talking about this in July?) then blend jet fuel, kerosene, or home heating fuel but never gasoline.

Also there are quite a few additives we use on our diesel trucks and equipment that I assume you could use in a boat with out the worry of flashpoint.

Just use #1 diesel, there is very little wax in it so the odds are pretty slim of having wax problems. Additives only lower the filter plugging point by a few degrees at best because they change the shape of the wax crystals, additives don't prevent them and can't eliminate them once they have formed. Mouse milk is an expense feel good proposition.

The only thing that works is blending a product that has a lower pour point and less wax, and that is stuff like jet fuel, kerosene, or home heating oil. Either that or fuel heating.

To clean a water tank use dawn dish washing liquid.After you have it all rinsed out.Then use simple green to wash out the tank.Then air dry.We use simple green to clean the insides of scuba tanks.Or check out this pdf file.



http://www.searo.who.int/LinkFiles/...ning_and_disinfecting_water_storage_tanks.pdf

I'm no expert, but I'm guessin' that a case of 1.75 liter bottles of good Vodka will rid the necessity of re-plumbing the whole system....just a thought.