Bio-Diesel and Clogged Fuel Filters. Potential Generator Problems.

Zoomup:

I am currently working for farmer. His farm manager is experiencing tractor diesel filter clogging on a regular basis. It is claimed that the new bio-diesel mix is to blame. Apparently the bio-diesel mix with normal diesel attracts moisture and that causes growth of algae and bacteria in the diesel which blocks fuel filters. Diesel polishing can clean contaminated diesel fuel. This process filters out the dirt, rust and growths using filters of increasing fineness in stages of filtration.

I was wondering what this had to do with leccy.

So, if you have a standby generator that is diesel powered it may be advisable to get the diesel fuel cleaned regularly, tanks cleaned and a "biocide" added to stop growth in the fuel, to maintain reliability.

FWIW, I wonder whether bugs can make use of the ethanol content of E5 petrol? Stale fuel has caused lots of bother with my occasionally used old cars, so I think good advice from Zoomup.


Do hospitals and suchlike, which may need to rely on standby generators, do anything to keep the fuel fresh?

Chris Pearson:

Do hospitals and suchlike, which may need to rely on standby generators, do anything to keep the fuel fresh?

 

Depends on how they are managed, but usually - yes.


That will be a combination of fuel polishing and regular use of the fuel by diverting "stale fuel" to the one or more dual fuel boiler sets - ie we burn it off for the heat on a regular basis (usually summer) and get fresh fuel to cover the gen sets.


Usually the sets will also be capable of using fuel with a stated Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) content - so ordering the right fuel (and looking after it) is quite important


Regular testing of the sets also helps  - as does constant fuel circulation (and back to polishing) from bulk to day tanks


There is an amount of unintended consequence here - the biofuel is supposed to be "greener" but the industry is now causing environmental havoc by using palm oil - the production of which has been the cause of a lot of deforestation - but hey "splash and cash" as the industry calls it, is a good thing, right


Regards


OMS

 

A video explaining the problem of diesel contamination. Please ignore ad. at the end I have no connection with this company at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb6SUuS2rcE


Z.

I know a hospital which had no IT for a day following the failure of their IT service provider to use winter diesel for the backup generator during winter. So when they had a power failure the battery backup cut in, the diesel generator cut in all as planned, then the generator stopped with blocked filters from frozen diesel, then the battery back up ran out of battery so everything stopped for al their customers.


Tricky stuff this diesel fuel.

It was not unknown for farmers to have diesel central heating boiler installed with a pipe feeding it out of the back of the tractor fuel tank.


However heating fuel has a lower freezing point and a diesel tank will freeze up before one filled with heating fuel.


So those farmers who thought they were being clever using diesel bought for their business to heat their homes often ended up without any heating and having to pay for all the burst pipes to be repaired. 


Andy B.

Heating Fuel oil and road diesel (of the white and red nature) are pretty well the same product ie 28 sec oil - and can be (and often are) used interchangeably.


Take a read through the parameters of "Gel Point ", "UnGel Point", "Pour Point" and "Remix Temperature" - and then look at the effects of additives including cetane enhancers such as Ad Blue, on those parameters. Water produced from condensation inside partially filled tanks is usually another thing to be avoided


It's not unusual to combine "winter diesel" additives with engineered solutions such as heated filter units, recirculation pumps and tank heaters to absolutely ensure the critical functions of the generator don't fail due to simple fuel problems. A simple method for static sets is to just start the generator as the external temperature falls - ie switch on at say minus 6C and falling and back off at say minus 4 and rising. The heat from the set tends to keep everything warm  - and you may actually have the set running if you suffer a cold weather loss of offsite power (LOOP) event.


No genset should fail due to low temperature fuel problems if it's designed correctly - what catches most people out is the realisation of the extreme event - it's easy to predict - but difficult to get the investment to address as part of initial capital expenditure. Healthcare premises tend to make the investment as a back up - but in most cases, the Medico's can keep you alive with literally no power availability - although you don't want a scenario of nurses riding on patient trolleys busy with bagging and compressions and a rising sense of panic beginning to surround you


regards


OMS

Chris Pearson:

 

OMS, I knew I could rely upon you for an informative response. Very reassuring for potential patients! ?

 

Potential patients probably have more to fear from the hospital hygiene environment that they do from the lights occasionally going out  - notwithstanding the gassers and slashers of course ? 


Regards


OMS

Stale fuel has caused lots of bother with my occasionally used old cars

When I looked into the possibility of providing a backup/standby generation it seemed that there's a well known problem with petrol (with or without a bio mix) going "stale" - hence you'd see diesel or LPG backup generator sets, but never petrol ones.


  - Andy.

For the same reason it goes stale, namely the lighter molecules float off never to be seen again,  petrol storage is a far more serious/dangerous  matter, requiring control of a flammable vapour with a lower flash point. For anything on a military site a petrol engine for anything larger or more hazardous than a lawnmower needs so many concessions as to be essentially forbidden.


In those sort of places 'dual fuel' compatibility means asking if the genset will run off  aircraft fuel, typically NATO JP8 or commercial J-1  (more or less the same apart from the corrosion inhibitor) as well as road diesel rather than heating oil.

Mostly, apart from smelling like an airfield, with only minor adjustments, they will.