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After this last fuel related issue with my little tractor, I'm looking at other things I can do and stock to help with fuel issues.
Something bad happens, the fuel is going to start going bad. This isn't the Walking Dead where 7 years later you'll be able siphon gas out of a soccor mom's Audi and have it work right.
Using old, bad or contaminated fuel however may not be an option. So what's our plan for that??
What about your current storage? Check your cans. We recently ditched about 5 European gas cans. I believe some of these dated to the early 2000's. Most all had been coated with spray on bedliner on the bottoms and the seams to give them a little extra protection. All are stored inside except the rare time a can is left out by the log splitter and covered with a tarp. Never the less, the cans were showing some rust on the bottoms and after dropping over $1000. in repairs on the fuel system, I figured it was time to rule out any bad actors in the game.
I went through and cleaned each of the remaining cans I have in rotation. I drained them thoroughly and then using a pump sprayer, sprayed laquer thinner inside of them turning the spray wand around to get as much coverage as I could inside the can. I then put them in the back of a truck and took them for a ride bouncing along country roads, stopped flipped them over and did it again. Drained them and let them dry. Put diesel in them for the first rotation as I do when they are "new." The more oily'ness of the diesel may help protect the inside of the can, diesel being a lubricant.
A roll of fuel line was purchased and came in handy on the tractor fuel issue as we narrowed down the problem. There was a short section of line that was suspect and it was easy to rule that out by just piecing in a new line there. Don't forget the hose clamps for that size.
Stocked up also on the little in line filters. I was using these to catch any remaining crap in the tank of the tractor before it got to the fuel pump- and caused another $800. or so rebuild.
This pic is probably the 6th or 7th filter I changed out, look at all the algae and junk in it-
Remember, that's the 6th or 7th one!!! The earlier ones were worse!
I had previously drained the fuel tank several times, flushed it with laquer thinner draining everything out, etc. So the crap this filter is catching is well AFTER the tank had been drained, refilled, flushed, cleaned and refilled a couple times.
A good ol' boy at one of the auto parts stores told me about this product below. He said ALL the diesel is crap now cause the gubmint changed the formulations a few years ago (took the sulfur out?) . So he stated the algae will be prolific. Top the tank off to the overflowing point after adding this.
The "bio blast" product is what you are supposed to use first, with a full to the absolute top, overfilled tank. The idea is that the algae has to be completely immersed in fuel and this mixture in order to have a chance of killing it. The diesel aid product is what your supposed to add to the tank after the algae is gone. The little inline fuel filter is shown as well. I'm told one type of these filters is better for gas engines- I was using that one instead and changed to the one pictured which is supposed to be better for diesel engines.
Here is one of the last filters I pulled-
Drained of fuel you can see how much crude builds up. Keep in mind this one in the pic is likely the 12th or more filter I switched out trying to strain this stuff before it got to the fuel pump.
Lot of lessons here for us that will be using or trying to use suspect fuel in a SHTF situation.
Something bad happens, the fuel is going to start going bad. This isn't the Walking Dead where 7 years later you'll be able siphon gas out of a soccor mom's Audi and have it work right.
Using old, bad or contaminated fuel however may not be an option. So what's our plan for that??
What about your current storage? Check your cans. We recently ditched about 5 European gas cans. I believe some of these dated to the early 2000's. Most all had been coated with spray on bedliner on the bottoms and the seams to give them a little extra protection. All are stored inside except the rare time a can is left out by the log splitter and covered with a tarp. Never the less, the cans were showing some rust on the bottoms and after dropping over $1000. in repairs on the fuel system, I figured it was time to rule out any bad actors in the game.
I went through and cleaned each of the remaining cans I have in rotation. I drained them thoroughly and then using a pump sprayer, sprayed laquer thinner inside of them turning the spray wand around to get as much coverage as I could inside the can. I then put them in the back of a truck and took them for a ride bouncing along country roads, stopped flipped them over and did it again. Drained them and let them dry. Put diesel in them for the first rotation as I do when they are "new." The more oily'ness of the diesel may help protect the inside of the can, diesel being a lubricant.
A roll of fuel line was purchased and came in handy on the tractor fuel issue as we narrowed down the problem. There was a short section of line that was suspect and it was easy to rule that out by just piecing in a new line there. Don't forget the hose clamps for that size.
Stocked up also on the little in line filters. I was using these to catch any remaining crap in the tank of the tractor before it got to the fuel pump- and caused another $800. or so rebuild.
This pic is probably the 6th or 7th filter I changed out, look at all the algae and junk in it-
Remember, that's the 6th or 7th one!!! The earlier ones were worse!
I had previously drained the fuel tank several times, flushed it with laquer thinner draining everything out, etc. So the crap this filter is catching is well AFTER the tank had been drained, refilled, flushed, cleaned and refilled a couple times.
A good ol' boy at one of the auto parts stores told me about this product below. He said ALL the diesel is crap now cause the gubmint changed the formulations a few years ago (took the sulfur out?) . So he stated the algae will be prolific. Top the tank off to the overflowing point after adding this.
The "bio blast" product is what you are supposed to use first, with a full to the absolute top, overfilled tank. The idea is that the algae has to be completely immersed in fuel and this mixture in order to have a chance of killing it. The diesel aid product is what your supposed to add to the tank after the algae is gone. The little inline fuel filter is shown as well. I'm told one type of these filters is better for gas engines- I was using that one instead and changed to the one pictured which is supposed to be better for diesel engines.
Here is one of the last filters I pulled-
Drained of fuel you can see how much crude builds up. Keep in mind this one in the pic is likely the 12th or more filter I switched out trying to strain this stuff before it got to the fuel pump.
Lot of lessons here for us that will be using or trying to use suspect fuel in a SHTF situation.
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