Watere in fuel

I think that I may have water in the fuel on my skid steer. I would like to know what I can add to it to remove the water. It is probably froze in a chunk with the temps we have had. I use to buy an addiative for it every year but dam old age I can't remember the name of the stuff. Thank Ivan

power service 911

If you look at power service it does not remove water, What you should use is isopropel alcohol, Its heet in the red bottle. Jim

i think i would rather put a suction hose in tank and remove water as much as i can....if it's melted, it's heavy that fuel, be easy to suck out, than run thru engine. then put additive to get what is left to keep from damage to engine..my opinion

(quoted from post at 17:11:53 01/23/12) i think i would rather put a suction hose in tank and remove water as much as i can....if it's melted, it's heavy that fuel, be easy to suck out, than run thru engine. then put additive to get what is left to keep from damage to engine..my opinion

Click to expand...

Ivan says that it is frozen. Difficult to suck!!!

Ive never tried sucking ice cube through a hose

As another poster said, Power service 911, add as per directions. Also change your diesel filter(s). Water in the filter makes a scum line, that restricts flow through the filter.

Use Denatured Alcohol..NOT Rubbing Alcohol..

Denatured has NO water in it to start with and can pull out moisture..

You are gonna have to get it in where it can warm up enough to melt the ice, if you cannot get it to start after you change the filters..

Ron..

o-k: i said IF it was melted,,don't know how big the chunk of ice it is ...lol

Personally I much rather tow it to a warm place, be that a shop, garage, barn, etc and get some heat on it. Maybe a lot of heat. Thaw or melt the ice, then drain it out of the tank drain on the bottom. Running it through a diesel isnt a good idea. Good water blocking filters will foul with that much water going in. It will be a host of problems. If it does get through its even more problems in pumps and injectors. Yes its a pain and yes its expensive to do it right. But its a bigger pain and more expensive to not do it right, replace a pump and a set of injectors, and then do it right the second time.

Power Service will help. But best results is using isoprepyl alcohol. The semi tractor that I drove would at times freeze the cross over line between fuel tanks. Put two bottles of isoprepyl in each tank (60 gallon tanks) and in about half hour it was feeding through.

Power Service gets my vote too. I worked in the trucking industry and we used it many a time. I also use it on the farm in my three diesels as additive in the winter. Get it at TSC or any truck stop.

If I remember my high school chemistry correctly, the alcohol will not destroy the water. It will only mix with it so it won't freeze or thaw it if it's frozen. Once it's absorbed you have an antifreeze mixture and the choice of sucking or draining it out or running it through the engine. Gas engine, not that big a deal. Diesel, you had better get it out of the tank before it causes all kinds of problems.

Some use metholated spirits,which is a derivitive of ethanol.

I bought a "new"(to me)tractor last year and while using it in 5°F condition it ran down on me. I determined that that my water separator and the fuel filter were frozen. I used a heat gun to thaw them out and got about 6 ounces of water out of the water separator and another ounce or two out of the filter. A few days later it happened again. I figured the PO had a contaminated fuel tank. I let the tractor sit and used a hand pump to pump water out of the tank and got a pint and a half of water out of the bottom of the tank. I changed the filter and the water separator, treated the fuel with PS White, and religiously drained the water separator before every start. I checked my fuel storage tank and there was less than a tablespoon of water in that so I figured it had to have the been the PO"s fuel storage tank that was contaminated. When I refilled my tank, I treated the fuel with PS White AND PS Clear Diesel additive. I have not had any problems since then. Our tractor has a 24 gallon tank and there was probably just over a quart of water that I removed fromm the tractor tank, water separator and filter during this episode.

I just refilled our fuel storage tank with fuel and treated that with PS White per the label (1 ounce per 3 gallons) and I will continue to do that. I also try to keep our tractor fuel tanks above a half a tank to minimize any condensation problems.

Here"s what i"d advise you to do:

Check your fuel storage tank for water contamination and drain it if you find a significant ammount (more than 4 ounces per 100 gallons).

Check your skid steer tank for water by draining the water separator before every start into a clear jar to check for water. Likewise with the fuel filter. Treat with fuel with PS White. it supposedly helps the filter shed water.

Go to HF and buy their hand pump with the vinyl tubing and pump the bottom of the tank out into a clear jar to see how much water the tank has. Try to get as much out as you can.

Treat your stored fuel with PS Clear Diesel and PS White per the label. (I have no affiliation with Power Service except to use their products. There are other products out there that you can use also so use whatever you want).

Keep your skid steer tank above half full to minimize condensation.

Chage your filters before the cold season. It"s my opinion that a clean filter won"t freeze up as quickly as a partially clogged one.

I don"t believe alchohols are compatible with diesel fuel systems.
Nothing short of water separators and special devices will remove water from fuel. Alchohol won"t do that either. A hand pump or a suction tube can remove freewater at the bottom of a tank. It is my understanding that additives like Power Service cause the water to form globules that slide off the water separator and fuel filter elements and then can be removed by draining those componets.

I should have added that it runs but when it gets to bouncing around the fuel line in the tank picks up something and it get plugged. Never done this in warm weather that is what leads me to believe there ice in the tank. I drained the filters and no water came out.Last night and yeaterday it was in the 40's and I used it all afternoon today and it did not quit so I think it thawed out. When it would quit I pulled the line off my lift pump and blew air back into the tank and that cleared it out. The 911 treatment is what I always ued before I will get some more tomorrow. Thanks alot. Ivan

Get some Ethel alcohol and mix it in. It will mix with the water and also the fuel and you will burn it through and you will never know it. If you will keep your tank full at the end of the day you would not get as much water in the system. You get the water from condensation out of the air when the tank cools and the air is trapped in the tank. Remove the air by filling the tank and no condensation. Just as cheep to run off the top half as it is the bottom.

(quoted from post at 01:01:26 01/24/12) Get some Ethel alcohol and mix it in. It will mix with the water and also the fuel and you will burn it through and you will never know it. If you will keep your tank full at the end of the day you would not get as much water in the system. You get the water from condensation out of the air when the tank cools and the air is trapped in the tank. Remove the air by filling the tank and no condensation. Just as cheep to run off the top half as it is the bottom.

Click to expand...

Larry has it right. There is no need to be a detective. If your tank is ever less than full when the air temp passes from above to below freezing you have just introduced some water into your tank.

This has a plastic tank and I was under the impression that a plastic tank would not get condensiation in it the way a metal tank does. I will add the goodies to the fuel today and see what happens. Thanks for all your help. Ivan