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DougG 
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Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Location: Mo
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 Topic: Diesel fuel gelling question
Posted: 15 Feb 2020 at 12:16pm |
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Had my first gel up at 3 degrees the other day in my 99 Dodge, when the fuel warms up does it get back to useabe condition ?
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Coke-in-MN
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Joined: 12 Sep 2009
Location: Afton MN
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Posted: 15 Feb 2020 at 12:28pm |
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Yes it will but the wax that forms on filters might not disolve back unless temp gets a lot higher . You can mix a small amount of unleaded regular gas into diesel to help with cloud point of waxing or use other products to help - # 1 Diesel or keroseene but change out the filters and reuse them later in the summur again .
Winter blend diesel is a mix of # 1 with #2 to reduce the cloud point but it's not always right - trucking outfit i worked for (tanker / petroleum delivery) had their own tanks and dropped a load of unblended #2 into their storage tanks - 100 trucks hit the road and about 80 went down because of waxed filters - seems some didn't top off at company pump.
I limped into truck stop added 20 gallons of #1 and made it back to shop at about 15 MPH top speed for 25 miles - changed filters and it ran fine rest of day but did top off tank again with #1 before I quit for the day .
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HD6GTOM
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Joined: 30 Nov 2009
Location: MADISON CO IA
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Posted: 15 Feb 2020 at 4:02pm |
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If it's in the shop you can shoot heat on the filters and the filters will flow. It will take a while. I was making delivery's the other day and within a 42 mile stretch of the interstate there were 5 semis gelled up. I was done delivering so I stopped at each 1 to see if I could take them someplace warm. They were running truck stop fuel that had been winterized. If you are not running at least 50% #1 fuel at those temps, there is a very good chance it's going to jell up?
Edited by HD6GTOM - 15 Feb 2020 at 4:03pm
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DougG
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Posted: 15 Feb 2020 at 4:20pm |
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Got it going, thanks !
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klinemar
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Location: Michigan
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Posted: 15 Feb 2020 at 9:23pm |
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After having a tractor gel up I always treat my diesel fuel tank every fall with Power Service fuel treatment. I also keep a bottle or two on hand for when it gets below zero and add some to the tractor or skid loader tanks. I don't like to work extra hard in the cold!
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ac fleet
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Posted: 19 Feb 2020 at 12:26pm |
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I have been lucky so far. Early fall I start treating the diesels and keep it treated til spring, so far so good.
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DiyDave
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Posted: 19 Feb 2020 at 4:52pm |
This guy's got a pretty good idea, here:
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Not too bad fer some hick farmer/lathe operator!  |
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DaveKamp
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Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Location: LeClaire, Ia
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Posted: 25 Feb 2020 at 11:24pm |
Another way to go about it (and not unusual for many applications, especially emergency generators with large tanks beneath), is to have a coolant loop passing down into the tank, through a coil of tubing, and back up to the cooling system.
Many don't realize that diesel engines often use excess fuel feed to an injector as a method to remove excess heat from the injector body and tip, while at the same time, using this bypassed fuel (returned to the tank) to provide heat to the tank fuel.
I'm rather surprised that the builder did not apply insulation to the exterior of the heater, as the heating efficiency would be much higher with it protected from loss.
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Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
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Tbone95
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Posted: 26 Feb 2020 at 7:10am |
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The Power Service 911 works too. I've only ever needed it once, but it worked well. Kind of a mess and your hands will get darn cold taking off the filter and such, but it worked exactly as it said it would.
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DMiller
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Posted: 26 Feb 2020 at 7:42am |
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Decades back now we used everything, I can remember using a Mop handle to stir the Jello in a tank while pouring K1 or Diesel no 1 into it, have followed the OLD Detroit Diesel Service Manual instructions(Good for ONE doping) and stirred unleaded regular gas into FULL Gelled tanks, the limit was 5 gallon below "0" Degrees F for every 100 gallons diesel, had to use it down to NOTHING before mixing another batch or having a blended tank already set for refills to keep from overdosing. The MOST we ever added I can remember was 1.5 gallon per 100.
Power Service by itself stirred in not shaken will dissolve the Jello, as will nearly any additives as are primarily a Petroleum Distillate similar characteristics to K1 essentially putting the paraffin crystals back into solution or lowering the Viscosity of the fuel oil.
Edited by DMiller - 26 Feb 2020 at 7:42am
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Tbone95
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Posted: 26 Feb 2020 at 11:09am |
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Yeah, well, in my situation, I don't think the whole tank was jello.....just couldn't get through the filter.
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tadams(OH)
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Posted: 26 Feb 2020 at 2:31pm |
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Back in the 70s we used to use dry gas in the winter when it got real cold on our semis
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Dave H
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Posted: 27 Feb 2020 at 7:24am |
what is dry gas? 
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Tbone95
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Posted: 27 Feb 2020 at 7:54am |
 Dave H wrote:
what is dry gas?
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Usually Isopropyl or Methyl alcohol (based), to absorb moisture
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klinemar
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Posted: 27 Feb 2020 at 9:25am |
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Old trucker friend of mine who has since went to the Diesel Den in the sky told me of trucking out in Northern Minnesota one winter. He got up there unloaded and was going to fill up to go get a load for home. He said it was so cold the truck exhaust coming out of the stacks was leaving contrails like the planes when flying at high altitude! Dean said trucks were stranded all up and down the Interstate with gelled fuel. Dean pulled into a truck stop for fuel and went inside and asked for antigel or anything else they had. All sold out was the reply! Dean bought a 2.5 gallon gas can and went back to the pump. He put a can full of gasoline in each tank and filled it the rest of the way with diesel. Dean said he had no problems all the way home.
Edited by klinemar - 27 Feb 2020 at 9:26am
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DMiller
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Posted: 27 Feb 2020 at 1:05pm |
Tbone95 wrote:
Yeah, well, in my situation, I don't think the whole tank was jello.....just couldn't get through the filter. |
Pretty well ALL Jello, had to be dragged into the shop I worked in, filters changed, lines blown out, and the Jello in the tanks thinned. Dead of Winter in MO can be nasty, get to +5 or around zero for a few days, let some unacquainted buy fuel south then head home for a weekend and they initially start only to die and not fire again until gel recovery. Had two fleets would NOT buy blended fuel, save a few pennies a gallon, end up two to three hours shop time and anti gel additives to get them moving.
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DaveKamp
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Posted: 27 Feb 2020 at 6:10pm |
What happens in gellation, is that the heaviest fractions (Parrafins) set up first. The lighter fractions will pass through the filter, but the gelled heaviers will accumulate and clog it.
The problem with gelling fuel, is that the filters have effectively removed the lighter fractions (they'll flow) leaving the parrafins behind.
Clearing them, means saturating them with something lighter that will rapidly mix in and 'cut' them aggressively, and that's not particuarly easy at a low temperature. Gasoline will do it, but there's many engines (especially newer ones) with injection pumps, injectors, etc., that won't tolerate the higher volatility of gasoline. FWIW, when we had 7.3L Navistar engines (in our F450's), we had dual tanks, the FRONT tank was always diesel with some gasoline... and the rear was just winter diesel. In an 18 gallon front tank, we'd pour in about 2 gallons of unleaded. Every morning, we'd start the engine on that tank... and once she was warm, we'd switch to the rear and roll. Before shutting down, we'd flip the switch back to front, and make the last 2-3 miles to the house on that front tank mix, and NEVER had any issues with cold.
Biodiesel yields very interesting 'extras' with the parrafins... the result is some really interesting goopy brownish-reddish glop.
Interesting part, is that heavy oil engines used in ships... they'd pump the glop just fine... of course, the injectors, and the pump that moves 'em, and the lines it must be passed through... are a whole lot LARGER... and of course, they heat the lines in a myriad of ways.
Edited by DaveKamp - 27 Feb 2020 at 6:16pm
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Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
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Tbone95
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Posted: 28 Feb 2020 at 7:41am |
DMiller wrote:
Tbone95 wrote:
Yeah, well, in my situation, I don't think the whole tank was jello.....just couldn't get through the filter. |
Pretty well ALL Jello, had to be dragged into the shop I worked in, filters changed, lines blown out, and the Jello in the tanks thinned. Dead of Winter in MO can be nasty, get to +5 or around zero for a few days, let some unacquainted buy fuel south then head home for a weekend and they initially start only to die and not fire again until gel recovery. Had two fleets would NOT buy blended fuel, save a few pennies a gallon, end up two to three hours shop time and anti gel additives to get them moving. |
I understand how bad the gelling can get.
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