Diesel Polishing/Filtering

[Swain Marine]

You could pump the fuel through one or more a decent size Racor turbine filters, you can get "washable" elements if required or consider trying something like an "MLS Purifiner"
In addition also consider using fuel treatment, my personal choice for this is "Fuel Set"

Purifiner:
http://www.ipu.co.uk/products/ipu-fuel-purifiner#

Fuel Set:
http://liquideng.co.uk/pages/fuel-solutions

[bedajim]

Is your transfer pump a gear or closed impeller pump as it may not like pumping 20 years of settlement out of the bottom of the tank
I'd go with a diaphragm pump 3/4" or 1" with oil resistant seals etc to empty the tanks and pass through your 1st stage filtration.

[CJL]

Your missing some initial options on your list;

Do you still need the generator, day and storage tanks? Most electrical supplies are a lot more stable and down time is reduced. Switching to a higher rated supply line will increasing the stability considerably. One of our sites switched to (I think) 33kva from 11kva and the downtime on the export line is now minimal. A phone call to your provider may be good news and they will have done this locally as part of their ongoing infrastructure improvements.

Also it sounds like you have numerous consumers of diesel on site and it might be more practical, safer and more secure to have one large tank that everybody draws from to ensure a regular turn over of your wetstock. Simple management levels will ensure you have the same quantity of standby fuel available plus you could potentially reduce your day tank size as well and thereby further reduce your risk of the fuel going off. Lots of flexihose should be avoided as they increase the ability of human error (aka muppet effect!) and people leave them so they will discharge outside of your bund loosing product and causing pollution.

Plus make sure your standby supply is connected to the right systems. I've seen sites with some major standby systems ensuring everything runs but the electric main gate was on the mains supply!

Chris

[Ribochet]

Originally Posted by CJL

Your missing some initial options on your list;

Do you still need the generator, day and storage tanks? Most electrical supplies are a lot more stable and down time is reduced. Switching to a higher rated supply line will increasing the stability considerably. One of our sites switched to (I think) 33kva from 11kva and the downtime on the export line is now minimal. A phone call to your provider may be good news and they will have done this locally as part of their ongoing infrastructure improvements.

Chris

There you go Willk - nothing to worry about - just ring the ESB and get them to guarantee there will be no loss of supply due to the full force of the atlantic storms that rattle the West Coast of Ireland on a regular basis

Or failing that just move Donegal to the South Coast of England

[jumpinjack]

Davy from 'boatmec' marine engineering in carrick has a polisher that he hires out. Few boats in fahan used it.

[willk]

Originally Posted by jumpinjack

Davy from 'boatmec' marine engineering in carrick has a polisher that he hires out. Few boats in fahan used it.

Good on yer! Might be Phase 1 sorted right there. I need to go to Killybegs* anyway...


EDIT: Ah, you'll mean the other "Carrick" then. Finally, I wish I WAS in Carrickfergus!

[willk]

Originally Posted by CJL

Your missing some initial options on your list

I appreciate that you're trying to think outside the box on this one Chris, but you've kinda missed the point - I know what I need! I need a generator. I need to store fuel for 72 hours continuous running. It needs to be clean fuel.

I share the same electricity supply as the local hospital. I'm contracted for a 150Kva supply. We are a continuous operation with no acceptable minimum downtime. Power failures are not uncommon in this area.

My primary diesel storage is 10,000L but this supply is not convenient to the genny installation. As regards fuel usage, I am the only user on site and I intend to remain that way! The genny switchgear is inline between the main fuses and the distribution busbars for the entire site.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Ribochet

Or failing that just move Donegal to the South Coast of England

It would certainly improve our weather and their cruising!

[Ribliam]

I'd say give your supplier a call ...could do with a bit of crack ..

[willk]

Originally Posted by Ribliam

I'd say give your supplier a call ...could do with a bit of crack ..

The joke is, sometimes your crowd phone me and say something along the lines of:

"willk, would you ever fire yer auld genny up and go offline for a few hours, we need to work on the local system and if your load is gone, we can reroute the rest of the consumers"

Yiz owe me one, maybe two!

[Ribliam]

See that's what it's all about "Cooperation" the local lads get to work on the system and we give you the opportunity to make dure your plant is operating to your liking "Win Win" yeah..?

[willk]

Originally Posted by bedajim

Is your transfer pump a gear or closed impeller pump as it may not like pumping 20 years of settlement out of the bottom of the tank
I'd go with a diaphragm pump 3/4" or 1" with oil resistant seals etc to empty the tanks and pass through your 1st stage filtration.

I think it's what they call a "vane pump", so I'm guessing that's Impeller?

I could hook up the airline to a pipe and stir the bejaysus out of it for a while first - break up the lumps....

[willk]

Originally Posted by Ribliam

and we give you the opportunity to make dure your plant is operating to your liking

Hey - that's EXACTLY what the feckers said!

You must be issued with ROE cards...

[Poly]

Originally Posted by willk

Hey - that's EXACTLY what the feckers said!

You must be issued with ROE cards...

Did you check your next bill - there was probably a "standby generator test fee" on it!

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Poly

Did you check your next bill - there was probably a "standby generator test fee" on it!

You been watching too much Dr Who again Poly?

[captnjack]

Originally Posted by willk

I think it's what they call a "vane pump", so I'm guessing that's Impeller?

Sort of. Over here "vane pumps" have metal bars which slide out from a central metal hub and grab the fuel. As far as I can tell you have the same names for these.
http://www.michael-smith-engineers.c...pumpmoving.gif

So a bit of a cross between a flexible impeller type and gear pump. Your tank would need to be beyond skanky for the pump to break down.

Fun discussion here with some good smackdown

[willk]

I've opened this pump before to check the condition. It has a mesh prefilter and yes, brass vanes a little like a turbine. I'm getting closer to a solution thanks to this thread.

[jwalker]

Willk, you could let your genny polish your fuel. More about that in a minute...

I store my boat diesel in a 1200lt tank with no bottom drain and I lift the fuel out using a vane type transfer pump. Even after the fuel sitting for a long time (years) the sediment comes out easily via the pump. Obviously I can't guarantee this in your case but you may not have as big a problem as you might imagine. I simply use a copper pipe as the dip pipe and gently place it until it touches the bottom of the tank. The copper pipe has a 'V' notched out of the bottom end to allow the fuel, or crud, into it. Once the fuel is flowing clean I leave it. Plainly this doesn't clean your fuel or scrub your tank but it saves you clogging umpteen filters unnecessarily.

Ok, the next step. Since your genny appears to be running fine the fuel must be at least reasonable so I suggest the following based on that. You can polish your fuel by simply running the engine and allowing the fuel which returns to the tank to pass back to the main storage tank rather than the day tank. The return may not be on the engine side of the engine filters so if not it will need to pass through a filter on its return path to the tank, then the returning fuel will be cleaned reasonably. If you wish, it wouldn't be difficult, nor give you much down time, to install an extra large filter to the engine fuel line for cleaning purposes. I would guess that running your genny under no load won't use an excessive amount of fuel and therefore be cost prohibitive. Also, you will have the advantage that while your genny is running during an emergency, it will be cleaning it's own fuel.

Just a thought for you.

[willk]

Thanks JW. There are a few useful ideas in there!

I should probably stick an extra RACOR turbine stylie filter on the system where the genny feed line leave the daytank. If I put a 30 micron filter on it, it would catch any crud or water before it hits the "lorry" filters on the genny. They work well (and I keep spares) but you can't see water building up. That would be a very good insurance policy to have. Will the fuel pump be up to the added restriction do you think? Fairly standard blown Volvo 120AG (straight six) IIRC.

You're right about the fuel not being too bad. That said, it isn't getting any cleaner in there. I think that I'm probably more concerned about the possible buildup of water and the biodiesel thing. When the unit is running and I have to fill the day tank, there must be huge stirring and the results will be going straight into the engines filters before it gets a chance to settle. That's why I'm hoping to clean both tanks to begin with.

I like the copper lift pipe with the notch. How do you "treat" the fuel when filling the boat - a filter like Poly's funnel RACOR above?

[captnjack]

I know you're in Ireland and all, but why so worried about water accumulating? A set of Racor's would remove small amounts of water and if you have too much for them you either have a crappy fuel supplier or a leaky filler cap.

I have not had issues with biodiesel breeding anymore bugs than dino-diesel. I have used "biobor" and the Racor/Parker biocides in the past though. Not sure if they are all that critical since our climate is alot like yours. I think if I were someplace warmer I'd look into biocides for sure.