Petrol extraction

[Orwell boy]

Is there a "spout" on that Volvic bottle, Plumby? [/QUOTE]

Nah ,think he found it on the dock spur road at felixstowe port ,had one of those she wee things attached so did sort of have a spout !!

[gtflash]

I had a water in fuel issue. I drained tank via pickup, I went through several pump siphons. They don’t survive much pumping. I bought a cheap force4 fuel line and primer, also failed. Eventually I was satisfied I had removed all the water. £300 of new petrol later and I can confirm pickups don’t go low enough to drain tanks.

Now I have a cheap electric fuel pump, remove inspection hatch which is aft (and the source of water intrusion) and I drained every drop, wiped spotlessly clean and fixed gasket leak. I also found fuel and water Got trapped behind tank baffles. So I raised and lowered boat like a benny hill sketch.

Not wanting to waste the fuel I filtered it via a funnel based filter and water separator then pumped it round via electric pump and aN inline water fuel separator several time. I even let it settle and skimmed the top fuel off the water. Stuck the clean fuel in nippers car, it seized his in tank fuel pump and cost me £hundreds to get a new pump.

Never again will I recycle petrol.

[gtflash]

Ps I’m not as simple as my spelling and grammar above makes me appear. Bloody iPad has a keyboard lag issue I can’t fix.

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by gtflash

I had a water in fuel issue. I drained tank via pickup, I went through several pump siphons. They don’t survive much pumping. I bought a cheap force4 fuel line and primer, also failed. Eventually I was satisfied I had removed all the water. £300 of new petrol later and I can confirm pickups don’t go low enough to drain tanks.

Now I have a cheap electric fuel pump, remove inspection hatch which is aft (and the source of water intrusion) and I drained every drop, wiped spotlessly clean and fixed gasket leak. I also found fuel and water Got trapped behind tank baffles. So I raised and lowered boat like a benny hill sketch.

Not wanting to waste the fuel I filtered it via a funnel based filter and water separator then pumped it round via electric pump and aN inline water fuel separator several time. I even let it settle and skimmed the top fuel off the water. Stuck the clean fuel in nippers car, it seized his in tank fuel pump and cost me £hundreds to get a new pump.

Never again will I recycle petrol.

If you let it settle all the water should have separated out. How was it Mixed. That is against the laws of chemistry

[smallribber]

I actually think the devil here is inboard built in tanks. I think a number of removable plastic tanks is a better solution. even with a large engine 4 should do the trick.

My view is that water will never accidently get in a removable plastic tank.

If you dont Recycle a large quantity of 'bad' petrol what do you do with it legally and responsibly.

Even the small amount I had (approx 3 ltrs) is still sitting in an old can with me wondering what to do with it one day

[willk]

Originally Posted by smallribber

I actually think the devil here is inboard built in tanks. I think a number of removable plastic tanks is a better solution. even with a large engine 4 should do the trick.y

Those of us with one or more 450L underdeck tanks might disagree. A basic day out for me is 100-150L. Nip to Scotland for lunch and it's twice that

Originally Posted by smallribber

My view is that water will never accidently get in a removable plastic tank.

I'm fairly sure jeffstevens will have something to say about that. IIRC there are a few more tales on here of water in removable tanks. They're on deck with breather valves and exposed connectors.

Originally Posted by smallribber

If you dont Recycle a large quantity of 'bad' petrol what do you do with it legally and responsibly.

Surely you could just store it in a lemonade bottle until a passing child drinks it?

I use some for cleaning (tar removal and removing old grease from parts). On the rare occasions I have more than a liter, I burn it in a steel pot. 2 stroke mix requires a wick to burn at room temperature.

[Oldman2]

Originally Posted by smallribber

Even the small amount I had (approx 3 ltrs) is still sitting in an old can with me wondering what to do with it one day

Get one of these and run it for a year on 3ltr




seagull 40plus.jpg

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Oldman2

Get one of these and run it for a year on 3ltr




seagull 40plus.jpg

Very Pretty that one I bought one earlier last year and it is in good nick but I intend to do it up a little more. Just bought it for a bit of history to be honest

[Oldman2]

Thats not mine, I bought mine in late 70's & it had a hard life before then, I just changed the needle to run it on 25:1 last week. Sorry for the thread drift, here is mine.


IMG_3375.jpg

[gtflash]

Originally Posted by smallribber

If you let it settle all the water should have separated out. How was it Mixed. That is against the laws of chemistry

It was mixed in the tank from the sloshing of the boat I presume. When I pumped it out I pumped every drop of moisture out the tank. Water and petrol obviously mixed in the Jerry cans as it was removed from boat. Moving it, mixed it quite easily. 300 ish litres of fuel looked stunning on my front garden as the smaller particles of water twinkled in the petrol like diamonds before settling. I obviously thought I understood the properties of water and fuel separation, hence why I tried to recycle it.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by smallribber

That is against the laws of chemistry

These laws of chemistry you speak of, where are they written? Whilst we all say that oil and water don’t mix it’s not strictly speaking true - the oil industry and the water industry both spend a lot of money measuring trace amounts of oil in water and water in oil. If you take a bottle of Volvic, a bottle of petrol, mix and separate the aqueous layer will taste absolutely foul. Similarly the oil layer will not be 100% hydrocarbon. As willk highlights modern fuels suffer more in this regard as the alcohols act to trap more water in the oil. If you get the bulk water out you can get desiccant “teabags” you can add to remove the dissolved/suspended water.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Poly

...the aqueous layer will taste absolutely foul...... If you get the bulk water out you can get desiccant “teabags” you can add to remove the dissolved/suspended water.

On a Cautionary note, the "tea" will taste absolutely foul.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by smallribber

My view is that water will never accidently get in a removable plastic tank.

If you never use those tanks on an open boat at sea perhaps! The vent is designed to suck stuff in, water (rain or sea) on deck will get sucked in if you are out in suitable conditions (or indeed if you accidentally forget to close the vent when it’s on a mooring), and whilst condensation in plastic tanks is much less than metal ones the laws of physics mean given the right temperature and humidity you can still get condensation... that’s without buying crap fuel, filling up at a marina in heavy rain, or accounting for the crap plastic on tank filler based fuel gauges which seems to craze and crack etc. The problem is as much age of the tank (between proper clean outs) as the style/location. If you get a teaspoon of water in your tank every time you use it, and the pickup doesn’t let it get sucked out, that after 50 uses you have 1/4 L of water in your tank; and so if continues until eventually you do have enough water in your tank. Maybe portable tanks are easier to completely drain and clean or get battered, bashed, faded and replaced more often? But i suspect plenty portable tanks are just as neglected as in built.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by willk

:



I use some for cleaning (tar removal and removing old grease from parts). On the rare occasions I have more than a liter, I burn it in a steel pot. .

I put a litre in a steel wheelbarrow to burn it off several years ago... took a surprisingly long time to burn it all, flames were rather impressive height.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Poly

These laws of chemistry you speak of..

Originally Posted by willk

On a Cautionary note, the "tea" will taste absolutely foul.

^ I'm referring to Boils Law.

[gtflash]

Originally Posted by smallribber

If you let it settle all the water should have separated out. How was it Mixed. That is against the laws of chemistry

It was mixed in the tank from the sloshing of the boat I presume. When I pumped it out I pumped every drop of moisture out the tank. Water and petrol obviously mixed in the Jerry cans as it was removed from boat. Moving it, mixed it quite easily. 300 ish litres of fuel looked stunning on my front garden as the smaller particles of water twinkled in the petrol like diamonds before settling. I obviously thought I understood the properties of water and fuel separation, hence why I tried to recycle it and buggered a bmw fuel pump.

[GuyC]

On some older warships, they had compensated tanks which is where they used sea water via the fire main to push the fuel into the fuel system. It also meant that when fuelling they had to turn the pump off before the fuel pushed all the seawater out of the tank and started filling the harbour. They were unsuccessful on a number of occasions.

Why? You never have empty tanks and empty tanks are bad for stability. As fuel was used your stability improved due to the difference in densities.

[Ferryman]

There’s a reason that you spend half your life as an engineer cadet at sea cleaning purifiers!! Water doesn’t just fall out of oil or fuel.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by willk

^ I'm referring to Boils Law.

I should just close the thread now.

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by gtflash

It was mixed in the tank from the sloshing of the boat I presume. When I pumped it out I pumped every drop of moisture out the tank. Water and petrol obviously mixed in the Jerry cans as it was removed from boat. Moving it, mixed it quite easily. 300 ish litres of fuel looked stunning on my front garden as the smaller particles of water twinkled in the petrol like diamonds before settling. I obviously thought I understood the properties of water and fuel separation, hence why I tried to recycle it and buggered a bmw fuel pump.

How do you know the water in the fuel damaged the pump and it wasnt just at the end of its life anyway? Presumably the vehicle manufacturers expect small amounts of water contamination or they wouldnt fit filters to remove it or warning systems to notify you you have water in your filter