The Fuel Problem Nobody Warns You About
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Term
gelled fuel
Gelled fuel is diesel fuel that has turned thick and sticky because it got too cold. This makes it hard for the engine to use the fuel, which can cause starting problems.
Company
Diesel 911
Diesel 911 is a special product you can use if your diesel fuel gets too thick and won't work. It helps to make the fuel runny again so your vehicle can start.
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that many people recognize because of its unique shape and fast speed. It's known for being fun to drive and has been around for a long time, making it a favorite among car lovers.
Term
diesel fuel supplement
A diesel fuel supplement is a special liquid you add to diesel fuel to help it work better, especially in cold weather. It can stop the fuel from getting thick and hard to use.
Term
fuel system maintenance
Fuel system maintenance means taking care of the parts that deliver fuel to the engine. If these parts aren't looked after, the engine might have trouble starting or running smoothly.
Car
Cummins 5.9
The Cummins 5.9 is a powerful diesel engine used in trucks, especially in the Dodge Ram. It's known for being strong and lasting a long time, which is why many people like it for heavy work.
Term
diesel truck
A diesel truck is a type of vehicle that runs on diesel fuel instead of gasoline. They are often used for heavy work because they are strong and can go longer distances on less fuel.
Term
DPF flush
A DPF flush is like a deep cleaning for a part of a diesel engine that catches dirt and soot. It helps keep the engine running smoothly and makes it cleaner for the environment.
Term
diesel injector
A diesel injector is a part of a diesel engine that helps spray fuel into the engine for it to work. Keeping it clean is important for the engine to run well.
Term
winter prep campaign
A winter prep campaign is a set of actions taken to get your car ready for winter. It helps ensure your vehicle runs well in cold weather.
Term
dehydrate your fuel tanks
Dehydrating your fuel tanks means getting rid of any water in the fuel. This is important because water can freeze and cause problems in your car's fuel system during winter.
Term
clear diesel
Clear diesel is a special kind of diesel fuel that has been cleaned to remove water and other impurities. It's important for keeping engines running smoothly, especially in cold weather.
Term
fuel filter
A fuel filter is a part of your car that cleans the fuel before it goes to the engine. It helps keep the engine running smoothly by removing dirt and other unwanted stuff from the fuel.
Term
ultra low sulfur
Ultra low sulfur is a type of diesel fuel that has very little sulfur in it. This helps to make the air cleaner by reducing pollution from diesel engines.
Term
common rail
Common rail is a modern way to inject fuel into diesel engines. It helps the engine run better and cleaner by allowing more precise control over how much fuel is used.
Term
water fuel separator
A water fuel separator is a tool that helps keep water out of the fuel that goes into the engine. This is important because water can damage the engine parts.
Term
winterization
Winterization is getting your car ready for winter. It helps prevent problems like ice in the fuel and makes sure your car runs well in cold weather.
Term
diesel engine
A diesel engine is a type of engine that runs on diesel fuel. It's often used in trucks because it can be more efficient and powerful than regular gasoline engines.
Term
stock engine
A stock engine is the original engine that comes with a vehicle, without any changes. Some people want to upgrade it for better performance or to handle heavier loads.
Company
DFC diesel
DFC Diesel is a business that rebuilds and sells diesel engines for trucks and other heavy vehicles.
Term
Duramax
Duramax refers to a type of diesel engine made by General Motors for their trucks, known for their power and reliability.
Term
Powerstroke
Powerstroke is a type of diesel engine made by Ford, used in their larger trucks for better towing and hauling capabilities.
Term
Cummins
Cummins is a brand that makes powerful diesel engines used in trucks and heavy machinery.
Term
ISO 9001 2015 standards
ISO 9001:2015 is a set of rules that companies follow to make sure they provide good quality products and services.
Term
aftermarket
The aftermarket is where you can buy car parts and accessories that are not made by the original car company.
Term
condensation
Condensation happens when warm air cools down and turns into water. This is important for fuel tanks because it can cause water to mix with the fuel, which is not good for the engine.
Term
bacteria path
A bacteria path is when bacteria grow in the fuel tank, usually because there's water mixed with the fuel. This can cause problems for the engine.
Term
transfer tanks
Transfer tanks are extra tanks that truck owners use to carry more fuel. They help in refueling other vehicles or equipment when needed.
Company
Hitachi
Hitachi makes a lot of different machines, including ones used for logging. They are known for their heavy equipment that helps with big jobs.
Term
fuel sample
A fuel sample is just a little bit of fuel taken from a tank to check if it's clean and safe to use in an engine. It helps find out if there are any problems with the fuel.
Term
water separator
A water separator is a part that helps keep water out of the fuel that goes into the engine. Water can cause problems, so this part makes sure only clean fuel gets used.
Term
fuel gelling
Fuel gelling happens when diesel fuel gets too cold and turns into a thick gel. This can block the fuel lines and make it hard for the engine to get fuel, causing it to run poorly or not start at all.
Company
Power Service
Power Service is a company that makes products to help keep fuel clean and engines running well. They have different solutions for both diesel and gasoline engines.
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Welcome to the Diesel Podcast presented by DFC Diesel.
Garth, welcome back to the Diesel Podcast. How you been?
I've been great. Thank you for having me back on.
So that's been a little while and things have happened.
Winter's been upon us. So we've been busy with that.
And I appreciate getting an opportunity to come back on here.
It was really cool.
I think we chatted a little bit after SEMA.
And you shared that awesome build that you guys did.
And I've been seeing it at lots of places.
I think I saw it on Diesel World magazine and some other spots
of that beautiful truck you guys built for the booth.
And at that time, we had talked about winterizing.
And it just, it was like last week when that huge Arctic blast
hit like half the country and went all the way down south.
I was thinking back to that episode about winterizing.
So it aged really well the conversation that we had about protecting our trucks.
Yes. Yeah. We certainly did have a blast.
I was caught on Interstate 20 halfway through Louisiana for 17 hours
in a U-Haul truck taking furniture up to my son in North Carolina.
So I was right smack dab in the middle of that.
And a lot of the truckers that were on the road with us
were gelled up having fuel related issues.
So I talked to quite a few of them while we had 17 hours to get to know each other
about some winterization tips.
And a lot of these guys were from the south that hadn't dealt with
winterization issues.
And so I told them that, hey, on YouTube,
you can find a diesel podcast that talks about winterization of diesel fuel
and kind of went through some of that stuff with those guys as well.
For anyone who didn't catch that episode or, you know, we're not out of winter yet.
Can you touch on some, some high points or some, some products that
when this next one comes through, which I'm sure it will,
that people should, ways they can stay ahead of it to protect against
gelling and what they should be using for their truck as far as the power
service lineup.
So the first thing that they, you know, they need to do is our
recommendation is when temperatures are going to be below 32 degrees,
treat the fuel.
Because you don't know your current region fuels vary where the cloud point
happens within the diesel.
And so we, our safe number is, hey, when it's going to be below freezing,
treat with an anti-gel.
Our, our white model with the red cap, the diesel fuel supplement is
our preventative product that needs to be in before it gets cold.
And if somebody fails to do that and they gel up and they're plugged up,
that's when they need our red bottle, the diesel 911 product to reliquify
the gelled fuel, get the vehicle up and running.
And then add diesel fuel supplement into the fuel at that point.
Because if you just rely on 911, it's going to refreeze.
It's going to re-gel the next morning.
It's not a preparation product.
It's a immediate, hey, get me up and running the product.
Now I've got to take the other steps to get the anti-gel chemistry into
the fuel and get the fuel condition so it doesn't happen again.
So, I mean, I know some regions are going to be much colder.
There's going to be people that hear that and say, I don't have any issues
until it's 10 degrees.
Well, I can't guarantee that all fuel is going to be above a 10-degree
cloud point of the fuel, but I know if you put it in at 32
and ride around that freezing number, you're going to be protected
no matter what region you're in with the fuel.
I love how simple power service makes it with the bottle colors
and even the names of the products so that I know, hey, it's frozen.
I just need to get it up and running.
Here's diesel 911, but then once I do, this is how I can treat it then
and then also in the future to just avoid that.
So you guys make it really simple for us.
Yeah.
We try to make it as simple and like I think I mentioned on our last call
when the customers call our 800 number and get a hold of us in here.
First thing we're asking them, what color bottle are you using?
Because a lot of times, especially when a customer's been having a
fuel-related issue and they're out there and it's cold, they're frustrated.
They're not going to recall the name necessarily.
They're not going to recall a lot.
But they're going to know, did I use a white bottle or a red bottle
or some other, if they tell me, hey, the bottle's clear.
Well, I know it's not our product, but I'm still going to help them get
remedied and get them up and running.
So it's just a matter of, I love our bottle color identification.
Our names go well with it.
And the number, to be able to say, I'm using the red bottle.
Well, here's where you went wrong.
Here's the trouble spot.
Yeah, I love that.
I love that simplicity.
And I think you're right.
When you're in that situation, you're frustrated, you're stressed out
and you might not remember the specific name of the product,
but it's made so simple.
One of the things I'm really excited to chat with you about today is you'd
mentioned, hey, there's a topic that gets overlooked all the time
and that's fuel system maintenance.
And I was thinking back to the episodes I've done, the conversations
I've had over the years.
I've never talked about that, but I remember years ago I had a friend
with a, it was a 2004 or five, five nine Cummins.
And he kept having these issues with hard starts or sometimes
the truck would just die.
And he took it to a shop.
They couldn't figure out what was wrong with it.
And he was really frustrated.
Eventually he got it to a place where they dropped the tank and it was
covered in algae.
And that was the first time I had heard about that.
And I thought it would be great to talk about fuel system maintenance
issues that can happen.
And I'm sure there's a bunch of different paths we can go down.
But what are we missing as diesel truck owners when it comes to
maintaining our fuel tank?
I think the biggest thing that we're missing is where people don't
have water content in it.
You know, through the refining process to remove the sulfur,
they're, they're adding water to absorb the sulfur, carry the
sulfur out of the stream.
So what we end up with is diesel that has more parts from
million of water in it than what we imagined that it would.
A general consumer thinks diesel is just pure diesel.
Well, it's not as we've gotten into ultra low sulfur diesel,
there's more water, there's less sulfur to actually carry the
water. And those listeners that say, well, I was around with
high sulfur or low sulfur days, you didn't have those issues
because the sulfur acted as a sponge and absorbed the water
and it carried it through the system.
And a mechanical injection system didn't care.
A mechanical system had tolerances, which if water passed
through, if diesel passed through, it was like a meat grinder.
It's going to push it through and it's going to combust what it
doesn't, it smokes and comes out of the tailpipe as, as smoke.
Well, today with the ultra low sulfur diesel with the high
pressure count on rail engines, we are having more water in the
left over the fuel.
We don't have sulfur to actually carry the water out of the
fuel. And so what we do, what is the water?
Water is heavier than diesel, water settles to the bottom and
starts immediately growing bacteria.
Bacteria is always present in all diesel fuel because of the
crude that's drilled out of the ground.
There's bacteria in the crude slate goes through the refining
process.
That bacteria survives through all of this process and then it
gets into the tanks.
Well, as soon as water is there, it, bacteria begins to grow
because bacteria is a very simple organism.
It needs water, it needs oxygen and it needs a food source.
The water provides the oxygen.
The hydrocarbon that's in the diesel fuel provides the food
source.
And so what do they do?
They eat, breed and create waste.
And so a lot of times, once we finally realize we have a
bacteria issue, it's pretty far advanced because it's
contaminated in the tank.
And the first sign that we have a problem is I'm flugging
fuel filters.
And when we start cutting in fuel, fuel filters and starting
looking into that, well, it's bacteria look in the tank and
you can see the, the algae and the bacteria floating around
kind of attaching into the tank and becoming a slime of sorts.
It's in the fuel.
And so a lot of people just don't understand that, that why
it's happening, you know, the fact is everybody's prone to it.
Then the other part is where we get fuel.
I mean, the retail stations, truck stops, the card lock
facilities, bulk fuel facilities, there's a lot of belief of
well, we're, we're, our throughput's getting this fuel
through and we're not going to have this issue.
Well, the heavies are settling to the bottom and you're never
emptying these bigger tanks out to where they're, they're
pumping air.
They're, they're getting like two thirds of the way or a third
of the way down, topping it off or getting a quarter or three
quarters of the way empty and then they top them back off.
So there's always fuel in these tanks, no matter if they
think they're going to pump until they can't pump anymore.
Well, there's still several hundred gallons in the bottom of
any sort of storage tank.
If it's a, you know, at a retail site that's got a five,
six, 10,000 gallon storage tank.
Well, there's still always fuel when what's down in that
bottom is the worst of the worst, the heavy water that
settled down, the bacteria layer, we call it the interfaces
where you got diesel setting on top of water and in that
interface is where bacteria is going to thrive.
It's eating the hydrocarbons, it's getting the oxygen from
the water that's sitting in the bottom and it doesn't take a
ton of water, just very little water is enough to get the
oxygen for this bacteria to grow and that's where I just
think overall it's a general misconception of what's going
on with, with diesel, with bacteria and water going on.
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That was, I think that was the, the situation I mentioned
earlier, knowing someone who had algae in the tank, it just
shocked me because I didn't, I didn't connect the dots that
that could even happen in a fuel tank and it's not a
mainstay of what we discuss with fuel systems or maintenance
on diesel trucks or any of the topics that truck owners
want to hear about or ask about, we kind of gloss over it,
but it can create some, some real issues and I think to
step back and think that this exists throughout the whole
process of pulling it out of the ground, the refinement
at the fuel station as it sits in my truck, in the bottom
of the fuel tank, just all that, all that can happen is
you had mentioned the fuel filters being clogged.
Are there any, any other issues that somebody may notice
that could happen just besides the fuel filter?
Could it be rough starts or issues with, you know, how the
vehicle's running, anything like that?
I guess it would depend maybe how bad it was, but anything
that, that a truck owner could keep their eye on.
Yeah, typically the first thing that, you know, obviously,
hey, I'm plugging filters, that's generally the first
thing that they see, but hey, if they just keep changing
filters and hoping for the best, not really addressing
why it's happening, you can get, you know, the waste from
bacteria is very acidic and so you can have reactions
within the, the injectors, the fuel system, the pump.
If it's getting, you know, subjected to a bunch of that
and it's sitting in there, you, you can have corrosion,
you know, because of the acidity of the bacteria waste,
it can have problems with that.
Underground storage tanks or, you know, above ground storage
tanks, any storage tank, they can have the acid reaction
and it starts eating with tank linings and so we've had
tank people with tank failures, the tank springs a leak
because eventually that bacteria, that acidity ate
through the steel and you have an underground storage tank
that created a leak and it was due to untreated,
unidentified, you know, bacteria and water going on
in that storage tank.
So there's a variety of issues.
What we focus a lot of the time is pulling fuel samples.
When my regional managers are out on the road with farmers
or truckers or any industry they're calling on and if they
had store fuel on the site, we pull a lot of bottom fuel
samples out of their storage tanks to help give them a
survey of, hey, this is what's going on.
You've got X amount of water, you have your fuel test
positive for bacteria and this is what our recommendations
are to in order to clean that up and take care of that.
So there's a variety of issues but I think it all starts,
the first identifier goes back to, hey, I'm plugging filters,
I don't understand why.
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How quickly can this process wreak havoc on a system?
Is it pretty quick?
Does it take a lot of time or what sort of expectation would
I have to potentially see an issue?
Does something happen in a couple of weeks a month?
Is it a series of months together where I could start
to see issues?
If it's, you know, I've had customers that call in,
they fueled at a place over the road, they got into an issue,
boom, they start, you know, plugging filters.
And what happens is, and I know we all have been told not to,
but what happens is typically, hey, somebody needs fuel,
they pull into the station and they're getting fuel,
and well, they're dropping a load of diesel fuel
or they've got tankers there dropping fuel into storage tanks.
Well, when they're dropping that 10,000 gallons of diesel
into a storage tank, it's stirring all that stuff up in the tank.
So if you happen to fuel and get that, you could have it
immediately into your system and now you start having,
you know, issues.
And, you know, there's some sites that are very,
you know, wildly contaminated when we go pull samples.
And if they happen to be stirring what's into those tanks up,
you're going to have an instant issue within your fuel tanks.
You know, there's some that are over months or, hey,
I parked my equipment for the winter and I want to go farm in the spring
and you go fire it up and it's plugging filters like crazy
because in the winter it's out there and shed water and that diesel
fuel in the storage tank in that equipment and it started growing bacteria
and now you have an instant problem right away.
So it can build over time.
It can be instantaneous that somebody picks up fuel
that's got a heavy contamination in it.
So that's throwing up red flags to me as a diesel truck owner
to pay attention that this could be really quick that I can have it
or, you know, for me and how I operate my vehicle,
it's always cycling through fuel so I don't really let it sit
but what scares me is this could be really quick and sometimes
I do fuel up and I do see the tankers dropping off,
you know, they're fueling up the station and I never thought,
well, I wonder what they're kicking up in the tanks down there
and how quickly it's going to end up in my fuel tank.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's pretty alarming when I, you know,
I've been doing this a long time and you go out and pull a lot of fuel samples
and you pull some stuff out of these tanks you're like,
oh, that is really ugly, gooey, nasty bacteria
and I've had sites that are, you know,
six months old, a brand new build and you go in and pull a fuel sample
and it's got water.
I mean, it's, you know, you can have a groundwater leak
down the spill bucket that's where they fill the tanks up.
You could have water intrusion there.
You could have a lot of varieties of issues, you know,
the one thing I want to make clear is the distributors,
the refiners, you know, the transport companies,
they're not delivering anything but pure diesel fuel.
But once it goes into that tank, there are groundwater issues,
drainage issues that that water goes somewhere.
We've had flooding and then, you know, at post flooding,
well, there's a lot of water, no storage tanks because they've got openings
on the surface.
Well, you know, in an event like that, you can end up with water in there
and then you end up with growing bacteria because of that.
So there are a variety of ways it happens,
but that's why we really make sure that we're testing all these tanks
that we're involved with that customers want us to go out to
and we really make a lot of effort on doing so.
So how do we prevent this or can we?
Again, what I said on the last one when we were talking about winterization
is the customer has to kind of take it upon themselves.
And that stands true within this world too.
And so the biggest thing that we can do as a consumer is treat your diesel fuel.
Treat it like, like I always tell people in the worst case scenario,
everything we've talked about, just assume that that's happening to you.
You have to put your own anti-gel in.
Even if somebody says, hey, we're pre-treating and or you think they're treating,
still do that.
Periodically, put a product that we call our clear diesel fuel and tank cleaner.
It's the white bottle with the green label.
This is a water remover fuel stabilizer.
So what I always do is once a month at least I dump a bottle of that into my tank
to make sure that, hey, no matter where I got fuel over this time,
I'm going to dump that in and I'm going to remove whatever waters in my tank
and my personal pickup.
But irregardless of what I think anybody else is doing for their fuel,
because it's my truck, it's my responsibility to make sure it maintains
and stays on the road and trouble free.
I can't, I'm not going to trust others to do that for me.
So again, it goes into our family of products.
It really is a do it yourself for best results type of lineup.
So once like to go back to the chemistry a little bit or what is happening
can happen in a tank once you have the water, the bacteria,
it's eating the hydrocarbons, it's producing waste.
When you remove the water from the fuel, how quickly does it clean up the process
or remove the bacteria or is it just a constant battle we're fighting?
If you manage water and this is a from a five gallon Kubota tractor tank
to a 10,000 gallon storage tank on a farm, if you control the water,
you control the bacteria grow.
Because like I said, bacteria is always present in all diesel,
but what it needs in order to flourish and grow is water, free water in tanks.
And so if we manage water content with a product like our clear diesel fuel
and tank cleaner, then bacteria cannot grow.
It cannot breathe.
It will starve out because it's got no oxygen source.
So you're basically going to control the bacteria by starving out the oxygen
from the water provides.
And so, but if somebody lets it go to the point where, hey,
I've got active bacteria and I've got water, but we make our product clear diesel
to remove the water, but we also make our bio clean diesel fuel biocide
that this is our killer.
And so if somebody says, I've got bacteria and I've got water, what do I do?
Well, the first thing is drain or pump off all the water that you can get rid of as much
of that water that's sitting in the bottom of the tank.
I mean, I've had tanks that have eight to 10 inches of water sitting in the bottom of them.
Well, you can pump or drain that off to get to clear diesel fuel.
And now you add the clear diesel product and bio clean.
So clear diesel is going to break down the water and the slime where bio clean is going
to actually kill the bacteria.
And so then once you've done that, now you can go on to a quarterly or monthly,
however often you feel like you need to cycle your fuel through is do use the clear diesel
then and maintain the cleanliness in the water removal.
And you really don't have to go back and go to retreat with the biocide.
And so, and that's the mistake a lot of people make is they'll go and keep not treating
for the water, not getting rid of the water.
Well, then a bacteria just keeps coming back.
And so you just got to remove the water from the element and, you know,
keep it from getting to the point where you have bacteria grow.
Okay.
So there it's almost like the preventing fuel gel in the winter and the two different
products you mentioned before.
There's two different ones.
I've got the one where my tank has a lot of algae or slime or sludge that are in it.
I'm dropping the tank.
I can run or put this product into my fuel tank to kill the bacteria that's in there.
Remove that.
But I need to stay on top of it through a monthly or quarterly program to just consistently
remove that water.
So I'm not always fighting this fight of bacteria and algae and, you know,
other other byproducts of it contaminating my fuel tank.
Exactly.
You know, and basically every product that we make, you know,
we have our winter preventative.
We have our winter emergency with our new product diesel, you know,
the injector and DPF flush.
We have our diesel clean.
That's our maintenance product that you use all the time.
And then hey, when you need to quit clean the diesel injector and DPF flush now with
the tank maintenance side, we have our clear diesel to help prevent,
but we have our quick kill by a side if you grow bacteria.
So basically each of our products has a partner of sorts that really is for those
customers.
Hey, there's a one if you're, you can use the one if you're on top of it,
staying on top of it, but you're going to use its partner.
If you maybe lapse a little bit or get a little bit like careless or forgetful.
I don't know.
I didn't think I was problem.
I didn't treat for water.
Now I need clear diesel and bio clean in order to clean up these tanks.
So we've tried to again, make it as easy as possible to understand and kind of
navigate through this path of taking care of your diesel.
That was a lot of the questions I saw with this blast Arctic blast from people on
different social media platforms.
A lot of times they didn't know what to use or how to use it or, you know,
which one, which one do I use first?
What do I use throughout the, you know, the winter season?
And so I think educating people in the way that power service lays it out between
emergency use and regular maintenance really lines up to be able to help us
choose the right products.
I think there's a lot of lack of knowledge and I'm guilty of it too.
Like I did.
I never thought about diesel fuel and fuel tank maintenance like this.
And I've been an enthusiast for 15 plus years and had different trucks.
I never thought about it like this.
I think that approach makes it really, really easy to follow.
Yeah.
And one of the things that we've done the last several years was our kind of going
into winter, we've had a campaign out there, our three step winter prep campaign.
And, you know, the first step is dehydrate your fuel tanks, get rid of the water.
So that starts with the clear diesel.
So because if you don't remove the water going into winter, what's water going to
do when it's trapped in the filter at 32 and below, it's going to freeze.
And so that's the first thing when customers call us and their region is say it's 25 degrees
out and they're, you know, kind of upset.
I'm gelled up.
I'm this and that.
You're not gelled up.
I can pretty much guarantee where wherever you're at in the country, if it's 25 degrees
and you're, you're plugged up and you can't run, that's not a gelled filter issue.
That's an ice step filter issue.
That's that filter is due for a change.
It's full of water.
It's done its job absorbing and separating the water from the fuel.
And now that water froze.
And so, you know, nine out of 10 times they pull that filter out and it's crystallized frozen water.
Well, dehydrate your fuel tank.
Then you treat with our diesel fuel supplement to prep the fuel for gelling issues.
And then you keep your 911 as your emergency product.
So again, going into winter is a great time to remove the water from your fuel tank.
So to avoid up iced fuel filters.
Do you think water is the most misunderstood and overlooked part of being a diesel truck owner
and understanding how it can affect you and winter?
How can it affect what we're talking about now with fuel fuel tank maintenance and bacteria?
Do we just kind of as enthusiasts gloss over it or don't pay attention to it?
And we really need to because of the problems it could cause.
Yeah, I believe so.
I think, you know, there's a, it was funny.
I had a conversation.
Somebody said last week or the week before regarding water separators in on the on all trucks have a water separator.
And, you know, the person was telling me about, well, the water is not an issue.
And I go, then why does every truck have a water fuel water separator?
You know, so we're getting into this point of water is a problem.
Water is in diesel and we're getting further.
Not that they were completely away from this group, but the group that grew up using high sulfur or low sulfur diesel fuel.
They still believe some of the stuff that was going on back in those days with mechanical injection systems.
Though the lack of water issues that were around there, but we had water and fuel.
We just didn't know it because sulfur was a sponge and absorbed the water and it carried it through the system.
Sulfur was a natural poison of bacteria.
So even if water did separate the 500 or 5000 ppm's of sulfur content in those old diesels killed what bacteria was growing.
So very rarely did we have a water related or a bacteria issue back in those days.
But today with ultra low sulfur with biodiesel, it blends into this fuel.
We have a lot more water in the fuel systems.
The high pressure common rail engines are very, very sensitive to water.
Injectors and pumps really hate the water going through them and causes a lot of damage to those systems.
So that's why they put water, fuel water separators.
That's why there's a lot of aftermarket filtration companies out there focused heavily on water separators and their process.
And so that goes into the fact that water is an issue.
People know it.
The general consumer, I think, doesn't truly understand or doesn't necessarily maybe buy into the fact that water is out there and water is a problem.
We've seen tremendous growth with clear diesel fuel and tank cleaner over the last several years just based on the sales of the product at retail level.
We can see the growth there.
And maybe that's an accepting audience out there that's realizing that, hey, these guys are right.
Water is a problem.
I'm having these issues or my mechanic said, hey, I lost my set of injectors because of water.
And finally, maybe getting through time will tell, but it's definitely a problem out there.
To your point, winterization, it is critical.
I mean, people have icing issues and it's because of the waters getting separated from that fuel.
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Comment question we get from you guys a lot is, hey, I need a diesel engine.
I either, you know, I can't wait this long to get one or normal place I get stuff from it.
It just takes too long or I don't, they don't have the parts in it that I need.
Maybe my truck's not stock or I tow heavy with it.
I don't want to go back with just a stock engine.
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You know, some of the most common engine applications or series of engines that they have with that lead time, a lot of them are in stock or they have really short lead times.
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I was going to ask about temperature and seasons as it relates to the bacteria and fuel tank maintenance.
And this is just kind of a guess on my part.
But as we get warmer and the trucks are sitting next to a warmer surface, hot pavements been heated up to 100 degrees all day.
You create that kind of warm human environment inside of a fuel tank.
Does that make the bacteria issues even worse when you're in summer versus maybe in winter when it's colder?
Or is it, am I not even on the right track?
I was just kind of curious if as we get warmer, can these issues play out faster because of the heat?
Yeah, yes and no.
Part of the heat isn't going to expedite the growth of bacteria or the breeding of sorts of the bacteria.
But what it will do is as the temperatures fluctuate, you know, in a vehicle tank or in a above ground tank.
Underground storage tanks are different because they're insulated with the ground.
They're pretty much a constant 60-ish degrees all the time.
But an above ground storage tank, you know, say take a farm for example, they're going to burn a little bit of diesel.
Maybe they're feeding cattle during the winter time.
But if they got a 10,000 gallon storage tank, they're going to keep it in the bottom half of that tank through the winter, relatively speaking.
So they're going to be working off the bottom half.
Well, then in the spring, they get a load of fuel and top that tank off.
Well, through that time where that tank was half or below half, that headspace in the tank that's vacant of fuel is going to condensate.
So as temperature cools overnight and increases during the day, that tank is going to sweat on the inside.
So you're going to have all that condensation that's forming on those tank walls falling into the diesel fuel.
So you end up with water and the fuel.
You end up with a bacteria path and that's where you start growing bacteria.
Equipment tank does the same thing if they're going to be a metal tank of sorts.
If they're plastic tanks, they're less prone to condensation.
They're less prone to that temperature differential where they're not going to sweat like a steel tank does.
But steel tanks do sweat, condensate, and they create a water issue compounded.
So yes, the temperature swings definitely play a role in that as well.
I was going to ask you about plastic versus metal because there's a lot of diesel truck owners that have transfer tanks.
They put them in the bed and they're in the oil fields or they're in construction.
They're running other equipment and they're really popular.
And I was going to ask you if there's issues or different issues that might arise versus a plastic tank versus a metal.
Yeah, and there's a number of issues and I'm glad you brought that up because I've had a lot of different varying experiences with this.
And everybody's going to understand what I'm talking about.
When you look at these transfer tanks in a pickup going down the road, the fill cap that's on there is just a vented, basically open draft cap.
And so if it's rolling down the road and it's pouring down rain or if it's hot and sweat, you know, whatever, there's air, water intrusion through that vented cap.
I see them all the time for whatever, you know, the guy fills that tank up.
Well, they forget to put the cap on.
I see them all the time. The caps know where to be found on that tank.
Well, what's getting in there? All the dirt, all the grime, the water, rainwater, whatever is happening in that tank.
And then when you look at the pump that's on there, if they have a fuel filter on there, it's, you know, when you look at them, they're a strainer or a 30 micron filter.
So basically at that point, you're going to take that fuel.
If you have a 30 micron filter on that, it's going to filter out 30 micron and you're putting into a piece of equipment that maybe has a 10, maybe has a two micron filter.
Well, you're pushing a lot of that contaminant that's happening in that transfer tank to that piece of equipment.
Now, everything you fill out of that transfer tank is getting contaminated with that fuel.
And I had a logging customer up in the Pacific Northwest years ago.
The guy was a friend of mine, but he was really upset with the fuel distributor because he was having bacteria issues in one of his Hitachi log loaders.
And so I finally, I tested the tank where he was getting all his fuel from.
And I said, Doug, it's not, there's no water. There's no bacteria in this fuel. Here's samples.
And so I said, what are you fueling out of that? And so I got out there and there was a truck with a transfer tank.
He goes, I fill that machine out of that truck, went over to that truck, pulled a sample and it was grossly contaminated.
He had never even considered that that was the source of that issue.
He was just blaming the fuel distributor.
And once we got to that, we started treating his tank and his truck.
Problems went away. The machine ran perfectly fine, but it was just one of those out of sight out of minds in his world.
That fuel for that machine was coming out of that tank at that card lock that was on his way to work.
But we never even had a conversation regarding that transfer tank that was in the back.
I bet that happens a lot because those transfer tanks and just that system is pretty common in the diesel world.
And I was just thinking, how much different is it for something sitting in the back of the truck like that and what it's fueling up?
And I imagine that's something that's overlooked quite a bit.
Yes, it is. And most of them that I see going down the road on these trucks, they don't have any filter on them whatsoever.
And like I said, it's an environment for the worst case scenario to happen.
It's 100 gallons or 150 gallons that they're packing around in that fuel tank.
It's often, more often than not, left untreated and not even thought of. They just use it when they need it.
And that's a breeding ground.
I love the educational aspect of this conversation because it bridges a lot of gaps for me.
Like sometimes when I talk to older guys that have had diesel trucks from the 80s and 90s and they talk about,
I never treated my fuel and I never had any issues with it.
And I would always think, well, why were you so lucky?
Or what was it? I didn't understand the sulfur in the diesel fuel was absorbing a lot of that water or how the fuel systems could absorb.
Some of the components of diesel fuel where is now at least high pressure common rail systems are so refined and so precise.
And then we had the emission systems onto them.
And we talked about that before with DPFs and so load and how the combustion process is so important to being able to prevent a clogged DPF or emission systems issues.
There's just so much that's put on a truck owner with a newer style truck that it's worth it to educate.
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You know ourselves and listen to things like this podcast or go on your guys' website and read the literature that you guys have and the information you guys are providing because it really does all fall on us.
Especially like even if the trucks under warranty or not under warranty.
I'm not sure if a dealership is going to warranty something if they drop your tank and it's filled with algae or something like that. It's going to be on you.
Yeah. We hear it all the time. You know, customers will say, you know, call us there at the dealer.
They got a warranty denied because they dropped the tank and it's water and back, you know, grossly contaminated.
They're like, they're right. There's nothing we can do. There's nothing you can do about it at this point.
You let it go and they're not going to warranty it. So yeah, it's a problem.
And, you know, the one thing that I want to make sure that, you know, so what we do when we're going out to talk to customers and users, you know, we're at trade shows like it's Seema talking to the customers about what best practices are.
The first thing when we do when we walk into an account that if there's a storage tank on site, we pull a fuel sample because I want to know what their fuel looks like before we start talking about how well our anti gel works
or how well our performance and proven products work because we can have the best chemistries in the world to go into the diesel fuel and perform increase engine performance and reliability.
But if we're pulling out of a tank that's grossly contaminated water, all that's going to overcome the benefits of which we're trying to provide with our anti gels or our performance and proven products.
And so the most important thing for us is let's pull fuel sample. We can't follow the customer around to everywhere they get fuel, but if they have fuel on site and we can give them a good guidance of what's going on there and prevent that from becoming a problem.
And then they get into best practices when they're out over the road. They say, you know what, I'm going to dump some clarity soil into my tank to make sure that I'm taking care of the water.
So we kind of go through an education process. And if we find something in a customer tanks, our guys have pumps, we have the equipment to get that water and bacteria out of that tank to pump it out.
And then we can provide the chemical to get in there and treat the fuel and get that tank clean.
Thought of a question to ask you about using products simultaneously. That's another huge question that I see pop up. So I'm in winter and I'm running power service products and I listen to this podcast and I think I want to run some of the clear diesel in it to be able to help.
Can I use both at the same time? Is there guidance that you guys have as far as using this product with another one in your lineup together?
We have made sure that all of our products are compatible to be into the fuel all at the same time. So a customer can grab a bottle of our diesel fuel supplement, grab a bottle of our clear diesel, dump them into the fuel and go fuel the truck.
It's going to anti-gel with the fuel and then also going to remove the water that's in the fuel with the other product with clear diesel. So the products are designed to be used independently, but they're compatible to be used together in all cases.
And it's across our entire line of products.
Made it easy for us again.
Yeah.
This was really interesting to chat with you about. Like I said, it's something I've always overlooked and maintenance has been a huge topic for a lot of different reasons. People are really interested in keeping their trucks, their older trucks either running or their newer ones running as well as they can be for as long as it can.
And I just completely overlooked fuel tank maintenance. I knew about water and fuel and the water separators that come on them or the aftermarket ones. Like you mentioned, I understand fuel gelling. I understand keeping my fuel system clean and protecting my emissions components.
But I never thought about what was just sitting in there and growing and then what it could do to my fuel system. And then I definitely didn't know ways that I could aim to prevent it. So it was really educational to go through the product line and the testing and the information and data that you guys see out there in the market.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's a it's something that we do each and every day. Our guys like we got some guys are covered up in winter months right now with cold weather and just snow. But my guys out west or it's kind of warm out west. So I talked to them this morning and say, Hey, you know what, now's a great time to go out and test fuel tanks and pull fuel samples.
They're not covered in snow right now. Go make the best out of it and really, you know, just kind of utilize the time to make sure that we're getting a head start on testing these tanks.
Yeah.
Gosh, we've been in like the 50s and 60s for two months and hardly had any snow. It's been like springtime here. So that's a that's a great point. You can kind of get ahead on on maintenance. If people want to learn more about this, read the information, the data you guys have and some of the other products is the best place to go to the power service website.
Yes. Yeah, we have everything on there.
Talk about each and each and every product that we make, but it also has kind of a real education section talking about further into the tank maintenance. We have several deep dive pieces in there regarding every subject, including fuel and tank maintenance.
And then people can also on on the website find where to buy the product.
I believe it's local to them or a chain, a retailer that they're familiar with.
Absolutely. Yes, the retailers are all listed on there. And so that they can look into their state, their area, and find a distributor or retailer near them.
And if they can't, they can call our phone number and our people here at the office will get them directly into our either our regional manager that covers that region or directly to a retailer that they know has the products there.
Very cool. Well, I appreciate your time today, Garth. This was like I mentioned, highly educational. I appreciate it fits really nicely into a complete maintenance package that I kind of harp on on the podcast a lot.
I try to work in a lot of content about maintaining trucks and this was a huge gap that was, you know, in that catalog. So I appreciate your time and knowledge and expertise with it.
And then some of the like the advice you gave on the last podcast about winterizing a lot of people took advantage of it. And I think that helped them during this latest freeze.
And I think this will too throughout the year with avoiding some of those fuel tank issues. So thanks again, Garth. You bet. Thanks for having me.
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About this episode
Garth returns to discuss the often-overlooked fuel problems that diesel truck owners face, particularly during winter months. He shares insights from his recent experiences on the road, highlighting the importance of winterizing diesel fuel to prevent gelling. The conversation shifts to fuel system maintenance, emphasizing the risks of water contamination and bacteria growth in diesel tanks. Garth explains how modern ultra-low sulfur diesel can lead to more water in fuel, creating conditions for algae and bacteria to thrive, which can clog filters and cause serious issues for truck owners.
Original notes
Power Service joins us today to talk about a major problem that gets
overlooked - bacteria and fungus growth in fuel tanks. We discuss why it
happens, what can happen to the fuel system, how to stop it and prevent
it from happening again.
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