Removing Water from Fuel tanks

[david_lavigne2540]

Ok, I admit that I'm a new owner. Not much experience at all. I've been reading about Fiberglass tanks and the dangers of ethanol and condensation. Don't know enough about the chemistry to solve it from that end and really don't care to catch up at my age. I believe that simple solutions are the best solution.

The problem as I see it is the damage that too much water in the fuel tanks causes. The simple solution as I see it is to remove the excess water from the tanks. A simple circulation extraction should solve it that you run for a set time frame on a pre-set time schedule.

Example: Run for an hour every month to purge the fuel of excess water.

Don't have the resources to test it to see what the duration and schedule should be.

Just found the Racor Fuel Recycling device 800-OF3 and 8250D, Anybody used these yet?

Fuel Tank --- Water Separator -- Return to Fuel Tank.

 

[smoothmove]

This is a SIMPLE solution? Getting a little water in your ethanol/gasoline is not not really a problem. A little water will be taken up into the gasoline and burned along with the ethanol and you'll never know that it happened. It's arguably a good thing about ethanol. If that amount of water increases to a point that exceeds 0.5% of the mixture, you will have the phase separation problem that you are presumably addressing in your post. Frankly at that point you're screwed, because neither of the layers will be viable fuel. The water/ethanol layer which will be at the bottom and is probably what you will pick up from the tank, will immediately overwhelm your separator and go into the engine. Your engine will not like it as a steady diet, because it will run lean (Very lean) The octane will be high but that's not the problem. If your pickups are in the upper (gasoline) layer you will probably keep running, but with the ethanol removed, your octane is going to be quite low and that brings the usual problems, like detonation and piston holing.

You did not mention the problems of what ethanol does to fiberglass tanks. You may or may not have tanks that are vulnerable to its affects, but that can be determined fairly quickly. What is the age of your Hatt? The problem is real. The solutions are not simple.
Eric

 

[david_lavigne2540]

This issue being for owners who don't boat too much. Thus fuel stays in the tank for a LONG time.

Yes, I'm discussing the issue of too much water in the fuel which causes the separation. I'm currently worried about this issue. I currently don't know how much water is in my fuel tanks and they have been "sitting still" in the south for probably near a year with the same fuel. So far, the fuel runs fine in my lawnmower and when I test the Marine Engines.

I have a 1964 Hatteras 40ft Double Cabin with Gasoline Engines. Project Boat that's in the water with full fuel tanks.

Isolation Balance Isolation
Tank ------ Shutoff -+----------- Shutoff ----------+-- Shutoff ---- Tank
| |
+ < Pump --Water Separator << +
| |
Shutoff Shutoff
| |
Water Separator Water Separator
| |
Engines Engines

The above diagram was discussed but not described in another thread. With the extra shutoffs needed when fuel in one tank is bad but you want to run both engines on the good tank. I added the Pump and Separator for this discussion.

Note: I have not installed this yet on my boat. Since I plan on adding the extra shutoffs, I figure I might as well add the pump and separator. I like the expermental idea of a boat/yatch.

Of course, the problem with the above diagram are the facts. Requires one tank to be empty and that it only pumps one direction. Trying to keep the design simple.

The below requires modification to the Fuel tanks themselves. The better design yet again could require two setups or lines running to both tanks with appropriate shutoffs.

The advantage of the below design with two systems, is that both can be run at the same time, requiring no interference from the boat owner other than turning on the system.

Isolation Balance Isolation
F U E L T A N K --- Shutoff -+---Shutoff --+-- Shutoff ------Tank
Bottom Top | |
| | Shutoff Shutoff 2nd
| | | | Water
Water | Water Water Filter
Filter | Filter Filter and
| | | | Pump
Pump -->>- + Engine Engine

 

[MikeP]

If you are just worried about condensation - I wouldn't bother. THis has been proven to be a non-issue that is more marketing by people that want to sell you chemicals than it is real.

Take a look at this:

http://www.yachtsurvey.com/myth_of_condensation_in_fuel_tanks.htm

If you are not familiar with Pascoe, all of his articles are well-worth reading.