Diesel Fuel Viscosity. How to test?

   / Diesel Fuel Viscosity. How to test? #1  

Industrial Toys

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Seems I have issues with my bulk fuel. I am getting deliveries at different times of the year in two tanks, one dyed, one not.

How can I check the viscosity of the fuel at any given time? It's hard to treat the fuel (as with Lucas Extreme Cold Treatment) if you don't know what you are dealing with.
 
   / Diesel Fuel Viscosity. How to test? #2  
My $0.02. Given the consequences of under treating my fuel, my motto is, "If in doubt, treat the fuel as if it was summer blend."
 
   / Diesel Fuel Viscosity. How to test? #3  
My $0.02. Given the consequences of under treating my fuel, my motto is, "If in doubt, treat the fuel as if it was summer blend."

Absolutely. I could care less what my fuel viscosity is, and really don't think viscosity plays a part in fuel gelling. What IS important is knowing definitively whether or not the fuel I use is properly treated. And it is, because I did it.
 
   / Diesel Fuel Viscosity. How to test?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
All the fuel additives are VERY expensive. I have some three thousand plus litres of fuel on hand, and I'm not about to spend a whole lot of money unnecessarily. I think viscosity has EVERYTHING to do with fuel gelling, based on recent experience.
 
   / Diesel Fuel Viscosity. How to test? #5  
All the fuel additives are VERY expensive. I have some three thousand plus litres of fuel on hand, and I'm not about to spend a whole lot of money unnecessarily. I think viscosity has EVERYTHING to do with fuel gelling, based on recent experience.

The fuel conditioner I sell costs less than 3 cents (US) per treated liter of fuel and I wouldn't think twice about spending it for whatever quantity of fuel I had/needed for winter consumption. I bet you can treat the whole supply for less than one set of fuel filters for your entire fleet plus the labor to change them.

I am open to being educated on the viscosity thing, I am unconvinced. Fuel conditioners are not viscosity modifiers.

"Saving" money on filters and fuel treatment when living & working in cold climates is false economy in my book. It's just not worth it.
 
   / Diesel Fuel Viscosity. How to test? #6  
All the fuel additives are VERY expensive. I have some three thousand plus litres of fuel on hand, and I'm not about to spend a whole lot of money unnecessarily. I think viscosity has EVERYTHING to do with fuel gelling, based on recent experience.

Three, 80 oz containers of Power Service will treat 750 gallons of diesel. Add a fourth container to be safe.

At $16.25 Canadian (Amazon US price converted to Canadian, Click Here) that's $65.00 to treat almost $3,800 Canadian of diesel, or 1.7%.

Is Power Service more expensive in Canada than the US?
 
   / Diesel Fuel Viscosity. How to test?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
I havn't been adding anything to my bulk tanks at all. Just the Lucas Extreme Cold, to the individual equipment tanks to prevent Gelling and provide lubrication for the injector pumps year round. It's supposed to provide cetane boost as well.

The thing is, I don't know how much to use in the winter because I don't know at any given time, what the viscosity is as I get shipments at all times of the year. Hence my original question.

But I seem to experience that Gelling happens at very specific termperatures. Your good to go on one day, the temp drops ten degrees the next and your dead in the water!

I'm not even sure, what I would treat the bulk tanks for at this point.
 
   / Diesel Fuel Viscosity. How to test? #8  
All the fuel additives are VERY expensive. I have some three thousand plus litres of fuel on hand, and I'm not about to spend a whole lot of money unnecessarily. I think viscosity has EVERYTHING to do with fuel gelling, based on recent experience.
Personally if you are buying that much fuel, you should be able to get that data from your supplier.
We only have a 100 gallon tank, but we treat it with white Power Service year round. Last bottle I bought was $16 which works out to ~$0.08 per US Gallon.
Thats a whole lot cheaper than new fuel filters ($40) or getting stuck in the driveway because the tractor wont start ($$$), or the tractor getting stuck in the driveway because the fuel gelled...

Aaron Z
 
   / Diesel Fuel Viscosity. How to test? #9  
This is dead on. White Bottle Power Service. It is called precaution. With -70 below wind chill coming I ran to town and put 15 gallons of #1 in and also a good dose of PS. Now I don;t know what I'm going to drink to prvent me from Gelling up.

Personally if you are buying that much fuel, you should be able to get that data from your supplier.
We only have a 100 gallon tank, but we treat it with white Power Service year round. Last bottle I bought was $16 which works out to ~$0.08 per US Gallon.
Thats a whole lot cheaper than new fuel filters ($40) or getting stuck in the driveway because the tractor wont start ($$$), or the tractor getting stuck in the driveway because the fuel gelled...

Aaron Z
 
   / Diesel Fuel Viscosity. How to test? #10  
When I used to buy biodiesel at the bulk fuel facility on occasion I would see either the distributor or a customer pump some fuel in a mason jar. I guess to observe for water. Can't you pump some fuel in a mason jar or a jelly jar and leave it outside to see what happens?

I see you can buy a tool to measure viscosity here. SAYBOLT VISCOMETER - PT-82 - Gilson
And some of the theory here Dynamic, Absolute and Kinematic Viscosity
 
 
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