tomd999
Platinum Member
Hiya,
In NH we get some cool nights from time to time but I've also spent some winters above the 50th where it really gets cold at night, Here's what I do for winter.
1) Anti gel every tank starting in Sept until a month after last frost date. Below -20f, double dose. Bottle of anti-jell in each cab for fuel stops.
2) Spare fuel filters and Diesel 911 in every cab in case #1 fails.
3) All equipment is plugged in on a timer at night starting at zero degrees, timers are set for 3 hours before startup
4) All equipment that can start at idle is started at idle, the exception I have is an old Cummins that starts at part throttle as it has no cold start fuel circuit.
5) If anything clouds or jells the fuel, it's shut down brought inside and left overnight to warm, filters replaced if clouded and the fuel is retreated.
Your real issue at low temps is not "jelling" it's "clouding". Jelling is the fuel thickening and flowing through the system slow, so slow and thick the lift pump can't supply the secondary pump and it starves it's supply of fuel, causing the engine to shut off. Simply removing to a warm location or heating the lines with a hair dryer will solve this.
Clouding on the other hand is a more costly issue. While jelled fuel stops moving in the lines, clouded fuel flows however it is cloudy because the paraffin in solution has solidified and is able to be captured by the filters. When this reaches the filters, it gets stopped and embeds itself in the filter fibers. No amount of warming the filters will "melt" the paraffin to allow the fuel to flow, the filters have to be replaced or soaked in Diesel 911 for several hours if no replacements are available.
My 2 cents,
Tom
PS: One poster suggested cutting the Diesel with K1, this is not recommended for modern (post 1980) engines, especially any of the 1991 and later LSD/ULSD engines, This was an old trucker trick used before the availability of anti-jell additives and when on-road Diesel had more than 500PPM of sulfur.
In NH we get some cool nights from time to time but I've also spent some winters above the 50th where it really gets cold at night, Here's what I do for winter.
1) Anti gel every tank starting in Sept until a month after last frost date. Below -20f, double dose. Bottle of anti-jell in each cab for fuel stops.
2) Spare fuel filters and Diesel 911 in every cab in case #1 fails.
3) All equipment is plugged in on a timer at night starting at zero degrees, timers are set for 3 hours before startup
4) All equipment that can start at idle is started at idle, the exception I have is an old Cummins that starts at part throttle as it has no cold start fuel circuit.
5) If anything clouds or jells the fuel, it's shut down brought inside and left overnight to warm, filters replaced if clouded and the fuel is retreated.
Your real issue at low temps is not "jelling" it's "clouding". Jelling is the fuel thickening and flowing through the system slow, so slow and thick the lift pump can't supply the secondary pump and it starves it's supply of fuel, causing the engine to shut off. Simply removing to a warm location or heating the lines with a hair dryer will solve this.
Clouding on the other hand is a more costly issue. While jelled fuel stops moving in the lines, clouded fuel flows however it is cloudy because the paraffin in solution has solidified and is able to be captured by the filters. When this reaches the filters, it gets stopped and embeds itself in the filter fibers. No amount of warming the filters will "melt" the paraffin to allow the fuel to flow, the filters have to be replaced or soaked in Diesel 911 for several hours if no replacements are available.
My 2 cents,
Tom
PS: One poster suggested cutting the Diesel with K1, this is not recommended for modern (post 1980) engines, especially any of the 1991 and later LSD/ULSD engines, This was an old trucker trick used before the availability of anti-jell additives and when on-road Diesel had more than 500PPM of sulfur.
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