My area does not have winter fuel to supplement -14 *F what can be done

[diesel lover]

Hey all,
Question here we had two days three weeks ago of -14* F and -30* wind chill. Its hard to get number one fuel around here and I'm told you can't really do it easily or at all. I work at a truck shop. We had not only extremely week battery's (which is really to be expected) but we had fuel gelling up issues!!! We get our fuel delivered in 7000 gallon loads. Our company does not trust the supplier so we are required to still add additive. The other reason we add additive is that we can only get a blend (I have heard some blends are only good to zero around here and when its colder than that you will have issues with fuel from the pump. To say the least we have mechanics that don't put in additive as required. The stuff is so strong it is needed in 1 gal to every 1000 gallons of fuel. It smells like strong paint thinner and is sticky. Don't know how well it helps the straight pump fuel with mechanics not adding it.

Me personally, I own a Massey MF 25 diesel. 107 cubic inch 4 cyl engine. I heard in extreme cold I can run 10 to 20% kerosene to 90 or 80% blended #1 and 2 diesel. Is this true? Kerosene and number one diesel fuel are similar and this is an old mechanically driven engine.

Is it true power service is only good till -5*F ? I would think increase the amount to lower your ignition temperature with the fuel just like anything else as you increase the cetane # you decrease the ignition point of he fuel making the initial start easier. There is s large difference between barely starting and almost starting. I will need my tractor to run next year to plow my driveway.

Girlfriends boss's tractor would not start. I insisted I could help for free as I have 5 plus years of experience and went to two different diesel tech schools/ colleges but she apparently figured it out. She filled the fuel filter full of straight "winter fuel additive" and tractor started. I would think that's too much for the injectors at once. Am I correct or is this OK and would have done the same thing as diesel 911? I know diesel 911 is only to be used when an engine has a gelled fuel system due to the cold. Would it have been okay to remove the fuel filter and add kerosene? Will this hurt newer tractors but be okay for older ones? I have heard to fill a fuel filter with tranny fluid and that will work as an antigell but I didn't think it would be a good idea on newer equipment with common rail fuel systems.

I thought kerosene and a blended diesel fuel would be okay in my tractor but not a newer diesel. Kerosene and diesel have similar properties but the pour point and cloud point of number one diesel and number one kerosene are not all that different!! They are both distillates I believe. Similar specific gravity/density fluids will mix with eachother well. On the other hand water has a specific gravity higher than diesel or gasoline and will stay at the bottom of a fuel tank! Will kerosene and blended diesel fuel mix? Or will the kerosene stay at the top.

Another thing, I would NEVER mix gas and diesel in a diesel engine. Its a bad idea. You lower the ignition point of the diesel engine far too much!! That's just all there is to it. They do not mix and have very different propertys. Thank you! Need to know what to do next year to take care of my self if I can't buy straight number one.

 

[Buckgnarly]

I use Howes up here, but we usually get blended by October in the pumps. I will say that I have never had a gel issue with my plow truck or Kioti, and we get into double digit negatives A LOT up here. I also use the calibrated eyeball method and dose pretty heavy with the Howes.

 

[coobie]

I live north of you in Michigan.It got down to -16 below a few weeks back with wind chill-42 below.I treat my gravity feed diesel tank (#2 diesel fuel)with schaeffers diesel treat 2000(winter) and have NEVER had a problem with gelling or no starts on my diesel Kioti tractor or Kubota RTV 900.

 

[newbury]

Be very careful what you put in newer engines with Bosch injectors. They scar easily. Been discussed before.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/oil-fuel-lubricants/271743-diesel-wear-scar-test-limits.html

And cutting diesel with kero is one of the worst things that can be done. It is used as a cutting agent, not good for injector pumps.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Last week it got to 9F here which is pretty darned cold for southern ar. I bought a small jug of Howes fuel treatment and put a slug in my Kubota RTV and B 26 just for good measure. This is the first time I ever used any fuel treatment but it has never gotten below 20F before. My brother in law ran his NH ok in 15F temps with summer fuel and no additives. I basically just did a preventative measure for the RTV as we use it for transportation all the time and I sure didn't feel like trying to tow it home with gelled fuel even though everything else seemed to work ok with summer fuel and no additives. I don't know what the temps have to be to gell but must be lower than +9F.

Folks always mention wind chill factor when talking of temps for equipment. Wind chill is not an issue for tractors, just people who perspire as that drying of moisture cools you more and makes if feel colder than it really is. Since equipment doesn't sweat, the wind chill is of no consequence for operational factors.

 

[devildog1]

Around our area , upstate N.Y. it gets quite cold and the two Diesel treatments used most are Howe's or Power Service Diesel in White bottle. Both are sold at TSC stores. I have now and used both , don't know or noticed and difference between them as they both do exactly what they claim," stop Diesel Fuel from gelling".
DevilDog

 

[3930dave]

Stick with the respected names - ex. Schaeffer, Howes, Stanadyne, Optilube..... and they should serve you well. Filling a vehicle tank at the end of any day that it is Operating is a good practice.

I prefer to treat year 'round - that's a subject well debated in other threads.

Unusual cold snaps will often highlight who checks the water drain on their filters, and who doesn't. You can't get away with neglecting that maintenance in regions that get "real" Winter temperatures.

Rgds, D.

 

[coobie]

Last week it got to 9F here which is pretty darned cold for southern ar. I bought a small jug of Howes fuel treatment and put a slug in my Kubota RTV and B 26 just for good measure. This is the first time I ever used any fuel treatment but it has never gotten below 20F before. My brother in law ran his NH ok in 15F temps with summer fuel and no additives. I basically just did a preventative measure for the RTV as we use it for transportation all the time and I sure didn't feel like trying to tow it home with gelled fuel even though everything else seemed to work ok with summer fuel and no additives. I don't know what the temps have to be to gell but must be lower than +9F.

Folks always mention wind chill factor when talking of temps for equipment. Wind chill is not an issue for tractors, just people who perspire as that drying of moisture cools you more and makes if feel colder than it really is. Since equipment doesn't sweat, the wind chill is of no consequence for operational factors.

Have to disagree with you wind chill does not matter.I believe it does factor into fuel line freeze up when you are exposed to the wind more.I have seen it more than once when we leave our unheated parking area in our (diesel )electric line trucks and hit the country roads we have freeze up.

 

[RickB]

Have to disagree with you wind chill does not matter.I believe it does factor into fuel line freeze up when you are exposed to the wind more.I have seen it more than once when we leave our unheated parking area in our (diesel )electric line trucks and hit the country roads we have freeze up.

It takes time for precipitating waxes & paraffins to collect in fuel filter media. If the trucks sat running at the same loads in those unheated garages as out in the wind, they would have gelled up when the same amount of fuel passed through the filters.

 

[bandaidmd]

The "wind chill" effect will hasten a gel up but if its 33 degrees and you drive 70 miles per hour and generate a wind chill in the teens water still will not freeze. How it affects equipment is it blows away the residual heat faster, on a nice sunny day when things warm up and its a calm night the heat stays around longer that when the wind blows.
Not sure in my area in Md. if the fuel is treated but when we dropped to single digits (rare for here) a lot of stations couldn't pump there fuel, If it wont go thru there filter i don't want it anyway.