VTForester
New member
New member here but this thread jumped out at me, 1st post.
A large part of my job is oversight on all aspects of a fuel quality program for a national oil & gas distributor. We maintain fuel quality in several hundred high horsepower standby generators ranging from a couple of hundred KW to 3MW and larger. Units ranging in age from 10-12 years old to brand new 3000hp tier IV units. There isn't much more critical a system than a Tier IV 2MW generator sitting at a hospital so we make a point of keeping up with changes in fuel and engine tech.
Cold weather operation for Diesel engines is an inexact science. Every batch of diesel that comes out of a refinery is slightly different in how it reacts to additives and its natural cold weather operability. Generally speaking the major brands like PowerService and Howse do work but I would use them at double the label dosage to expect real reliability. We use a manufacturer called Primrose Oil but they are an industrial specific additive and not generally available on the shelf as package goods.
All of the old tricks for winterizing diesel like blending in #1, blending in Kero, etc do work. But I would never use them on a Tier rated engine and they will be death to the aftertreatment systems on a Tier 4 rated engine very quickly. No legitimate fuel distributor should be blending #1 or kero in anymore. period.
I saw lubricity mentioned...That was a concern for a short period of time after Sulfur content was dropped to 15ppm. Today though, most Diesel has a small amount of biodiesel blended in (up to 5%). Just about the only good thing about bio from a fuel chemistry standpoint is that it is slick as ****. just 2-5% bio adds back all of the lubricity lost with the sulfur reduction. That doesn't mean I would go looking for B20 for your engines, at that high a concentration the bio brings other problems like affinity for water and a solvent characteristic.
Another thing to note, while "gelling" is the term that has been around for decades it really isn't as big a problem as it used to be. Today's ULSD has such a tendency to collect entrained water that icing usually happens first. If you are shopping for an additive, look for one that addresses icing, dang near all of them will work against gelling.
A large part of my job is oversight on all aspects of a fuel quality program for a national oil & gas distributor. We maintain fuel quality in several hundred high horsepower standby generators ranging from a couple of hundred KW to 3MW and larger. Units ranging in age from 10-12 years old to brand new 3000hp tier IV units. There isn't much more critical a system than a Tier IV 2MW generator sitting at a hospital so we make a point of keeping up with changes in fuel and engine tech.
Cold weather operation for Diesel engines is an inexact science. Every batch of diesel that comes out of a refinery is slightly different in how it reacts to additives and its natural cold weather operability. Generally speaking the major brands like PowerService and Howse do work but I would use them at double the label dosage to expect real reliability. We use a manufacturer called Primrose Oil but they are an industrial specific additive and not generally available on the shelf as package goods.
All of the old tricks for winterizing diesel like blending in #1, blending in Kero, etc do work. But I would never use them on a Tier rated engine and they will be death to the aftertreatment systems on a Tier 4 rated engine very quickly. No legitimate fuel distributor should be blending #1 or kero in anymore. period.
I saw lubricity mentioned...That was a concern for a short period of time after Sulfur content was dropped to 15ppm. Today though, most Diesel has a small amount of biodiesel blended in (up to 5%). Just about the only good thing about bio from a fuel chemistry standpoint is that it is slick as ****. just 2-5% bio adds back all of the lubricity lost with the sulfur reduction. That doesn't mean I would go looking for B20 for your engines, at that high a concentration the bio brings other problems like affinity for water and a solvent characteristic.
Another thing to note, while "gelling" is the term that has been around for decades it really isn't as big a problem as it used to be. Today's ULSD has such a tendency to collect entrained water that icing usually happens first. If you are shopping for an additive, look for one that addresses icing, dang near all of them will work against gelling.
VTForester. Welcome aboard and thanks for the info.
