Oil & Fuel How do you fuel your TC30?

LBrown59 · Apr 11, 2006

I Take Mr. Funnel to the service station place it in the can and put the nozzle in it and fill the can.
Haven't found anything in it yet but will be glad I used it when I do.
( When I fill The tractor from The can I put the funnel in the tank and pour the fuel from the can into it.
This way each can of fuel is filtered twice. )

 Is the Dirty Fuel Gremlin contaminating your fuel? 

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I don't plan on skipping these steps to find out.

SteveInMD · Apr 11, 2006

I respectfully disagree with that. You really don't want to leave water accumulating in the bottom of a metal tank or drum. It will cause it to rust out from the inside and cause a fuel spill. I spent a number of years working for a company that cleaned up such messes. The filtering system on your tractor will handle the very small amount of water that shows up from condensation. If you're concerned about that, add a filter / water separator after your fuel pump on the tank or drum.

If you don't discover a leak right away, you could probably buy a new tractor for less than it costs to clean up a spill from a leaking fuel tank.

LBrown59 · Apr 11, 2006

I believe the fuel goes thru a filter at the pump also which should block if it is that dirty.
******* *****
Right but this don't do a thing to prevent water from condensing in bottom of the can you pumped the fuel into.

LBrown59 · Apr 11, 2006

( I respectfully disagree with that.

)
Disagree with what:
I'm not quite clear on what you're disagreeing with?

SteveInMD · Apr 11, 2006

I disagree that the pickup should stop short of the bottom of the tank. I believe it should be as close to the bottom as possible. This will minimize any water accumulating in the bottom of the tank or drum, which could rust the tank from the inside and cause a fuel spill. The water can easily be filtered out on the way into your tractor, or by the filtering system your tractor.

Soundguy · Apr 12, 2006

I disagree. I work for a large GC.. we have many large 500-1000-2000g ( and up ) fuel tanks. Our fuel pickups in the tanks are a couple inches of fthe bottom so that we 'don't' syphon out the water and blow up our half million dollar machines.

The tanks are set at a slight angle There is a plug/petcock at that end. it is -very- easy to drain off a cup or two of water every couple months ... just use a bucket under the drain.. non 'wet' fuel can go right back in the tank... Can't imagine why anyone would want to syphone water into their expensive filters and machinery.

Soundguy

SteveInMD · Apr 12, 2006

Most people don't actually drain the water from their tanks. The water builds up to the bottom of the intake and then they get the exact some throughput of water into their equipment anyway.

You need to either, 1) deal with the water as it slowly slows up by putting the pickup at the bottom of the tank and using a water separator/filter, or 2) maintain your tanks by draining the water on a regular basis. Almost every small time operation, or home owners tanks I've seen, don't do this.

The problem with option 2 is that the bottom of the tank is almost always in constant contact with water. If tank isn't fiberglass, or coated that can lead to a very expensive cleanup (but hey - that type of work paid my salary for a number of years).

Fortunately it's not difficult to remove water from diesel with the right type of filter.

Soundguy · Apr 12, 2006

Option #2 is no different than draining water from an air compressor tank. I'v got compressors I've had sinc ethe 80s.. just drain the water once a week... Seems to be fine. same with fuel tanks. We've got diesel tanks that have been here for almost 2 decades.. no leaks yet.. just got to keep the water drained.. No rocket science involved. ( besides.. if you are doing it right.. anything over 500g in fl requires a catch basin..

Soundguy

SteveInMD · Apr 12, 2006

No rocket science at all. However, tanks usually rust out from the inside, not the other way around.

Stopping the fuel pickup short of the bottom is definitely the most common approach, however, based on my experience, not the best one.

I use the pickup at the bottom method. I get some water in the filter after the pump. It's just a spin on, combo filter / water separator. I've never gotten any water in my diesel pickup, Jetta TDI, Jeep CRD, or tractor, all of which come from the factory with a filter / water separator. I also check the bottom of my storage tank via the plug...no water there.

Some tanks last for many years with water in them at the bottom, others only a few years. I have no idea why, perhaps it has something to do with the type of steel used.

The cost of a spill cleanup can be more for a 275 gallon spill than from a 1000 gallon spill. It has more to do with the ground conditions and the groundwater situation in the area.

I didn’t mean to make a big deal about this, but it just strikes a nerve, that’s all. I’ll shut up now.

Soundguy · Apr 12, 2006

I'm still kind of missing why you think water -has- to set int he bottom of a tank. If a person checks the petcock once a month.. good chance water will never set in there.

I guess it boils down to a difference in use. if we just used diesel in an auto .. might feel different.. it's just a little different when you have a fleet of heavy equipment that costs 100K for the small stuff and 500K for the big stuff. And an engine swap at 12k$ with core and 2 days shop labor is cheaper than having the machine down for a week.. etc. Thats why we don't intentionally pump water out of our tanks and into our equipment, hoping all the filters catchit, instead of the injector pump.. etc. So much easier to drain a cup of fuel each week or month and pour it thru a seperator and then dump the water into the collection container for the recycler people to pick up, along with the waste oil, filters, and other fluids... Some of our equipment uses fuel filters that cost as much as I make in a day.. surely don't want to just take the attitude that we can pump them full of water and toss them at will, vs just dewatering the tank regularly.. keeps the tank healthy too..

Soundguy