Treating diesel in north Texas winters

[ruffdog]

My vendor says they are 70% #2, 30% #1. I'll treat as if it's straight #2.

That would work for me!

 

[finn1]

I worked for a Diesel engine manufacturer for thirty some years , in product engineering. Most of our Diesel jelling complaints commonly centered around a band running east and west through central Illinois through Missouri, often associated with trucks that filled their tanks in the south and moved North in cold weather.

Also had issues if there was an early cold snap farther north, and especially from customers who filled their tanks and equipment in August and then tried to use that fuel in mid winter.

Locally, we had a severe cold snap tro years ago. The only issues were those people that filled up at the local Walmart. The local distribution network knows from experience to fully winterize their product by late September, but apparently someone from Arkansas was calling the shots for Murphy/Walmart.

In Texas, I would say be prepared for the cold, but don’t fret over it. Having anti jell on hand is a good idea, but I would watch the weather and dose as required. The cold stuff doesn’t hang around for weeks there, from what I can tell.

Talk to your local distributor if in doubt. Discuss their winterization protocal and act accordingly. If they are clueless, find another distributor.

 

[hosspuller]

My tractors mostly work in the Summer, so my fuel is purchased at that time. There's no chance for the distributer to winterize my fuel.

There was one time I had a problem with fuel gelling. Of course, in NC, I only had to wait later in the day for the air to warm.

I treat fuel in the tractor tank to insure readiness. The trick is to treat the fuel before the temp drops AND run the engine enough to circulate the treated fuel throughout the system. Treated fuel is no help if the gell is in the filter.

 

[finn1]

My tractors mostly work in the Summer, so my fuel is purchased at that time. There's no chance for the distributer to winterize my fuel.

There was one time I had a problem with fuel gelling. Of course, in NC, I only had to wait later in the day for the air to warm.

I treat fuel in the tractor tank to insure readiness. The trick is to treat the fuel before the temp drops AND run the engine enough to circulate the treated fuel throughout the system. Treated fuel is no help if the gell is in the filter.

The filter is where it normally jelly first.

Interesting, or maybe not interesting story:

My in-laws has a cabin about an hour north of Duluth Ms on a pretty little lake. Quite rustic with an outhouse, hand pump, and without electric service. The cottage was uninsulated, but had a kitchen stove with a wood fired side burner, and an old pot type oil burner in the living room.

We has a tradition of driving up there to spend New Year’s Eve. One winter we arrived in the early afternoon on a typical late December day....-37 degrees inside the outhouse. The oil burner was usually pretty reliable, but I couldn’t get it started. Looked in the rear mounted tank and the fuel was jelled.

I ended up ladling out some of the jell, putting it in a large pot, and heating it up on the kitchen side burning wood stove.

About three quarts is all it took to bring the jell in the tank back to liquid state so we could heat the cottage.

Came to find out that my father in law’s compatriot, who was a relatively high level executive at one of the taconite plants on the Range was in charge of keeping a drum of Diesel on hand for the oil burner. Turns out that the last barrel he “liberated” from the plant was procured in July and was thus straight number 2 Diesel, instead of the blended stuff he normally got in November.

They’re all deceased now, and the cottage has long since been sold, so they can’t get in any trouble anymore.