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Old 12-17-2017, 12:48 PM   #1
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Additives at fill up

Time to fill up my fuel tanks for the first time since purchase. GB 42' with original 300 gallon tanks port and starboard that feed 30 year old Ford Lehman 135's (4200hours) and a Westerbeke 8KW generator (1200 hours). I had the tanks cleaned and fuel polished about 8 running hours ago. Tanks in awesome shape and of course I want to keep them that way. PO said he kept the tanks full as much as possible and suggested I do the same. With the shape the tanks are in I don't have much ammo to go against his suggestion. The tank guy added FPPF Marine Diesel Fuel Treatment to the 300 gallons or so that he put back in. He swears it gets rid of the water basically. Or allows it to be dispersed/absorbed and make it's way through the engine. He made me raise my right hand and swear that I would continue to do the same as well as use a bio treatment which he deemed a necessity here in South Florida. OK.

I don't want to start another additive war thread or anything and I have searched a lot on this subject before posting but I am trying to sort out a couple of things.

I bought another quart of the FPPF but it was relatively hard to find. If I am going to use it I would prefer to use something I can walk into WM or BOW or similar and buy. Any suggestions? I have searched and find a few wonder products but I'm not a big fan of all of the claimed benefits in additional to helping with water i.e. increased cetane, lubricity, etc. It seems to me, might be wrong, that the FPPF's claim to fame is simply its effect on water in the tanks which for some reason is more appealing to me.

On the biotreatment, seems there are several that are more well thought of. Biobor for one which is easily available. I am assuming that there is nothing wrong with these two being added together at fill up.

Any comments appreciated.
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Old 12-17-2017, 01:38 PM   #2
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When we bought ASD in 2013, I spent a lot of money to have my fuel tanks cleaned before we brought it up the coast to the Columbia River. The guy cleaning my tanks told me that now I have clean tanks, it is all for nothing if I don't perform periodic maintenance on the tanks. He recommended the following:


https://www.westmarine.com/buy/biobo...96?recordNum=8


If your tanks are not cleaned, then do a shock treatment first. As a result of adding this you may need to change your fuel filters and clean the filter housing.


Good luck.
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Old 12-17-2017, 01:54 PM   #3
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Thanks. Tanks are squeeky clean and current fuel load was polished so it's never going to get any better than it is. I know the Biobor is well known and hard to find bad reviews. Does it do anything for water dispersion or is a second product needed? I don't know enough to really understand some things but my Racors are there to collect water as well as filtering. If I had water wouldn't it drop down so I can drain it off? That's not protection enough?
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:03 PM   #4
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I am not sure why you would be concerned with additives with clean tanks. If you are purchasing fuel in the states you are getting clean fuel. If you are going through a tank full each year you have reasonably fresh fuel. You shouldn’t be worrying about water unless you have a way for water to enter the tank such as a bad o ring on the fill cap. Any (very unlikely) contamination will show up in the raycor bowl. Should be no reason for an additive. Don’t overthink this. Enjoy the boat
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:05 PM   #5
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Funny, when I bought my boat in 2016, PO was using an additive each time he was filling.
Now I continue to do the same without having any clue if it makes a difference or not.
Is it what we call faith?

L
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:09 PM   #6
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We have low point traps with drainage taps at the bottom of our tanks.

Boat had around 3000 litres of old diesel when we got it, one of the first things I did was drain a liter off from the traps.
No sign of any crud or water then and every couple of months I do the same and tip the clean diesel straight back in the tank.

No additives used.
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:11 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Easting View Post
I am not sure you why you would be concerned with additives with clean tanks. If you are purchasing fuel in the states you are getting clean fuel. If you are going through a tank full each year you have reasonably fresh fuel. You shouldn’t be worrying about water unless you have a way for water to enter the tank such as a bad o ring on the fill cap. Any (very unlikely) contamination will show up in the raycor bowl. Should be no reason for an additive. Don’t overthink this. Enjoy the boat
I would respectfully disagree. With the OP being in Florida all you need is heat and you WILL have moisture in your tanks. How can you tell? Unscrew your fill cap, flip it over. More likely than not you will find droplets of water on it. This will spoil your fuel and cause critters to grow in it.

The best insurance against contaminated fuel is to use a good, quality biocide.
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:13 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lou_tribal View Post
Funny, when I bought my boat in 2016, PO was using an additive each time he was filling.
Now I continue to do the same without having any clue if it makes a difference or not.
Is it what we call faith?

L
In my case "fear" is probably a better word. 30 year old black steel tanks. Do the math.
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:18 PM   #9
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This is "THE" one and only someone recommended. I have used it regularly and not ure I can tell you what it did or didn't do as I have never not used it in this boat.

Stanadyne Additives
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:18 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Easting View Post
I am not sure why you would be concerned with additives with clean tanks. If you are purchasing fuel in the states you are getting clean fuel. If you are going through a tank full each year you have reasonably fresh fuel. You shouldn’t be worrying about water unless you have a way for water to enter the tank such as a bad o ring on the fill cap. Any (very unlikely) contamination will show up in the raycor bowl. Should be no reason for an additive. Don’t overthink this. Enjoy the boat
Thanks. Enjoy the boat huh? Hadn't really thought about that one yet!! One of the reasons I had the tanks cleaned was a couple of gunked up secondary filters. PO said that, against his better judgement, he fell for an end of the season price on diesel in Mobile Bay. Paid a bit of a price for it as he had to change filters on the run several times. He filled it up for me the day before I purchased. I checked filters maybe 25 hours later and that when I found then a bit nasty. Not too bad but still gunked. Wanted to make sure so I had them cleaned. I know the laws in USA are reasonable but I think it is possible to get bad fuel on occasion as was the case here. Tank guy didn't find any bugs or water though. Just stuff from the fuel.
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:30 PM   #11
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Owned my first GB 36 for 15 years. She was 13 years old when I bought her. Never used an additive, never had a problem. She spent all her life in CT.

My current GB 46 is 21 years old and I’ve owned her for the last 6 years. Spends winters in FL and summers in CT. No additives and no problems.
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:48 PM   #12
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Owned my first GB 36 for 15 years. She was 13 years old when I bought her. Never used an additive, never had a problem. She spent all her life in CT.

My current GB 46 is 21 years old and I’ve owned her for the last 6 years. Spends winters in FL and summers in CT. No additives and no problems.
This has been my experience as well. I have never used additives. Over the years on boatdiesel.com, additives have discussed a lot with many pro and con opinions. Might be worth checking out their archives to hear the various arguments.
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:48 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by Alaskan Sea-Duction View Post
I would respectfully disagree. With the OP being in Florida all you need is heat and you WILL have moisture in your tanks. .
Florida is the same temp range that we are in.
Actually, its hotter here.
As mentioned earlier, we have no moisture or bug issues.
We know this because we have crud traps at the bottom of the tank with drainage taps and no crud or water comes out.
We also have clean bowls on our 1000 series racors and zero vacuum.

We use no additives.
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:51 PM   #14
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Another for Biobor JF. I recently was told that it has a finite shelf life and was advised to discard after about a year.
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Old 12-17-2017, 04:19 PM   #15
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If the boat is just going to sit there and never be used, tanks less than half full, then maybe Biobor. Otherwise, nothing but your Racor fuel/water separators. I don't care how humid your climate is, and that's all we cruised in and thus everyone we met out cruising. And that's what all the decent mechanics I ever met, and various engine manuals I've seen. By the way, speaking for my unscientific sample of one, we never found water in the Racors, either, but our tanks were water tight.
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Old 12-17-2017, 05:35 PM   #16
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I don't think its the water you need to worry about in your Racors, rather the bugs (Algae) that settles in the bottom of your tank brought on by heat (Can also be created by the heat generated by your engines) and moisture.


Then when you go out in beam seas and all those bugs get mixed in with your good fuel, then you are dealing with plugged Racors. I have seen this happen on another boat (Not ASD) who claimed his home made fuel polisher was just as good as the professional job.


Cheap insurance in my book. BTW I have never had filters clogged since I have owned ASD.
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Old 12-17-2017, 06:07 PM   #17
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If you draw the fuel from the very bottom of the tank (as I do) the water and crud get picked up by the Racor. Remove the water from the the tanks and turn your fuel over (use the boat),eliminates the need for a water or growth additive. My only caveat to that is known how clean the fuel you buy is. Doing the great loop this last summer, I expected to buy fuel in areas where it may have been suspect. As a result, I added a Biobor equivalent additive as a preventative measure. My motor is still under warranty, so I add the manufacturers recommended fuel conditioner. To keep everything compatible, I used the manufacturers Biobor equivalent.

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Old 12-17-2017, 09:45 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ktdtx View Post
This is "THE" one and only someone recommended. I have used it regularly and not ure I can tell you what it did or didn't do as I have never not used it in this boat.

Stanadyne Additives

2nd this. Seattle Injector swears by the stuff. I've been using it for about 4 years. Who knows if it works. Its like a "deer whistle" for your motorcycle. Must work..since I've yet to hit a deer.
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Old 12-17-2017, 10:03 PM   #19
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An additive won`t cost a lot in proportion to the potential cost of rectification. I`m with ctjstr, it may/may not do something but do it anyway. choosing which on the advice above. The ones that get rid of water probably emulsify it so it burns off in minute quantities.
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Old 12-18-2017, 01:39 AM   #20
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Like Howard (hmason), never used an additive + keep the tanks full = never had a problem.

My suggestion is get into the habit of filling up every time AFTER you use the boat. Full tanks won’t develop condensation, and condensation is the enemy. It’s a bit of a pain because at the end of a trip all you want to do is tie up and wash the boat and head home, however if you fill up every time you won’t grow crud in the tanks.

I am in Brisbane, probably similar temps to where you (the OP) are based. Like hmason, I have a GB46 Europa.

Hamish.
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