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GoldenDawn wrote:How do others manage their fuel?
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*We don't have transfer pumps or any of that stuff. With the exception of the mechanical lift pumps on the sides of the FL120s, our entire fuel system operates with gravity only, and all tanks drain/feed from their lowest points.
We have four saddle tanks, two on each side, that we transfer fuel from (via gravity and manual valves) into a day tank in the middle of the engine room under the floorboards.* The engines and generator feed from the day tank although the engines can be valved to pull from a saddle tank on the engine's side of the boat.* But we have never had occasion to do this.
Our fuel managment process is to transfer fuel from one opposing pair of saddle tanks as needed until the two tanks are empty.* We then leave them empty and transfer from the other opposing pair of saddle tanks until they are about 1/4 full.* At that point we fill the empty pair of tanks and continue drawing down the second pair until they are empty and then we leave them empty until the first pair we refilled are 1/4 full and then we repeat the process.
The only times we fill all the tanks is before a longer cruise, at which point we begin the above process again.
We do this for two reasons.* One, to minimize the time fuel sits around in the tanks and two (and more important) to ensure the tank seams/welds (the tanks are stainless) get exposed to oxygen on a regular basis.
But based on everything I've ever heard or read, your one-year-old diesel should not be an issue at all assuming it was clean to start with and hasn't accumulated water.* If it was us, we'd just use it in the normal manner.