Diesel Biocide/Conditioners

What is being used for diesel fuel*biocides*these days?* I have always used*Biobor JF.* Is there a study*that has tested the varius brands?* Is one any better than the other? I'm not looking to do anything to the fuel other than contol the potential growth of bugs.

On the advice of our diesel shop and good friends in the marine diesel manufacturing industry we have always used Hammonds Biobor JF and a lubricity addiitve/stabilizer called Select 3 (also from Hammonds). Can't tell you if either one is actually doing anything but after 13 years of year-round use our two FL120s don't smoke at all other than a little bit at startup and they use no more oil today than they did when we bought the boat, which is less than 1 quart per engine every 100-150 hours which is our oil change interval (we use Delo 400 30wt in the engines). The fuel in the Racor bowls never has a trace of dirt, gunk, or water in it. So we have no reason to change or even consider changing what we've been doing all along.

Marin, The Select 3 is now called Biobor MD. Chuck

Thanks. I had seen that but the last batch I bought was still under the Select 3 name so I'm not used to the new name yet

When Practical Sailor did their testing , they found that NO brand kills all the bugs.

Their recommendation was to switch back and forth between the two best brands of bug killers.

I've used Startron (now Starbrite) for diesel for 10 years with excellent results. Enzymatic action. I've also heard that PRI-D is very good, but have no experience with it.

Marin,

I'm supprised you did'nt mention Boeing uses Biobor on their flight line.

nomadwilly wrote:
Marin,

I'm supprised you did'nt mention Boeing uses Biobor on their flight line.

Click to expand...

*Perhaps flying bugs and swimming bugs are different?

I use additives that absorb water rather than biocide.* Not water not algae/bugs and reduces rust/dirt.* Also polish the fuel though out the year, and try to turn/use the fuel once each years.*


-- Edited by Phil Fill on Friday 29th of July 2011 09:31:28 AM

FF wrote:
When Practical Sailor did their testing , they found that NO brand kills all the bugs.

Their recommendation was to switch back and forth between the two best brands of bug killers.

Click to expand...

*Interesting. That suggests that low level routine doses of one brand might just be breeding better bugs, a concept microbiologists are quite familiar with. I wonder how many generations it takes before they're merrily fornicating in the bottle of biocide?

nomadwilly wrote:
Marin,

I'm supprised you did'nt mention Boeing uses Biobor on their flight line.

Click to expand...

*That's because we don't.

Marin wrote:nomadwilly wrote:
Marin,

I'm supprised you did'nt mention Boeing uses Biobor on their flight line.

Click to expand...

*That's because we don't.

Nor do I.

I've been misinformed then as a boater in LaConner said he worked on the flight line and they used the stuff. I think it was in the trucks*** ....I'm not really sure.

Boeing gets its jet fuel from the same suppliers who provide Boeing Field, Seatac, and Paine Field with their fuel. The jet fuel comes down in one or more pipelines from the refineries up north. Whatever additives are put in the fuel are put in long before the fuel arrives on our flight line. All we do is fill our fuel trucks at the supplier.

Since our planes (and their engines) are operated all over the world I assume there is a worldwide standard for additive requirements for jet fuel and those are the standards all the fuel has to meet, be it here, England, or China. There would be no reason for Boeing to be adding something on our flightline that won't be in the fuel anywhere else.

Marin

I think he was referring to the fuel tanks on the flightline vehicles (trucks) themselves, not the JP that's loaded in the aircraft. *Just a guess, but that's the way I read it.

I thought he meant the jet*fuel in the fuel trucks but if it's the truck fuel he's talking about some of the Boeing vehicles in our department fleet are diesels and nobody from Transportation has told us anything about using any additives. Like all of Boeing's vehicles we fill them up at the pump stations at the various plants and we just put in whatever comes out of the pump which is fuel delivered by whatever supplier currently has the contract.

The only vehicles on the flightlines that are diesels are the firetrucks and the fuel trucks. The tugs, manlifts and snorkle lifts are all LNG and the crew vans and other ramp vehicles are gasoline. And we all fill up at the same pumps. So my guess is this is another one of those urban legends (like Boelube which we don't use either) that gets started because it sounds impressive to say "This is the same stuff that Boeing uses."

Like paint. It's a popular misconception that we use Imron or one of the other branded paints on the planes. We don't. We get paint from several suppliers and it's not "paint," it's paint ingredients. The paints are all mixed as needed in the paint shops in the paint hangars and the only people who know or even understand the multi-component formulas are the painters.


-- Edited by Marin on Friday 29th of July 2011 10:02:52 PM

Marin touches on the point of why use any additives? If* you buy from a reputable supplier and turn your fuel over regularly, the additives from the refiner are just fine so I have been told by fuel experts.

Now, if* your fuel sits for more than 6 months, then the need for "mouse milk" (thanks rickB) gets more attention. Even then, it seems the need is advertising based. To me the question is less, "do additives help" and more "do addtives hurt."

"Now, if your fuel sits for more than 6 months,"

The AGE of the fuel is basically of no concern, the quantity of WATER in the fuel tank is,, as the interface is where the bugs will live.

NO water ,no bio bugs.