Water in Fuel Tank

[Crazymonkey]

We heard about someone filling their fuel tanks with water (girlfriend thought she was doing him a favor) She put in about 500 gallons of water before they figured out what was going on. Needless to say, the boat never left the dock and the nice fuel polishing company man showed up with lots of 50 gallon drums to take care of the mess.

 

[Sharpseadog]

https://www.iboats.com/shop/media/c...3b1bc593f1c5348fe05efa4a6/3/5/354-3570181.jpg

Where did you get these? And how does end of ball chain attach inside the fill inlet? Probably more interested in the last question. My chain broke off and I haven't found a way to reattach. There appears to be a small post with head like a nail about 3 inches down fill, but don't know what kind of end piece it needs. Chain connector doesn't work. Is there something else? [emoji848]

 

[BandB]

I know I'm repeating myself but clearly labeled fills and walking through the process by reading and speaking out loud and the problem is avoidable. You may feel self conscious saying out loud, "Hose is fuel. Tank it's connected to is set on diesel. Fill cap reads diesel" or "Hose is water. Fill cap reads water. Safe to fill."

One time wifey B were filling and saying it out loud and the adjacent people laughed and asked if we were new to boating. About that time someone else walked by and said what a great idea and talked about the cost when he pumped 10 gallons of diesel into his water tank. He replaced the tank.

 

[timb7734]

Racors will handle it, with a dose of Startron. I did have an incident where a dockhand at Riviera Beach FL put 15 gallons of fuel in my 250 gallon water tank. They were nice about it, gave us a free dock for two nights and a vacuum truck. Fortunately we had a second 250 gal water tank we could use in the process. Then we used Simple Green food grade degreaser and flushed the contaminated tank several times, the Simple Green food grade deodorizer. No issues then! Without those chemicals and a good flush the fuel will eat the water pumps as well as anything rubber in the fresh water system. Now I don't leave home without these Simple Green products which come in gallon containers. I also dilute and use in spray bottles for cleaning galley and heads.

 

[Comodave]

Where did you get these? And how does end of ball chain attach inside the fill inlet? Probably more interested in the last question. My chain broke off and I haven't found a way to reattach. There appears to be a small post with head like a nail about 3 inches down fill, but don't know what kind of end piece it needs. Chain connector doesn't work. Is there something else? [emoji848]

One of my water cap chains is broken. It also connects about 3” down the filler neck. I haven’t tried to fix it yet but off hand, I don’t see an easy way to get the chain hooked 3” down. Maybe a really long set of needle nose pliers???

 

[timb7734]

Fuel in water tank

had no taste or smell after cleaning as above.

 

[Giggitoni]

One of my water cap chains is broken. It also connects about 3” down the filler neck. I haven’t tried to fix it yet but off hand, I don’t see an easy way to get the chain hooked 3” down. Maybe a really long set of needle nose pliers???

My chains have a piece of metal shaped like a “T” that fits into the top of the tank. It’s not perfect, but keeps the caps from being lost.

 

[FF]

"We heard about someone filling their fuel tanks with water (girlfriend thought she was doing him a favor) She put in about 500 gallons of water before they figured out what was going on."

Had the boat been built with a proper fuel tank, with a sump,,,, no extra help would have been needed to clear the fuel.

 

[dhays]

Where did you get these? And how does end of ball chain attach inside the fill inlet? Probably more interested in the last question. My chain broke off and I haven't found a way to reattach. There appears to be a small post with head like a nail about 3 inches down fill, but don't know what kind of end piece it needs. Chain connector doesn't work. Is there something else? [emoji848]

Those are made by Sea Dog. Google will find a bunch of sources. There are other color coded deck fills as well in different designs by other manufacturers.

I’m not sure about the chain holders. To be honest, I think they get in the way. Most of mine have been disconnected. I’ve not lost one yet. Of course since I said that, I better order a generic spare to keep on board because I’ll likely drop one overboard the next time I fill water or fuel.

 

[Cigatoo]

vpracingfuels.com/product/tank-snake-reusable/
These work great, I keep one in my tank at all times to prevent rusting from the inside.

Brooksie, please splain how these work. Not much description on the web page. Thank you.

 

[C lectric]

I skimmed this so may have missed some suggestions for dealing with the water.
Mine was the reverse, fuel into the water tank.
---examine the deck filler and the tank connection. Hopefully it is near the tank side, it is relatively straight into the tank and even better near a tank corner.

---See if you can remove the filler hose without butchering the setup. Just examine at this point. Some are not too bad, some are bad for access.
For a similar but reverse problem I accessed my filler hose from the exterior hull vents. From inside my arms were not quite long enough to not leave a large chest dent. From the vents It was awkward but very doable.

---suggested ---let it sit for a day so the water really settles to the tank bottom. Get the other stuff prepped while this is going on.

---most tanks use diptubes which stop often at least 1" above the bottom so if that's what you have the only way the engine will suck that water into a filter is in rough weather which is not a great idea.

--- if you have a bottom feed tank then the engine may be able to help but the fitting must really be at the tank bottom. Need to get some good rolling and pitching going on though. Just be carefull to frequently drain the filter of accumulated water.

--- often the errant water can be corralled into a tank corner or along a side to bottom seam by the use of water filled buckets and bins so the water will run across the tank bottom to the seam and or corner where the copper wand can access it. If available people make great movable ballast too.

---Once cornered use a wand of copper flexible tubing and push it into that seam/corner and pump it out. The copper tubing can be bent and pushed so to reach the corner and seam hopefully.

--- Here is where deck filler hose access may help as the hose , if not to hard to remove could be removed, and then a hand may be used to better guide the copper tube to where needed.

If there is not a large amount of water then a hand pump would be good such as the Jabsco brass pumps or adapt an electric diaphragm bilge pump if one is available.

Just some thoughts.

 

[markpierce]

Have four fuel tanks. Two fillers are on each beam, midship, engraved "diesel." Water tank fillers, port and starboard, are located several feet toward the stern. Black-water access is forward port. Haven't confused them yet.

 

[Simi 60]

Its the day for it.

A few miles away from the big boat the OB on the tender dies.
Inline filter and on engine filter full of water.
Swap tank, clean out filters and underway again in 5 minutes.

Gets back to big boat drain tank and flush with me to and there was a fair bit in there.
Checks filler lid and the once clear plastic showing E/F has a small crack obviously letting water in last time it rained.
Epoxy to the rescue for the lid and a proper cav style water trap on order to mount on the transom.

 

[BruceK]

Thanks C letric, and everyone. I intended to pump the bottom of the tank before our weekend outing,took some dowels to attach a plastic tube with zipties, but forgot the little hand pump. We left the dock anyway, checked several times for water in the Racor reservoir,none seen. Pickup must be above any water level. I`ll try again next visit. Meanwhile the additive I already use might be merging the water into the diesel as advertised. Our marina mechanic gave me a can of a water absorber into fuel, "Liquid Intelligence" to add 1:1000 to the tank, but it was so thick, like treacle, I decided it was only safe to add during a refuel, which we don`t need as tanks are about 85%. I`m fairly confident the volume of water was small,around 300ml,though the perp`s recollection of how short the squirt was before releasing the trigger gets shorter every mention.

 

[psneeld]

I know it's a tiny amount of water......

I thought the rule of thumb was never to add a water absorber or emulsifier to diesel fuel because diesels can be harmed by burning the water off .....unlike a gasoline engine.

Anybody have any links or fax to this info?

 

[jleonard]

I know it's a tiny amount of water......

I thought the rule of thumb was never to add a water absorber or emulsifier to diesel fuel because diesels can be harmed by burning the water off .....unlike a gasoline engine.

Anybody have any links or fax to this info?

Are you talking corrosion in injectors or harm by water in the combustion?

 

[psneeld]

Well sort of all the above.

Not that you will destroy your engine, well maybe not ..... But wisdom says on diesels, drop it out of suspension and mechanically remove it ( including turbine and aquabloc filters).

Always made sense to me and now with common rail it sounds even better.

 

[jleonard]

Common rail is extremely intolerant of water.

But as far as burning in the cylinders.....many truck guys inject water into the intake to cool the compressed air. I never did that but on those misty, drizzley fall days my Dodge/Cummins used to run really strong. It like sucking in all that water.

Wouldn't want water in the injection pump or injectors though.

 

[koliver]

Can usually tell a lawyer by his language, though I don't recall ever describing a friend that I would trust to help with filling the tanks as "the perp".

 

[C lectric]

Yes but the water injection IS NOT done through the injection system. As you said it is done through the air intake system, not the injection system.

SOme diesels may tolerate a small amount of water but many, even the older ones, you take a chance of injection pump damage and also injector damage.

 

[Irish Rambler]

I think you'll find that the retaining chains/clips are made of alu and unless the filler cap/fitting is properly earthed then galvanic corrosion is the culprit.

 

[FF]

Commercial fuel sellers add de emulsifier which knocks the water out of suspension so it can be pumped out.

A filter bank will have a far easier task removing water , if the fuel is sucked thru , not pumped which can emulsify the fuel.

 

[BruceK]

Can usually tell a lawyer by his language, though I don't recall ever describing a friend that I would trust to help with filling the tanks as "the perp".

The "guilty party"(my partner) and I inserted a plastic tube ziptied to a dowel to the tank bottom, and pumped with hand operated pump. We recovered some very dirty liquid from the bottom, pumping until it was clear. Not sure there was water, I didn`t leave the container to settle as we wanted to check the other tank too, but no obvious water. I think combination of that pumping, filters, and the snake oil including emulsifier I use will probably see us through. The filter drainage is water free, clean and bright diesel. The other side pumped clear except for some residue which I sometimes see in the filter drainage that side.
They are the original mild steel tanks from 1981,holding up quite well for age. I`m probably more degraded since 1981 than they are.