Fuel Oil degradation

Glen

would anyone have a definitive website or contact for fuel oil degradation due to moisture/bacterium etc. We have treated with a couple of additives - but HO is still very leary of my diagnosis. I am convinced - he is not.

John@Reliable_14

Try this for a start

http://www.fueloilnews.com/uploads/Features/2005/chemical_dir_0805.pdf

Ken Field

What have you used? You will need a bacteriaCIDE and not a bacteriaSTAT. You probably will not get the bacteriacide over the counter. I believe it has to be registered with the EPA and is like buying pesticide. We use a product called Bug-Out and buy it by the case. We use it in any tank that shows signs of algae. Most over counter stuff won't kill a lot of bacteria but will inhibit growth. That isn't enough in a tank full of algae. The good thing is that once it is dead, it will go through the filter and burn. I would recommend a 10 micron filter to be sure you don't have callbacks.

Ken

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Ken Field

What have you used?
You will need a bacteriaCIDE and not a bacteriaSTAT. You probably will not get the bacteriacide over the counter. I believe it has to be registered with the EPA and is like buying pesticide. We use a product called Bug-Out and buy it by the case. We use it in any tank that shows signs of algae. Most over counter stuff won't kill a lot of bacteria but will inhibit growth. That isn't enough in a tank full of algae. The good thing is that once it is dead, it will go through the filter and burn. I would recommend a 10 micron filter to be sure you don't have callbacks.

Ken

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Glen

Sludge Be Gone

At first it was heavy debris in filters (triple) now it is just plugging up with a colorless junk. Vacuum goes up (lots), pump howls, filter is changed - almost daily. this will be a long process. 10 micron still too fine at this point. pump screen remains clear as most crap is collected by 1A filter.

BillW@honeywell

You may have a bigger problem...

Water is inevitable in fuel oil, and each batch is tested for BS&W(bottom sediment and water). If it is within standards, it is OK to use. Additional water enters thru any leaks in the tank or fill pipe and by condensation in a partially filled tank. The water settles to the bottom of the tank, and an algae grows on the interface between the oil and the water, with the "bugs" drawing oxygen from the water, and metabolizing the sulfur compounds in the oil. The water becomes very acidic, and will eventually rot the bottom out of a metal tank. Meanwhile, the algae grow, and left unchecked, will fill the whole tank. They mainfest themselves as a slimy gray coating on the filter, and eventually the tank contents will look like thin chocolate pudding. The tank has to be pumped dry, cleaned, inspected and then shocked with a bioCIDE, and then can be refilled with clean oil, IF it is not leaking! It may take several attempts to purge the oil lines. Underground tanks are especially susceptible to algae problems, and should be treated with biocide and sludge dispersant as a matter of course. A leaking underground tank is a very expensive environmental cleanup problem. There are alternatives, the new "Roth" type tanks that can be installed in a basement or outdoors under a shed. They are double walled, and have bult in leak detection.

Weezbo

get yourself an old model j and run the supply into the ...

bottom of the tank with some 1/2' And the other into a white bucket....

pump the heaviest gunk out into the bucket.....well there it is ...

getting rid of it...is another thing....

the model J pump will pick up the most of it...the worst looks like gelled paint...;)

Glen

gelled paint - exactly!

the sludge collected so far looks like brown sugar - is stable at room temp but "melts" on the finger tip.I am even thinking of a large capacity bypass filter on constant circ - tank is too large to pump out clean at this point (1000 gal)as HO has a sizeable investment in oil futures stored in the tank. Worse yet is the vitoflame/vitola - it just does not like the brown sludge and high vacuum when filters do their job.

Paul Fredricks_3

We have done a lot of test treatment testing at our training center. What we have found is that if a biocide is applied, the bacterium create a mucous film to protect themselves. Maybe if the tank is clean and dry that makes sense. What we have found best id to pump the scum off the bottom and treat with a water remover. By using a product that will bond with the water, making it burnable, gets the water out of the tank and removes the oxygen source from the bacteria.

Glen

more info has come to light

We have found that the fuel delivered in March had a cloud point of -3C. The troubles started when the weather turned to -15C. I know think that precipitated parriffin is more the culprit than the suspected algae. Although - treatment for water should continue I think.

Ragu_5

AHHH!

No wonder that more people are switching to gas!

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Glen

the solution

is not an arbitrary shift to gas related products - but buying the correct fuel for the application. You can't use LPG in an NG burner - why try summer diesel fuel in winter? There are still very good reasons to stick with oil - especially when used in a boiler developed by the masters of thrift - the euro's. But if oil is the fuel of choice (or necessity) - then using # 1 light is the way to go. In this case - it was convienient for the supplier to top off the tank in early summer - which now in the dead of winter - gells. It's been a learning experience for quite a few of us. After 30 + years of cranking on oil burners - I now truly understand Cloud Point and its importance. If the Fire Dragon wrote about it - I missed that class! And what I was certain to be fungii etc - is not. Even my cummins diesel would complain trying to digest this stuff - I just hope that the 300 gals of #1 light added - will mix enough to lower the cloud point before the HO loses all his hair.

Ken Field

Go gas. Go BOOM

Maybe you could try to convince the 30+ people that lived in the 4 homes within 10 miles of me how great gas is. When they finish scouring a 3 block radius for what is left of their homes, perhaps they won't mind the risk of a little bacteria contamination with the heating system in their new homes.

Ken

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Weezbo

Glen, the J and H pump like fiends

the 1/2" shot down the fill tube will hoover a heck of a lot of it out..those pumps are strong..not one of todays weebly snap shaft type deals...

by drawing off the very bottom of the tank the(where the gunk lives) it will doit one 5 gallon bucket of it would pretty much delete any chance of it being where one of the supply lines would be currently living ...i have had to wait till summer to fine tune more than one tank that had that slurm in the lower depths of the tank... pumping it with a model J on a motor was the ticket, till then...

the deeper in the tank you draw the boiler oil from the more likely it is to pick up the slurm...*~/:)

BillW@honeywell

For those of you who aren't oilheads...

Here are some tests that are done on fuel oils to determine their quality.
BS&W: (Bottom sediment & water) Determines the content of water & solid contaminents.
Cloud point: Temperature at which wax crystals begin forming in light oils.
Pour point: Usually for the heavier grades, like 4&6, the temperature at which the oil is liquid enough to pump. Some heavy industrial burners burn #6 oil which has a pour point of 100 degrees! For more info, go to Firedragon or Oil Tech Talk.

Glen

And -

too often we chatter away with various arconyms, abbreveations etc. But back to cloud point - here in BC, CP is adjusted 6 times a year. And to date - I have had not one supplier of the golden exilir to admit to any BS&W. This particular job has driven the installing contractor wild - who in his own right is a darn good OB mechanic and has all the rights tools, in the box and in his brain. I was amazed how well the parrifin kept its shape - I could pull the filter element with the imprint left perfectly on the sides of the 1A.