Drum Contaminants

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

I've just pumped the last out of my drum from the Waterways stuff. As Gunner warned those of us who got free drums - there was some oil in the bottom. Since my troubles and since I noticed that the ABG sample was much darker than the Rutherford sample, I've been filtering each load into 25L containers via a funnel with 2 different layers of filter (some stocking material from my wife).
The ABG stuff took ages to filter through. The last bit I tipped out was black as the ace of spades and would not go through the filter at all!

Considering that the pump pulls from the bottom of the drum first, it is no wonder that I got a clogged fuel filter on my first load. The sample that I'd taken for my other tests came from the top of the barrel, so was not a true sample compared to what I ran through my car.

Those of you with cars a bit more rugged than mine did not seem to have any problems, where I had a load of them.

It might pay you all to filter out of the drums, if you do not already do this. I'm going to go and find some good filter paper and re-filter into fresh 25L containers just to be 100% sure. I've also got a filter on the end of my filler hose now so hopefully everything that I have missed filtering will get caught just before if goes into my car.

[Guest Close David]

Re: Drum Contaminants

Perhaps you may have discovered the real cause of your pump Failure Robert.
If this stuff off the bottom of your drum is too thick to filter, the electric pump in your car must have had a real hard time with it.... Too hard a time in fact.

Lesson to the story would be get hold of some drums and make sure you clean them out properly before using them for putting fuel in. I would have thought that any mineral oil would have just mixed in with the bio but obviously it won't. Just goes to show that with diesel engines, you can't be too careful with the cleanliness of your fuel.

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

Re: Drum Contaminants

Re the pump failure - I'm pretty sure that the primary pump (in the tank) had been dead for over a year. It would not prime the system properly long before I added biodiesel. There was no evidence of any gunk inside the pump. I think what happened was that the gunk clogged up the filter and upset the secondary pump. Replacing the filter fixed that problem, but then when air got introduced to the fuel lines, the old primary pump was (again) unable to prime properly. The secondary (also before the filter) was a little more gunked up, causing the lack of ability to prime properly, which I'd experienced pre-biodiesel to be even more pronounced.
Looking at the way my own crude stocking filters had clogged so quickly. It is not hard to understand why my car's fuel filter clogged as well.
The last bit from the bottom of the drum was black and just sits in the funnel and will not go through the filters at all.

Re the mixing with the engine oil: I had also thought that any mineral oil would mix, but I guess the density of this oil would have been much greater than normal mineral diesel. If it was shaken up it would mix OK, but over time would eventually settle to the bottom.

I'm off to find some decent filter papers this morning and also get some decent inline filters for the pipe out of my handpump and the filler hose out of my 25L containers. As David said - you can't be too careful about how clean your fuel is.