Trouble With Low Sulfur Diesel and Ethanol Blended Gasoline and ISO Fuel Requirements.

Diesel fuel is not what it used to be.

‍

‍

Fuel contamination happens. The modern diesel engine needs to meet or exceed an ISO cleanliness level of 18/16/13 with a water content of less than .05%. In the good old days diesel engines were simple, less efficient, smoked a lot, and burned high sulfur fuel. Legacy diesel injection systems only used about a half of the fuel pressure we see in modern diesel engines. Moisture in high sulfur diesel killed most of the filter clogging bacteria and fungus.

We live in a new era of diesel engines that are ultra low sulfur which allows filter clogging bacteria and fungus to grow rapidly if any moisture is present. New diesel engine fuel pressure can be up to 35,000 psi. This sounds impressive yet will clog easily with dirty fuel damaged by water.

The old filter systems are not adequate if contamination is present. Filters and magnets will not clean the fuel to an ISO of 18/16/13 or remove the water properly.

‍

The troubles with ethanol blended gasoline.

‍

‍

Have you heard of phase separated ethanol? Marine fuel and some service stations do not contain ethanol that will ultimately contaminate the fuel in your tank. Why? When gasoline containing ethanol experiences water both liquid and humidity, the ethanol absorbs the water. There will be a saturation point in which the ethanol/water will phase separate. This will form a distinct layer of a harmful solution. This lowers the octane of the fuel to a point where the engine will not run or cause severe damage. Both equipment fuel tanks and bulk fuel storage tanks should be regularly checked for water and maintained to prevent phase separation.

Fuel Fix Equipment exceed the engine manufacturers recommended ISO 18/16/13 cleanliness target.

ISO Fuel Requirements

The standard established by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) provides a common measurement system that engine and fuel system manufacturers use to designate acceptable particle levels in the fuel system. Determining fuel cleanliness requirements includes the measurement of both particle size and count. ISO 4406 utilizes a series of three numbers (18/16/13) to identify the particle count per milliliter at 4, 6 and 14 micron sizes. Engine manufacturers recommend ISO 18/16/13 or better as the cleanliness target in fuel tanks.

A micron is a metric measure equal to one millionth of a meter, or 1/25,000th of an inch. The smallest particle visible to the naked eye is 40 microns across. A human hair is 80 microns in diameter, and a single grain of talcum powder is 15 microns.

‍

ISO 4406 definition of particles

Fuel status ISO code for 4406 particle counts

Unacceptable 22 40,000 particles

fuel supply 20 10,000 particles

recommended 13- 18 80-2500 particles

fuel fix standards 15-17 2500 particles

Contact Fuel Fix for your free fuel sample. Remember, you can come to us or we can come to you location permitting. Fuel fix is here to help keep your machines running smoothly while maintaining the cleanest fuel standards to guarantee your equipment will run when you need it the most. Our number is 321-378-5788. The call for more information or to set up an appointment.

‍