What creates "bad diesel" fuel ?

[billypumper]

Gotta neighbor who politicizes EVERYTHING. He was going to buy an 8,000 gallon tank and fill it up with diesel so he'd never run out. The fact that he'll never use that much fuel in his entire life is unimportant - he'll HAVE it. He has one Kubota mid-size tractor and an older GM diesel truck (which he doesn't drive much).

Anyway, it is all the fault of (fill in the politician to blame today) that the price of diesel has gone up to where he can't afford to fill that tank, which he hasn't bought anyway, because of them etc. etc. etc. (Covid has nothing to do with it, OPEC has nothing to do with it, refinery fires have nothing to do with it, hurricanes in the Gulf have nothing to do with it . . . you get the idea.)

Actually, all these evil forces arrayed against HIM PERSONALLY (to hear it told) may have done him a favor. If he fills that tank and it leaks or grows algae or whatever, now he'll have 8,000 gallons of essentially unusable fuel unless he treats it with gallons and gallons of algae killing chemistry and fixes the leaks - if he can find them.

He'll also be talking to the EPA and the local environmental regulators who are not a very pleasant or understanding crowd (ask me how I know this) about his brand new contaminated property which is now eligible to be an EPA superfund site. Note that the EPA only designates, they aren't paying for the cleanup (although some federal funds - i.e. our tax dollars - are sometimes available).

The water table is pretty high here, too, so he'd be contaminating multiple square miles of the aquifer as well - oh boy oh boy.

Environmental cleanups on this scale are astronomically expensive. When I was a mortgage broker, banks flatly refused to lend on gas stations because if the borrower defaulted, the owner (now the bank) has to pay for the cleanup. The fact that the bank didn't cause the leak is immaterial, the bank is the owner and the bank has to pay, period. (Not that I have a huge problem with that, but anyway . . . ) Small spills and small amounts of contaminated dirt can run up bills of over a quarter of a million dollars, which makes it pretty obvious why banks won't lend on gas stations. There are plenty of other borrowers out there who won't break the bank - no pun intended - if they default.

The contaminated dirt has to be dug up, trucked off to an EPA approved facility and incinerated. We're talking six or seven figures on small to medium size spills. Even on small spills or small leaky underground tanks, I have seen them require a power driven ventilation system running 24/7/365, and *somebody* has to pay the power company for the electricity - the EPA isn't real picky as to who.

Probably the best thing that could have happened to him was the increase in the price of fuel, it kept him from getting himself into some REALLY big time and expensive trouble.

He's a good guy, I'd rather hear him complain about his lost opportunity to stock up forever than listen to him wail about the EPA coming after him and fining him a bajillion dollars. ("Will Sir be paying with cash, check, or credit card?")

Best Regards,

Mike/Florida

I know a company who buys 10,000 gallons at a time and they get a dollar off per gallon, if price goes down in the first 3 months they get that cut too.

 

[ForestGrump]

This is gonna sound dumb to you if you worked at a refinery. But here goes any way. "There is a third diesel ,marine diesel, which is thick and waxy". Is this third fuel also known as bunker fuel?

No! Bunker fuel is a highly asphaltenic low gravity fuel. At room temperature and below it is very thick. In other words it’s the drudge of the refinery but not quite asphalt.

 

[ForestGrump]

Are you trying to say avoid red dye diesel in cold climate ??

I would have to see the spec sheet for the particular fuel. We didn’t make red diesel so I’m not familiar with its specs but I can look them up pretty quick.

 

[ForestGrump]

Just to be sure I looked up red diesel. There is also red gasoline. These Fuels are dyed red for the sole purpose of road taxes, there are none And other than that they are the same as their counterpart. Red diesel is normally #2 diesel with the red dye. When it leaves the refinery it must meet or exceed all the ASTM specs for #2 diesel.

 

[ForestGrump]

So I watched the video and he said he was going to explain things he didn’t. He complained instead. Pollution from any source is greatest near its source. I have yet to see a cruise or steam ship anywhere near my house but I do see a lot of trains and trucks, trucks and more trucks. I live in Southern California. We moved here in the early 80’s. When you went down the hill into the LA basin it was orange, the air was orange. When you went into the landlocked inland empire, San Bernardino, Riverside etc. which has 2,000,000 people the air was orange. Nowadays the air can be bad but in general it’s a night and day difference.
The purpose of diesel emissions is quite simple: clean air. The oil soot he pulled out of the valve, well that could be in your lungs.

 

[ljjhouser]

What causes "bad fuel". I guess water and algae.

 

[gejandsons]

Several years ago I experienced a summer of "frequent" fuel filter changes. On the T1530 NH that I cut several fields with I had to change the filter often. The machine would just not maintain power & speed. After the filter change it would immediately be back to spec.
I was buying my diesel at the same location that year and when I finally decided that my filter issues were caused by the fuel I was using I changed to another source ................. and the issues went away. I've only changed the filter once in the last two years and the symptom is the rpm drop & power loss.
I'm suspicious that something in the fuel "coats" the filter. Anyone else have similar problems ?

High humidity with air space in the tank creates water in the tank from condensation. I have less problems when I keep the tank near full during storage times.