8 Tips to Prepare Fuel Tank Equipment for the Cold: Protect Your Fuel This Winter

Preventative maintenance is much easier than fixing repairs when they happen, stopping downtime and costly fixes, or having to install new parts in harsh winter conditions.

So, how do the cold temperatures impact your fuel tank, and what steps can an individual or business take to ensure that their fuel equipment is winter-ready?

1) Add an anti-gelling additive to your fuel. These prevent diesel fuel gelling by stopping the paraffin wax from solidifying. Diesel contains paraffin wax to improve the viscosity of the fuel and enhance lubrication. If the diesel gets too cold, the paraffin wax starts to crystalise, or start gelling, The solidified paraffin wax then thickens the fuel and clogs fuel filters and injectors in engines. Diesel fuel anti-gels are added to the fuel tank with the fuel in.

2) Check your fuel tank for excess water. In icy cold weather, water can freeze, expand, unfreeze, and then cause water condensation within fuel equipment. This condensation can refreeze or go into the diesel fuel causing water contamination, which can lead to the internal mechanisms including the motors and fuel pump to have an expensive breakdown, needing replacements parts fast.

3) Regularly check fuel delivery hoses for cracks or leaks that could worsen in the cold temperatures, due to water getting into the cracks, freezing and consequently expanding.

4) Keep an eye on seals and couplings for diesel fuel pumps to ensure they are in optimal condition to withstand cold temperatures. Having spares on standby for quick replacements when needed will be beneficial in the long run.

5) Filters should be replaced as often as necessary when full to prevent fuel contamination. If you have a filter removing water from the fuel and the water in the filter element freezes, it may prematurely block after doing its job and need replacing before fuel manages to pass through again and dispensing can resume. Having spare elements on site to quickly replace blocked ones will prevent costly downtime.

6) Fuel tank leaks should be caught within a bund, so checking the bund for any cracks or holes in the structure is imperative. However, in the colder months, leaves can gather in the bund, compromising its ability to hold the full tanks contents if it does leak. Bunds should be regularly cleared out to prevent this. In the worst-case scenario that the bund does fail or leak, having a spill kit nearby on site, such as the Envirospill spill kit bin, can stop environmental contamination and safety issues.

7) Ensure that those responsible for the fuel storage tanks are adequately trained. This should be to a level that means they can perform daily checks on fuel equipment during the winter months and know what signs to look for in colder spells for potential issues.

8) Consider switching to a winter grade fuel or to HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil), as both have a lower cold filter plugging point than regular diesel. This avoids the issues that low blend diesel fuels can bring, as HVO has a high cetane number of greater than 70 which means less chance of waxing in the cold compared to diesel.

Now we’ve looked at how to prepare and protect fuel equipment from the cold, what can you do to lower the amount of freezing water near your diesel fuel in winter?

Water inside a fuel storage tank is a serious issue, but as diesel is hygroscopic, it attracts and holds onto water at a molecular level. The water in the diesel fuel sinks to the bottom of the fuel tank, saturating the diesel, contaminating the fuel, causing diesel bug sludge to grow, which can cause problems for your machinery during the winter.

The best way to remove water from fuel is with an Aquafighter fuel tank water absorber. It removes suspended and emulsified water from the fuel and supplies a complete solution for water contamination. Aquafighter reduces the water content levels down to less than 75ppm, which exceeds the EN590 diesel fuel standards of 200ppm.

After removing the water, filters are your next best line of defence. Filters stop sludge getting into the machinery before dispensing. They catch and hold the sludge. Fuel tank filters such as the Goldenrod and Cim-Tek filters are designed to be fitted outside of a diesel fuel storage tank, however, they do not prevent water or sludge from forming inside the tank before reaching the filter – so an Aquafighter is still recommended for use at the same time.

The winter season can put pressure on your fuel equipment, so we are always ready to provide extra support to our customers. We can offer you superior before and after technical support, and a quick and reliable service. As we have a large stockholding on site, almost all our products are ready to dispatch with next day delivery ensuring that whether you need fuel filters, fuel tank water absorbers, spill kits or diesel pump replacements.

Don’t let Jack Frost catch you out this year!