Algae and fungus in webasto tank and lines
Submitted: Saturday, Mar 25, 2006 at 18:18
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Birchy
After seeing steve's post on algae and fungus choaking up filters etc in diesel vehicles,I started thinking about the webasto heater. Our van is only three months old,the webasto tank has only about 1/2 lt diesel left in it after test run on pick up and minor tests ourselves. Winter will be here before we know it,what is best keep the tank full,add treatment,drain when not using and yes thanks to good old Motley check the rear end for wasp nests.
Reply By: Turist - Saturday, Mar 25, 2006 at 18:50
Saturday, Mar 25, 2006 at 18:50
This is a typical "Catch 22" situation.
Drain the tank and get condensation.
Leave it full of summer grade distillate and it may not work when cold.
My choice, add 2 litres of kerosene and top up with distillate, run heater until the kero-diesel mix is through the system.
Leave the tank full.
The kero blend prevents the wax buildup in the fuel.
The full tank prevents condensate.
Most algae types are a bacteria that require air and H2O to propogate so keeping the tank full when storing the van is not a bad preventative.
Another thing with these growths is that they like light and that is why they suddenly bloom when in a glass bodied filter bowl exposed to sunlight.
Regards
Bob
AnswerID:
568263
Follow Up By: Birchy - Saturday, Mar 25, 2006 at 19:13
Saturday, Mar 25, 2006 at 19:13
Cheers, Bob.
Manny thanks for the good oil,excuse the pun!!!. Will get on the job today,great idea about the home brew winter mix,can now keep the BT home fires burning.
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Follow Up By: Turist - Saturday, Mar 25, 2006 at 21:55
Saturday, Mar 25, 2006 at 21:55
For those that do not know, Webasto heaters will operate on just about any type of fuel oil except waxy diesel in cold weather.
You can use Diesel, Kerosene, Heating Oil, Lamp Oil, Citronella (Exhaust keeps mossies at bay) etc or a blend of any of the above.
If you have waxy fuel and your heater is not performing well add one litre of lead free petrol to on tank of diesel.
This cleans the burners of any deposits. If there have been deposits in the burners you will possibly get a few sparks from the exhaust.
The blend of diesel and heating oil is commonly used down in the snow country, they blend up to 50/50 and call it Alpine Diesel.
Does not wax up in very cold conditions.
Bob
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Reply By: Bushtracker - Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 18:22
Monday, Mar 27, 2006 at 18:22
Birchy, Bob,
Perfect answer Bob, Kerosene is a good disinfectant, and does not grow any of the gunk.... Very good answer Bob, like I said, you can have my job! Ha! You don't really want to continue being bored, buy me out and I will go be a poor Horseman full time... Ha!
ONE IMPORTANT THING TO ADD: The above answer relates to the Webasto just fine.. HOWEVER, KEROSENE IS ABRASIVE... Do not do this for an engine, as it takes about a litre of oil per 20 litres of kerosene to make a reasonable engine fuel or you are putting wear on the top end, rings and such... It takes some added oil to run such a mix in an engine, the frozen country diesel has a special mix that allows this, but I would not even run that full time... OK?
Even if you were to find a cheap source of kero, don't be running it as a mix in your engines... Big No-No... They got away with it in some huge low RPM military engines back as far as WWII, but they were huge components, low RPM, huge rings and such, and they still advised a mix of a can of oil in each jerry can of kero in those..
Best regards from the Dinosaur, lost Ranger in Oz....
AnswerID:
568264
