Water in fuel tank-help

[windward1]

Today at my boat, I did one of the dumbest things ever. While filling the water tanks, I got side tracked and stuck the hose in the diesel filler instead of the center tank filler -both on the port side. The fuel tank had been full for the winter storage, but I estimate 2 to 3 gal of water went in before it overflowed and I caught it. Should I just call the pros at the yard to have them drain the tank or if I pump out about 5 gallon from the bottom of the tank using my little hand pump, would that be sufficient?

[Gunkholer 1889]

You could give it a shot. You very likely had some water in there anyway unless you have had your tank cleaned recently. After you have drained a bit of fuel you might ask the yard to tilt you in the slings so the water in the bottom tends to go to one corner of the tank and take another try. Torresen's in Muskegon do this-perhaps others too. Also you are a very long ways from being the first person who has put water into a diesel tank.

Chris Hansen
Gunkholer #1889
White Lake, MI

[William Matley]

Call a pro.

My neighbor, at the boat club, did the same thing to his Catalina 36 II. The "pro" worked and worked and worked to get the water all out, but still the boat would idle roughly for most of the rest of the season.

Water in the fuel system is nothing to fool with. Damage done due to water in the fuel injectors and fuel pump will far exceed the cost to have a pro pump out the fuel.

My 2 cents, call a pro and learn from the experience.

[Pat T]

Agree with Bill and pump it out. That way you get the benefit of knowing you are starting the season with a clean tank. I would hate to have to worry if my engine was going do die while I was motoring across the lake.
You could save some bucks if you can pump most of it out by yourself and somehow dispose of it. I think they will charge you by the gallon if you are at Larsen's in Waukegan.
On another boat I started putting diesel in my waste tank. Not as bad a situation but I know how you feel. You only do it once.

[bstreet]

With the potential risk and expense of fooling around with water in the fuel I'd get the tank pumped out, pull it out and get it cleaned. I put pink anti-freeze in mine last fall and I pulled it out, was going to do that anyway but the pink stuff sealed the deal. Rad shops now often clean fuel tanks, that's where I take mine. The crap that came out of that tank was astounding. This week I changed the Racor and the engine filter, the Racor had almost an inch of black sludge in the plastic bottom of it, which is also what the last 1/2 gallon that came out of the tank was, black sludge. I put an article in here on pulling the tank but that was for a Mark II. It is fairly simple to do though it will exercise your patience when you put it back in as I did last Saturday. I would think with the tank under the dinette it would be easier still.

[Steve Frost]

Richard,

Not sure what the cost would be for the service, consensus would indicate this would be the tack to take. Keep in mind if the cost is high, this would be and insurable event.

I purchased and engine core from a guy that overserviced his engine with oil and it ran away on him. His insurance paid the cost of a replacement engine.
Insurance will not cover wear and tear but it will cover our stupidity and lack of judgement. Though I have never made a claim on my insurance if they only new the depth of my stupidity my rates could be much higher.

[windward1]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for all the feedback. I thought about messing with this myself, but quickly changed my mind. The engine is way to valuable. I am currently calling the mechanic to resolve this; I am sure someone else in the harbor has done this before.

[LCBrandt]

Whoa...wait a minute. No need to call a pro.

Water in the fuel is not a difficult fix, so you can save a lot of bucks by doing this one yourself. First, the good news...you spotted the problem before you started the engine. Therefore, the water is only in the fuel tank and lines, and probably the Racor filter. The Racor has certainly stopped it at that point.

Here's the fix...

1. Go to Lowes/Home Depot and purchase about 25 feet of translucent plastic refrigerator water line. The stuff that's about 1/4 inch O.D. Get a coat hanger. Straighten the coat hanger and tape one end of the plastic hose along its length, so that you can use it as a probe into the corners of the fuel tank. Coil almost all of the refrigerator hose into a 1 to 1 1/2 ft circle and tape it so, leaving the top end free. It looks like a French horn, sort of. Put on appropriate background music if you think it helps.

2. Drain the sump on the Racor until all visible water has been drawn. Deposit into a container nearby.

3. Open the fuel tank access port, and probe into the corners of the tank, sucking on the other end of your 20 to 25 feet of refrigerator line. You can watch the fuel/water progress up into the hose, and it will visibly circle round and round. You can easily see when it gets near the top end of the hose. Needless to say, stop sucking before you get a mouthful of diesel. Blow the fuel into a container at hand.

4. Repeat 3 as needed, until all water is out of the recesses of the tank.

5. Repeat 2.

6. Replace the Racor.

7. Put everything back together - REMEMBERING to close the fuel tank access port WITH THE GASKET IN PLACE.

8. Start the engine and run it for an hour to convince yourself that what you've done is a proper fix. (It is. And probably your pro won't have done the fix as completely as you will.)

9. Last thing, use the refrig hose to draw off the water from the bottom of your container, and then dump the diesel into a friend's diesel truck or car. Properly dispose of the remaining 1/2 cup of contaminated fuel.

Not mentioned in this list is the obvious sequence of when the fuel shutoff will have to be closed, and opened, etc. Just work it through logically. Going slowly, taking your time, I'd guess about two hours total, not counting the trip to Lowes. It's not sweaty hard labor...just careful, methodical, and a little bit messy. If you're careful, the mess can be readily managed. Remember, you're dealing with flammables, so no smoke break until after you shower.

(Sorry, but was away at the boat, in Canada, for the weekend and couldn't stay up with the posts.)

[deising]

FWIW, I am a DIYer as much as possible if I feel strongly that I can do the job adequately. I would not hesitate to pump out my own contaminated fuel once I thought through the whole process.

It is true that letting water get through your system and filters to the injectors is a very bad thing.

Good luck with whatever remedy you choose.

[Ken Juul]

I think I would modify Capt Brandt's suggestion a bit. Borrow enough 5 gal fuel containers from friends in the marina to hold the contents of your fuel tank. Put a piece of hose on your racor output barb and pump the contents of the tank into the borrowed jugs. Either have a helper turn the key off and on as the jugs get full or simply turn off the battery switch. When the pump looses prime, put the loose end of the clear coil on the pump input and finish draining the tank into a throw away container.

Change your racor. You should probably have at least one spare racor on hand before you start just in case you foul one part way through the draining.

Reattach the removed fuel lines. Refill the fuel tank from the jugs. If you are concerned there may still be water in the fuel, use a baha filter or similiar. I think I would also add a diesel additive that absorbs water just in case you missed some.

C34 #1090
Post C34IA Commodore
Chesapeake Bay

[plaineolde]

The fuel filler cap on my prior boat, an 88 Catalina 30, cracked over the winter. Was the type of cap that has a socket for a winch handle, which must have filled with water, froze and pushed the bottom of the socket out. So plenty of water got into my fuel tank. I found out the hard way on my first spring sail, when the wind died and I fired up the engine to motor the 5 miles back in. Engine quit. Found water in the fuel filter bowl. I put a hose on the filter drain and pumped it into gallon water jugs until I got clear fuel. got about 3-4 gallons of water. Closed the drain, let the pump purge the lines and the engine fired up and ran fine until I traded it on my 36 several years later.

I had no other choice other than a tow, but the fuel filter method definately worked fine for me.

[LCBrandt]

Ken, your suggestion of a diesel additive at the end of the job is a good one.

But personally, I think removing all the fuel is making the job overly complex. The fuel level need only be below the level of the top of the tank so that when the access port is opened it won't spill out.

This job can be done - as I have done it - in a simple methodical way. Water being heavier than fuel will be at the low point of the tank, and at other low points (the fuel line and Racor sump) of the system. The Racor will not allow the water to proceed beyond. And the high pressure fuel filter will stop it if it does...which it won't need to. Just make the Racor changeout the last step of the job before you start buttoning everything up.

This is not a difficult job. The reason I did it, after a charterer put 5 gallons of water in the fuel tank, was to verify that my paid maintenance professional did the job correctly. He didn't. I'm glad I checked his work...I pulled an additional 1/2 liter of water out of the corners at the bottom of the tank. This was 6 years and many thousands of sea miles ago, and I have had no trouble since.

As I say, this is a job that a modestly capable owner can do, and will probably do better than a paid professional would do it.

[Ken Juul]

Either method will work, and yes mine is more work. The reason behind my method is although most of the water will be in the bottom of the tank, an unknown amount will be in solution with the fuel. (hasn't settled out from the mistake, stirred up by the wand or boat motion) I would rather get in all out while I'm doing it than take the risk of a second puddle forming on the bottom after the fuel has set a while longer. Although it should be minimal and the racor should catch it before it gets to the engine minimizing the chance of a problem. It would just nag at me. Additionally water on the bottom of the tank will cause corrosion leading to pin hole leaks requiring tank replacement.

C34 #1090 Luna Loca
Chesapeake Bay

[LCBrandt]

Ken, you've gotta make your best call. Personally, I feel that water in suspension, if any, will be blocked by the Racor and held within the filter and/or will precipitate out into the filter sump. If you're going to run several tanks of fuel through in a season, then all would be well without worrying beyond the resolution I have set out; but if you're leaving the boat and its fuel unused for a long period, then possibly what you describe would be more likely.

Having had the water in fuel issue myself, I just feel it is so readily solvable on my own that I would never pay a mechanic to do it.

[John Reimann]

I've done practically every stupid thing you can think of on our boat, including this one. Here's what I did:

I simply looked at the fuel filter, saw the sediment bowl was full of water, put a little cup under it, opened up the drain valve on the bottom of the bowl, let it run until the cup was full, closed the valve, repeated until all the water was gone.

Then I took the boat out sailing, and did the same thing while the boat was heeling first on one side then another. This also included while there was a fair amount of chop. This process drained off a fair amount of additional water. I don't know what a professional fuel polisher would have done, but I'm not sure they would have gotten this water.

That was some 150 engine hours ago, and the engine is running fine. No ill effects. (Incidentally, I didn't realize what I'd done until the engine cut off, meaning the water had reached the injectors.) This shows me that you can do just about anything to these engines; the secret is that they are made by Timex (and if you know what I am referring to when I say this, you are as dated as I am).

[bstreet]

Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'?

[caprice 1050]

I gave this suggestion before. Although it's to late in Richard's situation, but it bears repeating. Paint your diesel cap yellow, the same color as a diesel fuel can, or green, the same as the hose on a diesel pump. If you reach for any other filer cap you will be instainly reminded it is not the yellow or green diesel filler cap. If you go to put water in your diesel tank the color will remind you it is the diesel filer cap.

[gforaker]

I gave this suggestion before. Although it's to late in Richard's situation, but it bears repeating. Paint your diesel cap yellow, the same color as a diesel fuel can, or green, the same as the hose on a diesel pump. If you reach for any other filer cap you will be instainly reminded it is not the yellow or green diesel filler cap. If you go to put water in your diesel tank the color will remind you it is the diesel filer cap.

Good suggestion! Fuel Yellow or Orange, Water Blue and Waste Black.

[John Reimann]

Can you paint stainless steel? (by the way, how about nail polish?)

[deising]

Yes on both counts.

[LCBrandt]

John,

I suspect that what stopped your engine was not the water reaching the injectors, but the Racor getting full of water and blocking the fuel flow. I'd like to hear Steve Frost's opinion on this, but I think water reaching the injectors would be nigh on catastrophic. In my imagination I can see injectors bursting with high pressure steam if this were to happen. Anyone, is my imagination overactive???

[Spanki]

I did the exact same thing on July 1, 2006 just before my wife and three sons (at home on vacation from Navy) were going to leave for a 4th July weekend, the first one with our newly purchased 36. The quickest fix I saw for the boat took about 6 hours. I removed the aft bulkhead, fuel tank and lines as well as all fuel filters. Next I blew all fuel lines clear, washed the tank out with denatured alcohol (it looked fantastic!) put it all back together, turned on the fuel pump for 5 minutes with the 'bleed screw' open and she started right up! Bad news is last summer an 'worker' at the marina put my fuel cap on crocked and 3 months after that I had to remove the tank and do it again.
At least no fuel spill.:rolleyes:

[Spanki]

As to L. Brandt's suggestion that the engine could blow up from water he is right, I know of a Kubota tractor that a kid turned over into a creek that sucked water through the intake and pushed the crank out the bottom so when my insident occured I called Kubota and they explained that if the engine were to get a solid water injection at 3200rpm it could break things but that 99% of the time it just stops running until the water is removed. On the Racor stopping all water from getting past it I strongly disagree as on both of my fuel water incidents I found water in the top of the fuel filter on the engine.

[windward1]

Gentlemen,

I made a quick decision not to learn a new skill at this time. I wanted my boat to be ready to go if the weather ever calms down. I had Waukegan Yacht Service, who I have been very satisfied with on previous work, tackle the problem. There approach was to go in through the sender opening, use a stiff hose to suck all contents of the tank through a separator and then put some of the fuel back in and do the process a couple of times. Supposedly all the other crud at the bottom of the tank would also be removed. They then put some fresh fuel in and changed both filters. The engine is running fine-not cheap ($350). There comment was be happy you do not have a 300 gallon tank. They have had to do this to some power boats. I had put some yellow electrical tape on the filler cap, but the winter weather took it off. I think the suggestion of yellow paint has a lot of merit. Also not going brain dead when adding fluids would have prevented the problem. Thanks for all of the feed back.

[tsenator]

Take comfort in knowing that you are not alone. I am continually in fear of doing something like this, so every season I paint the Stainless Steel diesel cap with bright red fingernail polish (it usually fades and chips away after a season).

So everytime I go to open either the water or diesel fill cap I STARE at the caps and take a moment to make sure I don't use the wrong one.

[deising]

I have not used the color method yet. I, too, have a great fear of putting the wrong fluid into the wrong opening, so I just have a habit of REALLY, REALLY concentrating on what I am doing and not let anything distract me.

It was the same with selecting switches on an aircraft instrument panel; I stared at it for a LONG second to be sure it was the one I wanted. Very bad things can happen if you energize the wrong switch in some cases.

[Peter Taylor]

At the risk ok keeping this thread going a bit longer I have to own up to the fact that I put 4 gallons of diesel in aft centre water tank the one with its cap next to the diesel filler. It was the day took possesion of my boat

Things were going fine until diesel emptied into the Marina from the water breather. I was not popular with the whole community for some time.
I was so ashamed I removed the water tank at night and took it home to flush it out - I was too embarrassed to do it in daylight.

I managed eventually to get the diesel taste out of the water tank but learned a very valuable lesson when filling either fuel or water - as has been discussed here.

[deising]

Peter, if you ever have another situation with "bad tasting" water, try adding a shot of rum to every glass. It doesn't necessarily improve the taste, but you don't care as much! :D