Fuel Gelling

cerickson

cerickson

fullpull108
Joined
Feb 17, 2011
Messages
1,071
Like the title says the fuel gelled in the 06 in my signature. The temperature was down in the single digits earlier this week. I had filled the truck up so it was full before the last cold snap that came thru. I treated the tank with Power Service anti-gell crap. Used the whole bottle. I had truck plugged in all night. Went out to start truck for my wife. Started and idled just fine. She left for work after it had been warmed up for over 20 minutes. She made it about 2 miles down the road before it died on her. I knew right away it was gelled. She was able to restart the truck and get it back home. I went to the local parts store and poured Power Service 911 in the tank. Let it sit for about an hour in direct sunlight. Fired right up and drove fine. Now I know it's getting late in the season for worrying about gelling. I was looking at these filter heaters.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wolverine-Fuel-Filter-Heater-2-5-3-75-FH50-Diesel-Filter-Heater-FH-50A-/370571833130?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5647cd6f2a&vxp=mtr
Has anybody ever try one on their trucks. I used the search function and didn't find anything about anything like this. I was just wondering if I were to treat the tank and had these filter warmers on. Would it keep the fuel warm enough to keep from gelling. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
It's about 9 months old. Pump gave up in the first arctic blast in January. They sent me a new pump to replace it. I watched Fass's video on youtube about them being able to start their truck in temps of -10 without the heater. Hell I can't get mine to run in single digit temps. Have you used the Fass heater?
 
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From my personal experience...Powerservice will gel. RevX winter will gel. Use Howes and it won't gell. I know it's good to at least -35° F.

--Eric
 
Seems like it always gels up when I use power service. I give them credit for their 911. It does thaw the lines and fuel quickly.
 
DPS has never gelled on me when I have highway winter treated fuel in my tank. it was -28 the other day.... I also put a little more then when they say to when it is going to be that cold...
 
Shaffers winterized premium diesel treat 2000 is all we run and sale. It bio diesel approved as well. It jet fuel de-icer technology in it. I run it in my personal trucks in all my customers truck in one that ran it when we got to 0 temp in jan truck had no issue with there fass or airdog pumps. The one that didn't run it had gelled up system in some had to have injectors etc replaced.
 
I run dps all winter and haven't had one gel even at -25.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
When people have differing results, it's due to fuel system design. If you have large exposed surface area filters hung on the frame rail, things are going to gel significantly sooner. Flow rate, pressure, surface to volume ratio of exposed fuel, etc all come into play. That being said, for my gel-prone setup, the only thing that always works for me is Howes.
 
ENafziger said:
When people have differing results, it's due to fuel system design. If you have large exposed surface area filters hung on the frame rail, things are going to gel significantly sooner. Flow rate, pressure, surface to volume ratio of exposed fuel, etc all come into play. That being said, for my gel-prone setup, the only thing that always works for me is Howes.
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That's exactly why I was looking at those little fuel filter heater. Tie them in together and run them off a toggle switch. Go outside before starting the truck, flip the switch and preheat the filters. I will still be treating the fuel, just looking at the warmers to that what gelling fuel thawed in the filters. I figured a lot of the guy's in the northern regions would have tried a product like this. Here's a little video of how it works.


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjOvY4qnDko"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjOvY4qnDko[/ame]
 
Had good luck with Stanadyne and Howes in excavators and backhoes. Even in 0* here this year never had any fuel gel in any of my trucks with no additives. I would look into where your fuel is coming from. It's the contaminants gelling not the fuel.
 
We have a few people running those heaters on some tractors and they seem to work good. They weren't a big hit because they are kind of expensive. I had some trouble on the backhoe with gelling, I found some foam and zip tied it to the filter to keep the air from blowing on it, seemed to help. I would really look at the quality of fuel you are getting, because we had a load of fuel a few years back that had higher level of wax in it that would not work at all when it got cold. I would stick with truck stop fuel, because there tanks get filled more often and the fuel is fresher.
 
not all diesel is regular diesel. There is summer, winter, and blended fuel. where did you get this last tank of fuel at?

Up here where it gets nice and chilly they start to blend the diesel in the fall incase of those cold snap days people aren't stranded. Its when i start to notice my economy drops. If you got a tank of summer fuel or poorly blended it can gell up on you. Last i have dealt with gelled diesel treatments didn't work so well. Ended up putting in kerosene to cut the fuel down and make it move again.

Problem is a tank of thinned out diesel doesn't help the lines at all. once it gets to the pressure side of things the heat from pressure will allow it to flow. bucks and farts a bit but it will run once the heat builds up.
 
In Alberta here the pumps are automatically switched to #1 fuel in fall and back to #2 in spring. You don't get a choice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 
**** you and your howes. I did a 37hr shift doin road side repairs and it was -25°F, almost every gelled up truck had howes in the tanks. Some was mixed so strong it would make the fuel gell funny. 2 bottles of 911 in each tank and 2-3 sets of filter later the trucks were back on the road. With as ****ty of fuel we have now days I havnt found anything that works below -20°F. I had the stanadyne winter and gelled up, 3rd time my truck has gelled up with 3 different additives. On a side note, if its pulgged in it will start @ -20°F with no issues on straight #2
 

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Interesting, sure if you ask nicely us Canadians will ship down some quality product. -40 and -65 with the windchill last week and no additives or fuel heater bs needed..
 
Cummins610 said:
Interesting, sure if you ask nicely us Canadians will ship down some quality product. -40 and -65 with the windchill last week and no additives or fuel heater bs needed..
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haha. We do get that nice winter grade deisel up here. Milage goes for ****, but at least we get it going.

I go back to my original post. howes and other conditioners are nice, but kerosene is cheap and works every time. smells good too.
 
Nootch said:
haha. We do get that nice winter grade deisel up here. Milage goes for ****, but at least we get it going.

I go back to my original post. howes and other conditioners are nice, but kerosene is cheap and works every time. smells good too.
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So what is the highest ratio of fuel to kero will you run?
 
when we got the last 7.3 going we had 1/8 a tank of summer diesel and 2 gallons of kerosene. took a bit to get er to go, then it was a sweet smelling ride all the way to the diesel pump to fill it back up with winter grade.


Run as much as needed IMO. Its just a grade thinner than winter diesel and a grade heavier than jet fuel (afair). If you are filtering it, then i see no issues.
 
Lubricity (or lack thereof) is the issue with kero. If you look in your owners manual, it says something to the effect of being ok to run 100% kerosene if needed, but you need to add 1 qt non-detergent 30w oil per 10 gallons of kero.
 
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