yet another jim beam special

-16-17C around here. songs of "joy" from diesel owners. tow truck operators are making a killing towing tractors that did start fine, but got stuck in the middle of the street much to the amusement of petrol sipping motorists

I'm sure canada has special freeze resistant heavy fuel at $4/US gallon for these temperatures. that's about what it costs here around against the $3.60 something "cheaper" diesel variety.

(guess which one an average penny pinching diesel toting moron pours into his tank)

Reply to
isquat
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10% kerosene cures all that.

but it's mainly a function of the penny pinching refineries. they know how to make diesel that goes to -30 and beyond. but they don't do it because it's more expensive for them [fractionally], and it's harder to pass the price through.

Reply to
jim beam

ALL of the diesel sold in NY has cloud point improver (either blended with #1 or other anti-gel additive) added in the winter. They start shipping the winter blends around late November early October and switch to summer blend around mid April.

The bigger problem is the places that sell Bio-Diesel. If you don't treat it aggressively it gels at a much lower temperature than straight #2. The B2 and B5 aren't so bad but the B20 and B100 can have cloud points as high as 50 degrees! Not what you want in cold climates.

Best solution to the entire problem is a fully heated system, Insulated tanks, either hot water or electric in tank heating, heated water separators and filters and insulated lines.

Reply to
Steve W.

Bio diesel gels at a /higher/ temperature. Typo maybe?

Reply to
AMuzi

yes, but the financial incentive is to skate close to the edge and "adjust" within the broader parameters of that blend, or even outside it. particularly if the weather forecasts look like it'll be warmer. i've seen fleet fuel deliveries way outside the spec that was contracted. but as long as the gear runs, the guys on the ground won't say anything, and the guy in purchasing might have other reasons to not pay attention.

swap high for low, and vice versa, and you're absolutely right.

yeah, but it costs money and needs to be done right. the soviets run arctic diesel in their frozen tundra on all kinds of machines and equipment apparently without problems.

Reply to
jim beam

certainly can. put some olive oil in the fridge for a couple of days and you'll see.

Reply to
jim beam

Yeah, Meant that it gels at higher temps. Lower temperature stability range than diesel.

Reply to
Steve W.

The full system on my last OTR rig was about $2400.00. Sounds high until you realize the price of a tow on a rig + the hit for missing a load or drop time.

Artic Fox in tank heater, Trans Tech heated water separator + two stage filter, lines insulated with foam. Tanks were from an outfit named Poly-Shield. Not sure who made them though. (they had a stainless shell around a poly interior with a honeycomb sandwich insulation.

Had to always remind fuel islands to leave head space for expansion.

Reply to
Steve W.

with a setup like that, you could run the thing on olive oil, and that stuff starts to cloud well above freezing.

Reply to
jim beam

Yeah it was overkill down south BUT I always seemed to be the "lucky" guy who ended up in places like Fairbanks or my trip up the MacKenzie Highway (two lane through the Northwest Territories).

Reply to
Steve W.

you brought it on yourself - equipped like that, they knew you'd be able to make it!

Reply to
jim beam

It was interesting up there. Actually was great scenery but COLD was an understatement.

One of the reasons I set mine up that way was because back when I drove for a local outfit I got stuck waiting for a tow when the fuel gelled in the POS they had me in. 10 hours waiting for a tow (COLD day and lot's of others with the same problem = no spare wreckers, I was something like #50 on the list!) Decided that I was NOT going to have that problem on my rig.

When I left the road my old tractor got a new life with it's new owner who lived in Yellowknife. It was even a star for a while, it was a support rig for IRT during season 1

Reply to
Steve W.

depends what additives, but kerosene, at 10%, definitely not. and it's the injection system you care about - the engine can digest pretty much whatever you throw in there.

the only reason we're paying $30-$40k is because that's the price point that discourages us from buying them. fact is, oilcos hold sway in d.c. and they don't want their sales volumes to drop with more efficient diesel fuel. that's why we /don't/ have all the small cheap g.m., frod, and fiat [chrysler] eurodiesels on our roads.

the "penny pinching populace" have almost no influence on the matter whatsoever. it's the refineries that sell the out-of-spec fuel, the populace don't make it.

if you're trying to say that old smoky diesels cause bronchitis, you're stretching it. if you're trying to say that the modern euro-diesels that are spectacularly clean cause bronchitis, you're simply swallowing the anti-diesel fud that we're fed by an industry with billions at stake. fact is gasoline engines produce more soot than diesels. but you can't see it because the particle sizes are much smaller. and in this case, smaller is more problematic - if you have to breathe soot particles, breathe the [visible] big black smelly stuff because it doesn't paralyze lung cilia.

Reply to
jim beam

no harm to the engine due to kerosene and other additives, eh?

Yes. On a $30-40k US car. Now try to squeeze all that into the barebones $20k machinery and we'll talk. JB motto is sub $20k diesels into the masses.

I have illustrated what happens when the penny pinchy populace in 10-15 year old shit boxes milked completely down start driving at winter temperatures. And now we are onto the issue of respiratory issues you get when all that smogging shit hits the winter fan.

one bronchitis after another

Reply to
isquat

into his tank)

like lots of people drive the modern ones. I typically see 10+ year old cars around here.

and believe me, 2wd diesels in here cost more than the same car with 4wd and a gasoline engine (when 4wd is an option that is)

people drive more on diesels and longer distances. also diesels warm up significantly slower so a typical owner driving short distance either has to warmup forever leaving all the stuff for neighbours to breeze or spread the fun over the initial miles (cause catalytic converter is cold and has nearly zero impact on cleaning the exhaust)

when I lived in the states I do not remember any diesel inspired hysteria from the media. me thinks you are hunting for a black cat in a black room that is not there.

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