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Finally, fuel filters
don’t work unless the engine is running. When your boat’s sitting
in the slip, the microbes are multiplying like rabbits in the bottom of
the fuel tanks. When you finally do fire up the engines, the tanks have
more gunk in them than they did when you shut down. But a polishing system
can work when the engines are shut down.
Basically, a fuel polisher
pulls diesel from the lowest level of the tank, circulates it through
a cleaner by means of an electric pump and dedicated fuel lines, and pumps
the clean fuel back into the top of the tank. Some fuel polishers can
draw from and return to different tanks via a manifold, and some can feed
the engine directly when it’s running but return fuel to the tanks
when it’s not. Some cleaners employ ultrafine filters to remove sediment
and other solids, microbes, and water; others use filterless dynamic fluid-mechanics
technology. All but bare-bones systems include gauges or other indicators
to warn you when the polisher’s filters need changing.
There are several ready-to-install
fuel polishers on the market, geared for diesel-powered boats as small
as 40 feet. Your first job is to pick between a filter or nonfilter system.
There are more filter-based models to choose from, but filterless polishers
don’t require element replacement. Whichever type you pick, run the
polisher frequently so your diesel oil will make many circuits through
the system, getting cleaner with every lap.
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Tank Cleaning, Part 3 > Page 1,
2, 3
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