Fight Humbug in your Diesel Tank!
Fall weather is around the corner and moisture is depositing in your diesel tank.
Treat your diesel; keep things from growing in your diesel.
Prepare your diesel fuel, heating oil, kerosene, or boiler fuel for storage.
Make sure your fuel works when you need it. If you have a bulk diesel tank, stop stuff from growing in your diesel before it starts.
Star Oilco provides complementary diesel fuel quality testing for tanks in our service area.
Valvtect Plus 6 – Stabilizer and Biocide
Use every spring and winter to guarantee your tank is not providing a habitat to fuel system spoiling microbes.
Water in diesel is a fact of life these days. Biological growth spoiling your fuel quality does not have to be. Ultralow sulfur diesel and biodiesel have water in them. Over time, water entrained in your diesel fuel can fall out of solution. Add to that they condensation that will natural develop in your fuel tank and you have an environment for hum-bug to grow in your heating oil, diesel, or boiler fuel storage tank.
If you are storing diesel for longer than six months you want to stabilize that fuel.
In the summer when temperatures swing at night, your tank is breathing air in and out. If it is raining, your tank is likely also breathing in the water. With the rainy season and long after it passes, be aware that water is everywhere unless you work to seal it out of your fuel storage system. You can use a desiccant breather as a way to filter moisture from the atmosphere from getting into our tank.
If your tank does not have a desiccant breather on it, your fuel tank can collect condensation. As air moves in and out of the tank with temperature changes, moisture will collect on the wall of the tank. Yeasts, bacteria, fungi, and algae can grow in that water which collects on the bottom of the tank. Make sure your tank is not a habitat for growing bugs every spring and winter.
Microbiological growth in diesel fuel, also known as “humbug” in fuel, can start growing and if unchecked, will wreak havoc with your fleet. Once it starts in your fuel tank it will spread throughout your fleet. If you see a random need to spin filters between services or odd fuel-related maintenance issues, you likely have bugs growing in your fuel tanks.
Star Oilco recommends BioGuard Plus 6 as a regular biocide for routine maintenance.
BioGuard Plus 6 is the only EPA certified biocide product that has both a biocide as well as a fuel stabilizer with detergent in one product. This detergent stabilizer acts as an aggressive tank cleaner (NOTE: BioGuard available without Plus 6).
When using Valvtect BioGuard, treat first with a kill, done in your bulk diesel storage. That will spread and kill the growing bugs in your fleet. Maintenance will clean up any remaining bacteria. If you do not have a known or seen problem, a kill twice a year is a great way to guarantee it does not appear and treat the individual tanks of your fleet.
ValvTect BioGuard™ PLUS 6
| BioGuard® Plus 6™ is the ONLY EPA registered diesel additive that combines a biocide with a multi-functional diesel additive to prevent bacteria, algae and all other major diesel related problems. BioGuard Plus 6 is the perfect solution for ultra low sulfur diesel and biodiesel problems; such as bacteria, algae, excess water, sludge, filter plugging, injector wear & deposits, poor fuel economy and unstable fuel. Only BioGuard Plus 6 prevents bacteria and algae growth, plus:
ValvTect BioGuard Plus 6 32 oz Bottle treats 375 Gallons |
BioGuard ULS Fuel Microbiocide
| BioGuard is an EPA registered dual soluble (fuel & water) microbiocide that effectively kills bacteria and fungi that grow in diesel fuel, heating oil and gasoline. It prevents bacteria caused filter plugging and bacteria caused corrosion of the fuel system. BioGuard typically works in 2-3 hours versus 24-36 hours needed by other biocide products. BioGuard has also been found to be up to twice as effective as other biocides. This additive can be used in all diesel and gasoline bulk tanks and vehicle tanks, including marine, farm, truck fleet, home heat, generators, and railroad storage tanks.
16 oz. container treats 460 gallons of diesel fuel at the initial kill treat rate. |
For a more in depth description of Valvtect BioGuard Plus 6 please click here.
If you have any questions about routine tank maintenance or to order Valvtect BioGuard products, please don’t hesitate to contact Star Oilco directly by email, message, or phone.
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For more information on storing diesel fuel please see the following articles from Star Oilco:
If you are interested in getting a Diesel Storage tank Star Oilco can help.
For a great document on everything diesel we recommend this Diesel Technical Review.
For best practices on storing generator fuel we recommend reading this Emergency Back Up Generator Fuel Storage.
If you are trying to keep your stored diesel dry here is an article we wrote on Desiccant Breathers for your fuel tanks.
If you are looking at getting serious about Diesel Fuel Quality Assurance here is an article we wrote about keeping your diesel cleaner and drier.