Star Oilco

Close-up abstract image of diesel fuel with suspended droplets and fluid motion
Fixing the problems with bugs growing in your diesel 1024 512 Star Oilco

Fixing the problems with bugs growing in your diesel

What to do about Biological Growth in Diesel Fuel.

Fuel Marketer News has two great articles on biological growth in fuel tanks. Star Oilco as a diesel fuel delivery provider in Oregon and Washington is all to familiar with this emerging problem with ultra-low sulfur bio-diesel blend fuels.

Where there is water, bugs can grow in diesel.

The Fuel Marketer News articles below:

Fuel System Bugs Drain Revenue, and
Bugs Cause Fuel System Damage (part 2)

These articles in a nutshell are about the costs, impact, and ongoing effect of bugs growing in fuel as a real industry issue. If you have filters clogging in your fleet–much like a heart attack–it’s not a symptom, it’s a late-stage problem. Clogged filters slow down your fleet fueling and add serious cost to your vehicle maintenance. Lost power on the highway also slows your drivers down, escalating the drain on efficiency fuel that bugs may be causing.

Star Oilco can cure these problems, both with stopping hum-bug growing in your diesel tanks, as well as ensuring that the water those fuel bugs live in stops migrating into your tank. We will help you solve diesel fuel quality issues.

The first step is for Star Oilco to test the bottom of your fuel tank, as well as take a representative nozzle sample that would go into your trucks. We will show you where your fuel quality is today and come up with a collaborative way to move that into exceeding ASTM diesel specification, as well as aligning with engine manufacturer’s ISO specifications for diesel fuel cleanliness.

If you have questions about fuel quality assurance, Star Oilco has solutions. Left unattended, your diesel fuel will grow bugs, alga, yeasts, and other biological active destroyers of fuel quality. If you need to treat your fuel to kill humbugs like these, Star Oilco recommends Bioguard Plus 6 as your go-to solution. It is both a biocide that kills the bugs growing in fuel, as well as a heavy duty detergent to clean up other deposits as well.

Star Oilco Precision Fuel Management tank test request form below:

Tank Testing Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Close-up of clean diesel fluid stream with light reflections
Tier 4 Engines and Diesel Contaminants – Donaldson White Paper 683 1024 Star Oilco

Tier 4 Engines and Diesel Contaminants – Donaldson White Paper

Managing bulk diesel fuel storage has become more complex in recent years. Especially in Oregon and Washington the chance of water finding it’s way into your fuel tank is a real concern. If water gets in your bulk fuel biological growth or “hum bug” won’t be far behind.  Donaldson has positioned itself with real concrete solutions for for fuel quality.

With the extremely tight tolerances of today’s clean diesel engines and the expansion of sour crudes from tar sands, oil shale, and other source being hydrocracked into today’s ultra low sulfur diesel we have all seen it.  Fuel quality has stayed the same while the tolerance engine manufacturers build to have gotten tighter.

To help fleets solve the fuel quality issues fleet’s are dealing with these days Donaldson Filters has put out an intensive white paper on the what clogs filters.

Titled “Analysis and Identification of Contaminants in Diesel Fuel Filtration and Storage Systems” it goes into a level of depth of what the causes of filter spinning in your fleet is. If you are seeing clogged fuel filters this can help you diagnose and begin to problem solve for your fleet.

Usually diesel engine maintenance costs spin out of control around injector failure, DPF maintenance down time, and recurring regen cycles at the most inconvenient times blowing white smoke everywhere.  Usually this fleet management pain point revolves around dirt and water in diesel fuel.  Problems that Donaldson Filtration is the industry leader in solving.  Aggressive filtration and desicant breathers on tanks will polish your fuel beyond the low standards of petroleum standard ASTM and will exceed the ISO cleanliness standards the OEM’s made your engines to run.

This document is designed as and essential review of diesel contamination as it’s seen from the perspective of a filtration company guarding your diesel engine systems from problems.

This matters as the current generation of clean diesel technology commonly called “Tier 4” engines have a tighter specification need than industry standard diesel specification will meet in practice in the field.

 

The Donaldson Filters White Paper can be seen here: http://www.mycleandiesel.com/Resources/IFC10_FuelContaminants.pdf

How do you restart your oil furnace after running out of oil? 1024 768 Star Oilco

How do you restart your oil furnace after running out of oil?

The number of heating oil companies that deliver in Oregon and Washington has dropped in recent years. With that, many longtime and loyal heating oil users have seen their preferred heating oil company and driver go away. Due to that change the new larger roll up heating oil companies are not as responsive as your old smaller company. Star Oilco has been keeping homes in the Portland area warm since 1936 and we want to be there for you. We are locally owned, veteran-owned, and are multi-generation family owned and operated.

If you are out of oil, please let us know and we will make a special effort to prioritize you even if you have never bought heating oil from us before.

We provide the following instructions as a best practice. We do not recommend inexperienced and untrained home owners putting tools on their furnace for any reason.

IF YOUR FURNACE DOES NOT START AFTER A FIRST ATTEMPT PLEASE SEEK A PROFESSIONAL HVAC TECHNICIAN FOR HELP.

When do you run out of heating oil? It’s always when winter seems to be at it’s coldest. It also doesn’t help that after you run out and finally get a delivery of heating oil your furnace doesn’t want to start. The cause of this can be many things. From air in your fuel line to a clogged nozzle on your heating oil furnace. Sometimes it is a simple home owner fix. Other times it will take a professional HVAC technician with experience in oil heat (natural gas and oil furnaces are very different things).

If your furnace runs out of oil, we recommend you lower your thermostat only until after you receive your delivery of oil.

After receiving your oil delivery and making sure the tank has settled for a few minutes, turn the thermostat back up to the desired temperature.

Go to your oil furnace and look at the burner, which probably looks like what is shown. To the right in the picture is a little red button.  The red button can look different dependent on your model of furnace and might also look like the several options below.

Push the red button once. Again, only push this button once. After pushing this button, your furnace will attempt to fire up and move fuel. If your furnace begins to start, but then shuts off again DO NOT push the button again. If you push the button three times your furnace will usually go into a lock out safety procedure to protect you and your furnace.

If your furnace does not start after pushing this button once, the most likely cause is air in your fuel lines. When you ran out of oil your fuel pump probably pulled air which is trapped in the lines. Your pump most likely needs air to be purged from the lines and the pump to be primed in order for you to have heat again. This is an easy procedure but should only be done by a trained professional. If you call a skilled oil HVAC technician out to your home, they will also tune up your furnace as well with this procedure.

If you are curious about how this process works, you can find more on You Tube or at Wikihow. For more on what a trained professional would do in the oil priming process is described by Wikihow.

 

 

Metal keys on a ring isolated on a white background, representing manual fueling access systems
Old School Fleet Fueling Key Lock System 1024 810 Star Oilco

Old School Fleet Fueling Key Lock System

Corporate fueling in the past was a far more complicated task than today’s Pacific Pride, WEX, Voyager, Fuelman, and CFN fleet cards.

Today, commercial fueling transfers data via satellite, securing and communicating in real time.

Prior to commercial cardlock and computerized site controllers for fleet fueling management, Key Locks were the standard. The way that Key Locks worked was simple. A vendor of fuel would set up a commercial fuel island or stand alone tank for diesel. Multiple commercial fleets would use the site reducing the overall cost of fuel and improving convenience.

Fuel inventory and billing was managed with the Key Lock system. Each fleet using a site was issued their own key. That key would turn on the pump, but would run the gallon transactions through a distinct totalizer. At the end of a week or month the company selling the diesel would take down the totalizer number and bill each individual firm for their share of fuel. The pictures below show an old school Key Lock system. Notice the side where there is a stack of different totalizers next to a key point. That’s how it worked prior to today’s modern cardlock systems. Easy and secure in analog time.

WEX article on documenting fuel theft 768 1024 Star Oilco

WEX article on documenting fuel theft

Wright Express Fuel Cards versus Fuelman Fleet Cards for small business

Wright Express  (also known as WEX) has a great article for corporate fuel buyers on the best practices when documenting and confronting fuel theft.

WEX: Tips for enforcing proper fuel card usage and preventing employee theft.

A few things they left out that Star Oilco would include. As a Pacific Northwest Commercial Cardlock provider serving Oregon and Washington, we approach things a little differently than a credit card concept like WEX. We accept and love working with WEX, Voyager, Comdata and other fleet cards but still like personalizing the security of a fuel card to the use of it.  Call your current fuel vendor (or call Star Oilco) and review your security features.  If you suspect there is fuel theft, rather than watch it happen just eliminate the places it can occur. With either CFN or Pacific Pride networks the features are inherit and we can help you guarantee they are being used correctly.

Get out of the gas line

The Four Step Approach to Fuel Card Management

When a customer tells us they suspect fuel theft this is what we recommend to do with either CFN or Pacific Pride cards:

  1. Establish a no tolerance fuel theft policy and have every employee sign it.  This policy includes an acknowledgement by them they have a secret PIN unique to them and if it is used they are responsible for it. So if there is theft with their PIN they can be fired for that theft.
  2. Now that all users of your company vehicles have a unique PIN code. Attache their name to the use of that PIN.  So when you get your fuel bill, the actual names of the users of the cards is there next to the transaction. Just this best practice (and sharing this evidence with your team) will keep honest people honest. If they know their name appears to the transaction they will think about ownership of their actions.
  3. Ensure you have set limits on the cards to line up with the needs of the business.  Attach the fuel cards to the vehicle that uses them.  Then make sure the fuel type and volumes allowed line up with that vehicle. If a vehicle is diesel, that fuel should be the only fuel allowed to be used.  If that vehicle has a 30 gallon or 100 gallon tank set limits so no more than that can be fueled in a given day.  Just limiting the fuel volume to the tank size of a vehicle can eliminate most of the fuel theft that would occur.  Also you can limit the time of day as well as weekends. If a fleet isn’t on the road after 6pm, you can guarantee no fuel theft occurs after 6pm.
  4. Turn over the cards by having all drivers/staff turn in their old cards. Then re-issue those cards attached to the key-rings of the fleet keys.  Star Oilco can provide a card older designed to go on the vehicle key-ring to make this a no cost easy reform.By doing those things which is an easy project you will knock out most of the opportunity for theft as well as send a strong signal to your team that fuel theft is not okay. Honest employees will understanding clearly that theft is occurring and is not okay, the dishonest employees will know to immediately stop.  If theft continues it will also be very easy to spot as the name of the thief will appear on the bill alongside the transaction. That combined with a No Tolerance Fuel Theft policy will make removing the fuel thief an easy proposition for you regardless of your state of operation.If you do business in Oregon and Washington and have questions about securing your fuel purchases.

For more on how to stop fuel theft in your small business please see the Star Oilco whitepaper on securing your fleet cards at StarOilco.com/Stop-Fuel-Theft/ for a strategy on saving your business from the pain of managing drivers from stealing.

Call Star Oilco’s Sales Team at 503-283-1256 for an complementary audit of your processes and how we can give you peace of mind and less to worry about in your business.

Contact Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Close-up of a diesel fuel cap on a yellow fuel tank
Do you know what your diesel fuel quality is? 1024 683 Star Oilco

Do you know what your diesel fuel quality is?

Find out what the bottom of your diesel tank looks like!

Call Star Oilco to get your diesel tested. 

This winter, Star Oilco is offering complementary diesel fuel testing for any fleet operating in our service area. We are providing fuel quality testing in partnership with Hydrotex to assist fleets in our area struggling with containing the cost of fuel related maintenance.  Typically a diesel lab test costs over $200 depending on the lab.  Don’t let the hurdle of a scientific analysis stand between you and full knowledge of what is effecting your fleet.

Since the move to Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel in 2007 along with moving changes in diesel refining and biodiesel mandates fuel quality has been a moving target.  More importantly petroleum refiners and distributors follow an ASTM specification for diesel which is not as stringent as the ISO standards demanded by OEMs making the trucks on the road today.  Water and dirt in fuel are robbing your fleet of money.  Get a handle on it and move forward armed with that knowledge.

Star Oilco and Hydrotex can help you understand what is going on, what the quality of your tank bottom is, and what you need to do to reduce the cost of operating your fleet as it relates to diesel fuel.

Call Star Oilco and state you want to get your fuel tested for both ASTM and ISO specification. A member of our team will help you take the sample off of the bottom of your tank as well as from your dispensing nozzle.

Call Star Oilco today for have a sample taken and tested.  

503-283-1256 or email OrderDesk@StarOilco.net

Golden diesel fuel swirling in abstract motion
Star Oilco, Hydrotex, and Donaldson Filtration demonstrate Precision Fuel Management Program Works 1024 574 Star Oilco

Star Oilco, Hydrotex, and Donaldson Filtration demonstrate Precision Fuel Management Program Works

solid proof

09-18-2015 Recology Samples BEFORE Precision fuel management program

First sample taken 09-18-2015, lots of water and visible dirt in samples pulled from bulk tank. The company was having issues with equipment running rough, and they were spinning fuel filters way more than manufacturers recommended changes. We sat down with the plant supervisor and talked about diesel fuel quality testing. He was happy to hear his diesel fuel problems explained. It has nothing to do with diesel fuel quality by brand. All fuel vendors get the same fuel supplied to the Northwest.  The environment where this client is located has dust, dirt, and water in the air constantly due to the nature of the recycling processes with wood products. Our first goal was to sample the tank bottom and nozzle and share the results. As you can see from above, they had tons of water and dirt in the tank. So we set up to clean the bulk tank, polish the fuel with 1 micron filtration,  then install quality Donaldson clean & dry filtration including a 4 micron particulate filter, a water filter, and a desiccant breather trap to control the moisture that accumulates in most all bulk tanks. The client had dirty diesel fuel filters that were only 30 micron, letting all the damaging particles right into the equipment.

 

before

 

Numbers Meaningnumber meaning 1number meaning 2

second sample

COMPARE THE VISUAL AND DATA IMPROVEMENTS

Recology NP sample pic SECOND SAMPLE Precision Fuel Program 03-04-2016

The second round of samples after the tank was initially clean, the process is showing signs of improvement already.

The second round of samples after the tank was initially cleaned, and the remaining fuel was polished with 1 micron filtration. The process is showing signs of improvement after cleaning the tank. The Donaldson Filtration and Hydrotex PowerKleen additive was working on the contents of the tank, and the inside of the tank is being cleaned by the additive. The effects of water that was in the tank, and rust and corrosion showed signs of improvement on the second samples. Both water and rust will continue to be less in volume each time we sample, it is a continuous improvement program. Over time the water and rust goes away or is caught by the excellent Donaldson Clean & Dry filtration and what remains is attacked by the superior quality of Hydrotex PowerKleen additive!

 after

The most damaging particles and water, the ones between 4 and 8 microns,

are being filtered out of the fuel, the one’s we can’t see with the naked eye. Green Transfer After 04-20-20163rd sample

After 6 1/2 months on the Precision fuel management program the ISO count is well below the manufacturers specs for ANY of Recology's equipment. The water PPM if only 42 down from 89, well below ASTM standards. THESE NUMBERS DON'T LIE, THE PROGRAM WORKS!!!

After only 3 months on the Precision fuel management program the ISO count is well below the manufacturers specs for ANY of the customers equipment. The water PPM (Parts per million)  is now 42 down from 89, well below ASTM standards. THESE NUMBERS DON’T LIE, THE PROGRAM WORKS! To maintain this quality consistently the client only needs to change the filtration when the filtration gauges jump 10 PSI over normal flow rate. The Desiccant breather which controls moisture, has an indicator that turns RED from it’s original YELLOW to let you know it’s time to change.  The Hydrotex additive will continue to make the water drop out of the fuel, keep cleaning the rust and corrosion in the tank, and help with lubricity for the equipment that fuels from the tank.

Dont Wait until you see this

Another customer of ours was having issues with their previous fuel vendor, I approached the operations manager and let him know that we had a program that could turn their fuel issues around. He agreed to let me take bottom and nozzle samples from his tank, the results came back un-readable, meaning there was so much dirt and water that you could see it with the naked eye, (not good). All the damaging particles are between 2 and 8 microns. If you can see visible particles and water you know you are in trouble. We recommended our Precision fuel management program including cleaning the tank and using Donaldson Clean & Dry filtration along with Hydrotex PowerKleen additive and our Star Oilco Premium filtered diesel. Within 3 weeks the client saw results.

“The latest nozzle sample is looking very good, will continue to get down around 14/13/11”. In just one week after the second sample the water ppm has dropped to 52, which is well below the goal of 80 ppm. It dropped 20ppm after only one week of Hydrotex PowerKleen additive making the water drop out of the fuel.

The API gravity is down to 35.9, which means more BTU’s (heat transfer) meaning better gas mileage and horsepower. The fuel is burning clean and dry, like it is supposed to.

The client said, “We have not been spinning filters as often as we were in the past, we see an overall improvement in fuel quality since starting the Precision fuel program with Star Oilco.” Look at the before and after data below from the labDiesel Fuel Tank Testing and Cleaning Portland

 

Another satisfied Star Oilco Precision fuel management program customer!

If you suspect you have fuel issues because you’re seeing:

  1. Fuel filters plugging
  2.  Trucks and equipment are running rough
  3. Poor engine performance and fuel mileage below normal
  4. Fuel injector issues, pitting scaring or blown out tips

You may have issues with your bulk tank and filtration on the tank.

We can help you with a complementary lab sample test like you see above.

RULE OUT FUEL QUALITY AND BULK TANK FILTRATION ISSUES

Get with the program that works

                                                                 Get with the program that works

phone

Close-up of golden liquid waves symbolizing fuel energy in motion
Star Oilco Precision Fuel Management Testimonials 1024 585 Star Oilco

Star Oilco Precision Fuel Management Testimonials

Precision Fuel Management Program Testimonial Page

Testimonial #1 Recology North Plains

Recology Material Recovery helps reduce the amount of waste entering Oregon’s landfills. In achieving this goal they strive to seek out new ways, types, and procedures to recycle waste which would otherwise be sent to the landfill instead of reusing it.

The environment onsite is dusty from the recycled wood products and has particulates floating in the air constantly. The piles of debris are kept semi-moist to help keep the dust down, which creates another issue for them to deal with. Both water and particles find their way into the bulk storage tank that they use for diesel fuel to fuel equipment. What seemed like small amounts of dirt and water was being sucked in through the open vents on the tank.

This in turn created issues with their bulk fuel tank cleanliness, their loaders, dump trucks and other “off-road” equipment they use to move the waste products through the recycling process. This picture is a before picture showing a bottom sample from the bulk tank.

Star Oilco suggested putting Recology on our Precision fuel management program. The program tackles the problem at the root cause and corrects it through the following processes:

  • Clean the tank and remaining fuel using 1 micron filtration
  • Install a Donaldson Clean & Dry Filtration kit™ on the tank.
  • Deliver Star Oilco Premium Diesel with Hydrotex PowerKleen™ additive.
  • Star Oilco then monitors the tank over a period of weeks for cleanliness taking bottom fuel samples as well as nozzle samples and sending them to our partner Hydrotex lab in Dallas Texas.

Nick Olheiser is the plant manager of the Recology North Plains and is very happy with the results.

“We do not have to change our filters on our equipment as much as we were”

“We are noticing our equipment is running smooth again since making the changes”

“I am very happy with the results and recommend it to anyone having issues with bulk fuel”

Nick Olheiser, Plant Supervisor Recology North Plains

Testimonial #2 Green Transfer & Storage

Green Transfer hauls and stores steel products in N. Portland, they were experiencing issues with the fuel they were getting from a local competitor. Star Oilco took fuel samples from the tank, and also took a fuel filter off the tank and had it sent to labs in Dallas Texas (Hydrotex) as well as Minneapolis, (Donaldson) the conclusion was as follows:

“The primary cause of filter plugging is believed to be a combination of the extremely high levels of glycerin and the polyamide chemistry that has been associated with some cold flow improvers. LCMS also identified DDSA and long chain amines; they are also known to cause filter plugging.” 

What that means in layman’s terms is the fuel had contaminants and particulates that were getting through the filtration and into Dave’s trucks. They were having issues with filters plugging and engines running rough. They were also seeing issues with fuel injectors showing signs of scoring and pitting.

Dave decided it was time to take action and had his tank cleaned, and had the Donaldson clean & Dry™ filtration installed. Dave opted to put an additional pre-filter before the two Donaldson filters, an added step to pre-filter the filters. Dave said,

“Since we re-cleaned the tank and added pre-filter I have not changed any filters. I have not had any other issues or driver complaints”.

Dave had several trucks in his fleet that kept changing fuel filters more and more frequently until they changed to the Donaldson Clean & Dry™ filtration kit and implemented the “Precision fuel management program” exclusively through Star Oilco, Hydrotex and Donaldson.

Star Oilco diagnosed the problems, took the necessary steps to alleviate them with the essential solutions.

  • Clean the bulk tank
  • Install Quality Donaldson Clean & Dry Filtration™
  • Deliver Star Oilco premium diesel with Hydrotex PowerKleen™ additive

If you are having issues with your bulk tank, or think you are having what might be fuel related issues,

Star Oilco will come out and take nozzle and bottom samples from your bulk tank and send them to our partner labs.

ota FLYER

Complementary of course!

Star Oilco can help