Grehan
regular
Reged: 11/06/2001
Posts: 1203
Loc: Inland France
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How long does it take for diesel to become 'stale'?
Sitting in a (full) fuel tank or sitting in (full) jerry cans?
Regarding the latter, if it has gone past its use-by date, would passing it through a fuel filter funnel (I have one of those super duper fine ones) be ok, or not really do owt?
Oh, and what is "stale", exactly? What's happened?
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___ Grehan :: French Waterways information ___
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Elessar
regular
Reged: 10/07/2003
Posts: 428
Loc: Thames or nomadic south coast.
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I'm using 18 month old diesel at the moment. I didn't know it went stale. I think my diesel would burn any old rubbish. Diesel can get a bug and block your filters but it's not time that does that.
Unleaded petrol does, within weeks. Fortunately I can buy proper leaded 4 star in my town so I don't have to keep throwing away petrol for the outboard or garden stuff.
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JamesFrance
regular
Reged: 24/10/2006
Posts: 364
Loc: Sant Carles Marina, Spain
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When I got my boat back on the water in May, it had a fairly full tank of Spanish diesel from Selva that had been in there for 4 years.
The motor started first push of the button and ran just fine. I have used a fresh fill since then and still no sign of problems.
My little Honda 4 stroke won't start though, even though I think the petrol was drained when it was laid up.
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James
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DuncanMack
regular
Reged: 02/10/2005
Posts: 1759
Loc: Dunno, lost the plot.....
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Quote
"Fortunately I can buy proper leaded 4 star in my town "
Not for long. The company which sources it has just lost its ability to do so. Despite trying to get alternative suppliers in Russia et al.......
Can't remember the exact details - was in our trade press in the last week or so.
Oh, and diesel doesn't go stale if in a closed tank. If you leave it in a bucket it will, eventually. 
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Duncan
The march of progress - but in which direction?
Edited by DuncanMack (05/07/2008 10:11)
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VicS
regular
Reged: 13/07/2002
Posts: 10017
Loc: Home: Kent. Boat: Chichester
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Quote:
Unleaded petrol does, within weeks
You can keep unleaded petrol too provided it is stored properly. I always keep unused outboard fuel from one year to the next but I transfer it from the plastic tank to steel cans and I only keep full cans. The object being to minimise contact with the air and exposure to light and to prevent the loss of lighter constituents.
Before use I always filter it (I have a fine in-line filter in a syphon tube for that purpose) and mix 50:50 with fresh.
Any left over from the full cans is used in the mower. Very occasionally I put some in the car (no cat!)
The use of a fuel stabiliser seems very popular in the USA but its not something you see or hear very much about in the UK.
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Old Chemists never die, they just fail to react
Edited by VicS (05/07/2008 11:01)
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PCUK
regular
Reged: 29/06/2005
Posts: 1996
Loc: Devon
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In practical terms Diesel never goes 'stale' in a tank.
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steve28
regular
Reged: 19/05/2003
Posts: 854
Loc: Cornwall
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seem to change its smell when its burnt after a long time, i had some from an old standby generator that was being scrapped, it was over 4 years old.
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Grehan
regular
Reged: 11/06/2001
Posts: 1203
Loc: Inland France
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Great, thanks for the replies folks. I now stand reassured.
Getting ready to push up the Rhone, need to put some more D in the tank (I have 40 litres in full, closed, jerries), but didn't want to risk any sort of hiccup under those conditions.
Typing in "stale diesel" into Google this morning got me a bit concerned - various pages connecting the bug (which I know about) and stale diesel (which I don't/didn't).
Merci beaucoup.
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___ Grehan :: French Waterways information ___
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PCUK
regular
Reged: 29/06/2005
Posts: 1996
Loc: Devon
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As a final say, I'm still using six year old diesel at the moment.
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No_Regrets
regular
Reged: 09/07/2007
Posts: 1432
Loc: Welwyn Garden City, Herts UK.
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We sell fuel stabiliser, it also gets used as fuel line cleaner, and stops unleaded from turning into what resembles White spirit...
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The scourge of Windsor, and notorious founder member of the 'Upper Thames Birchwood Massive' now outlawed by the EA and River pressure groups, currently planning a nice comfy retirement in the aft cabin of a Broom.
Now can anybody recommend any non-marking slippers?
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