I made another trip accross the state with 33 gallons of bio in the tank. got to the steep hill crossing the Missouri River, and it throws a code going up the hill. ran a little rough and lost power / down shifted. I get to Sioux Falls, and have them check the code, 1211 (fuel/air ratio) is running fine so have them reset it. Get to the river going back, and the same thing happens. Pull over at a truck stop and check the fuel filter. When I go to pull it out, the fuel bowl is full of Magnesol up to the bottom of the filter. Clean it out in almost 100 degree heat (not fun) and put on my spare filter. No problems since, and took the boat up in the hills yesterday.

I filter through 7 inch diameter sock filters 25/10/1 micron. most Magnesol is caught by the first two. I then pump through a 10 micron spin on filter to catch anything that might get through. ( Should I find a 2 micron instead? )

Anyway, I think that I will check the bowl in another 1000 miles and see if there is Magnesol in there again.

What do you guys think? The Magnesol could have built up before I added the spin on filter but???

thanks,

Trent

 

I am sorry you had that problem. I have run about 40,000 miles on magnesol washed fuel and never found it in my fuel bowl and it sounds like you are filtering well. How do you agitate your magnesol? You should use a mechanical mixer, diaphragm pump, or other agitation that does not grind the magnesol up like a centrifugal pump will.

I agitate with a paint stirrer adapted to an electric motor, let the fuel settle for at least two days after applying magnesol, gravity filter, pressure through a 1 micron nominal bag filter and use a 1 micron nominal canister filter on my transfer tank pump.

 

Sounds alot like what I am doing. Maybe tomorrow I will try and attached some pics of the wash setup. Will pull the fuel filter again after my next trip and see if there is any build up again.

 

I think I would start by taking a quart sample of the fuel that goes into the truck and let it settle for a few days to a week. If you find magnesol settling, then something is out of whack in your filtering. The best thing I ever did was buy a bag filter housing from Fryer to Fuel and the fuel goes through it twice with a 1 micron nominal filter. The magnesol is supposed to be manufactured in a way that sizes it to a size that filters will catch (I am not sure of the micron size for this).

JM Ellsworth has 1 and 2 micron canister filters that are rated for biodiesel. Keep in mind that a red blood cell is 6-8 microns in diameter.

I guess I really rely on settling to get most of my magnesol out. I also demeth the fuel, let it settle for a few days to a week, then decant, clean the tank, and refill for the magnesol treatment. I am able to use less magnesol to clean it up.

 

I might not be letting it settle out long enough, usually stir it in for a half hour, then let settle overnight. I then pump it out, trying to be carefull not to let the pickup get into the Magnesol.

 

 

Here is something I got off of Fryerpower's website:

The average size of Magnesol R60 particles is 60 Microns. 10% of the particles are <20 micron in size.

If you are in biodiesel for the long run, I would order a bag filter from Fryer to Fuel and run 1 micron nominal bag filters. It is worth it in the long run as canister filters are so expensive.

If it were me, I would decant by gravity, not by pump, and settle as long as possible.

Good luck!