Condensation Options

[poly]

can any of the members help me, after reading about J G's trouble with water in the fuel i checked my two tanks and found a small amount of water in each is there a way of preventing this from happening???????????

[Jumpus GooDarus]

You can leave your tanks full but I dont like doing so.
It's bad enough on a alloy boat let alone a plastic one by that I mean come summer & the hot days your fuel will want to escape due to the heat a few times ages ago I sat & watched fuel come pissing out of my breathers when I had full tanks, didn't like that @ all fuel around the boat to dangerous so I stoped leaving my tanks full.

Not alot you can do to stop the condensation but you can fit water seperators to your fuel system they were the 1st things I looked @ when motors cut out & sure enough full of water didn't check them when I started the motors they kicked over 1st turn of the keys as there was good fuel in the lines & injection system but when that run out the water got pushed in & you cant compress water.

Still haven't drained water from that bad tank was going to do it 2day but had alot of running around to do & it was getting near dark when I got around to the boat a bit of a bummer cause I wanted to get out after the YFT tomorro.

They have to wait cause what I want to do is permanently mount a electric fuel pump in the boat I have the pump reason for this is if I ever cop water like last time again I can flick the switch pump out the water till fuel starts to feed back into bowl

[Jumpus GooDarus]

Cleaned out the tank with water in it today wouldn've already have drained about a litre & a 1/2 last week on the water & another 1.5 litres came out today took a pic just to show those not aware how the water sits on bottom & fuel floats on top

[Fed]

But did you find the leak mate?

[Jumpus GooDarus]

Fed there's no leak

But I'll tell you what I wont have any probs draining water out of tanks if they ever cop water again, came up with a spoofy idea drilled & tapped bottom of seperators & screwed a ball valve into it, then screwed a 5/16 barb into the ball valve to which I can attach the full pump @ any given time.

Originally I was going to use the spare inlet on the filter but after a bit of thought saw that was not such a crash hoy idea cause if there was water in the seperator it would remain there , pumping from yje bottom gets rid of the water 1st

[Fed]

Water in the fuel from the servo just doesn't make sense, if that was the case then you should have got a tank full of water or none at all.
The chances of getting just a couple of litres of water would be enormous knowing that petrol floats on water.
No way you got a couple of litres of condensation either.
Go and fix your leak mate. LOL!

[jasonb]

they reckon you can put metho in your cars tank and it stops water ,or you can get stuff for motor bike tanks that lines the inside of the tank ,i think its a rubber or plastic that sticks to the tank and stopps them from rusting so ide say that it stops water as well

[Jumpus GooDarus]

I know that bloody Fed is Gee'n me up but for the rest of.
1st of all if a swervo's tanks are low you will be buying water their tanks fill you up from the top & not the bottom they have some sort of floating pickup but if their tanks do run low then you will be buying water.

Some mates of mine filled up their shark cat @ one servo years ago & I had to tow them back to ramp we ended up pumping well over 200 litres of water out of their tanks.

Now back to my water prob well I've got stainless steel tanks under floor & believe they're more septable to condensation than alloy tanks never had a prob when I had the alloy tank underfloor but @ one stage I did have 2 stainless steel Above floor tanks on the boat & recall on a few occasions copping heaps of water in those but being above floor made it very easy to drain the water out all I had to do was take the clamp off the fuel plug & the water would flow out.

Getting back to leaks !

If I or anyone else had a leak then you'd smell the petrol such was not the case with me but have to admit 4 litres was alot of water.

they reckon you can put metho in your cars tank and it stops water

Yep metho will evaporate the water but I dont like the idea of putting metho in my fuel back in the old days I had a mate who used to metho inject his torana XU1 but cant recall to much about it

[Fed]

Some mates of mine filled up their shark cat @ one servo years ago & I had to tow them back to ramp we ended up pumping well over 200 litres of water out of their tanks.

Sure, that sounds like a servo problem.

When I say leaks I mean a leak high up in your tank that allows water to get in, probably around the filler cap/hose or around your breather so you wouldn't expect to smell it anyway.

[Jumpus GooDarus]

Breathers are situated on transom & the water would have to travel up hill 5 meters to get into the tank thats impossible.
Already said fillers are on the gunnels & that they are raised cap screw over the top of them & a O-Ring ensures no water gets in that way so thats impossible as well

Any More Suggestions ?

Ed I basically built that boat & know all the inns & outs so take my word on it when I say water couldn't have possibly gotten into the tank/s unless it came from the servo it it was condensation

[Fed]

You got a hose between the filler point and the tank held on with a hose clamp?
What's your o ring like?
Not quite sure what you mean by "raised cap screw over the top of them".

[Jumpus GooDarus]

ED when I rebuilt the boat I did a neat job I hate loose ends & eyesores everything has a place to be put away & I spit the dummy if people leave things lying around.

these are my fuel fillers in order for water to get in the water has to sneak under cap force it's way up about 10 mm to get into the hose a bit hard when it's also got to navigate the O-Ring under the cap.

I have no hope clamps exposed all the hoses & clamps are concealed behind a panel & not even the gernie under pressure could throw water onto them add to that the boat is always parked with nose up so if it rains all water drains to the rear

[Fed]

Can water get between the deck and the filler fitting, did you form a complete silicon seal under the fitting at installation?
If not it may be running from there, down to the outer side of the filler spigot and laying in the area where your flexible hose isn't clamped on tight enough.

How's your ring??? LOL!

[Fed]

Poly, are your tanks built in, is your boat stored under cover?

[poly]

Fed no the tanks are not built in but are stored in the two 70lt boxes at the back of the boat well protected from spray and yes it is stored under cover

[Jumpus GooDarus]

Geez Fed you dont want to believe in condensation do you ??

Have you ever owned a air compressor ??

What happens if you dont bleed the tank ??

You Get Bloody Water Coming Out Of Your Airlines Dont You

[Fed]

I've owned a few compressors but they're not really a valid comparison.
It's not that I don't want to believe in condensation but 3 litres in a 150 litre? tank is a bit hard to swallow.
BTW, why don't you pour off the fuel in that jar & taste the water just in case it's salty.
Could you be pushing water up your breather pipe when you launch the boat?
How's your ring?


How much water Poly, I think I'd tip it out, give the empty tank a rinse with a little metho & start again keeping a careful eye on it.

This post has been edited by Fed: Jul 16 2007, 11:32 AM

[Jumpus GooDarus]

You must think I'm silly Fed ?

Tasting the water was the 1st thing I did & it was NOT SALTY

The difference between a air compressopr tank & a fuel tank is simple air compressor tanks are less likely to condensate the air & turnit into water simply because they are sealed.

Both work on the same principal HEAT is what turn air into water, you leave your compressor tank full of air & dont intoduce new air you wont get anywhere as much water have a small leak in your airline system then see how much water is in the tank.

One think I noticed back when I had the big compressor running the factory on those really hot days we'd have to bleed the water out of the system up to 3 or 5 times a day.

Now last time I used my boat was 6 weeks prior to last weekend alluminium is one of those materials which can really retain heat ever stood on metal bare footed when it's been out in the sun ??????

Well to give you another example we used alluminium plate as chill bars when Tig Welding Stainless is absorbs most of the heat which stops distortion in the the stainless not only that it retains the heat as well for long periods of time it'salso the reason why Alloy is used in cooking pot & pan the better quality ones these days are stainless but have a copper base.

Now picture my hull all alloy with a sealed floor you've got one big baking chamber when the sun is out my tanks are under floor in that chamber so what happens to the air in the tanks ????

[SUMOFISHIN]

You must think I'm silly Fed ?

Thats not a smart way to start your post you could get some Honest responses

This post has been edited by SUMOFISHIN: Jul 16 2007, 01:54 PM

[hustler57]

this may be a slight change of topic but i thought id add it in here,

another bad bad thing to do is fill ur boat up or even your car while a fuel tanker is filling up the storage tanks at a fuel station as it mixes up all the crappy stuff at the bottom of the tanks and the water as well,