gelled diesel fuel

I volunteer at a local rail road museum and the caboose I am working in has an oil stove which is fueled with diesel fuel. I tried to start it today with temperatures around 10 degrees and couldn't get fuel into the stove. There maybe something else going on but my first thought was the diesel fuel has gelled. I don't know what fuel is in the tank already or when it last got put in. We have a couple of days above freezing coming up next week so if it is gelled fuel the problem should go away for a couple of days until the cold returns and I will know that is the problem. My question is if it's actually gelled fuel it looks like I could add kerosene and keep it from happening again, how much kerosene is usually added to a gallon of diesel to prevent gelling? It probably won't matter if I have too much kerosene but I have limited space in the tank so I'm hoping I can add enough.

The existing Diesel is likely summer fuel. It can jell at just below freezing, especially if not disturbed with motion. 50% kero would be nice. Applying a space heater to the reservoir will melt the jell. (lines and fittings need heat as well. Jim

I used NO. 1 too blend, but with a small tank i would use Anti-Jell, Howes or Power service, something to prevent jelling ! You wouldn't need much, directions on the bottle !!

Your not too far away and we are supposed to get some warmer weather by Tuesday. How much fuel is in the tank ? You said you werent sure how old it is. Can you drain the old fuel or is it too much ? I used to run diesel pickups. I stopped because I needed a new one and didnt feel like dealing with the emissions stuff. In my Cummins powered trucks I would run a full tank of fuel with a gallon of regular gas. Also would run pump fuel with a few gallons of kerosene. I have also used Howes and it worked well. Jelled up using power service. That was when it was about 10 below. What I found is some pump fuel you can trust to be treated and some you cant. Just my personal experience.

how much to one gallon... a pint is more than enough. and at 10 degree's summer fuel will not be gelled! you have other problems. summer fuel will be gelled at -30 to -40 degrees f. meaning it will not pour out of an over head tank.

Summer diesel won't gel at 10 and will gel at -30 or -40 Fahrenheit??? That's news to me.

I lived in a house trailer when I first got married back in the earily 70's.
Temps were -25 and the diesel fuel, heating oil, would turn into shaved ice like used in a snow cone.
The shaved ice, gelled diesel, formed at the inline fuel filter. I put a 100 watt bulb under the filter, covered it with aluminum foil then used the show to keep the wind from getting to the filter.

Best to locate the fuel filter inside the house.
I would suggest you use an electric heat tape on the copper tubing form the tank to the furnace. Wrap the heat tape with insulation. Like you would do with a water line coming out of the ground to the trailer.

I don't know why, the gelled diesel formed in the fuel filter.

Basically the paraffin wax in the diesel thickens in the cold temperature and the particles became too thick/big to go through the filter. Additives and/or cutting with kerosene can reduce the temperature point where that occurs. Warming a filter will not always clear it, at least not in a timely manner.

well i guess u just learned something.

Still can't believe summer blend diesel won't gel until -30 to -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Summer fuel will gel at 10 degrees cuz it happened to me

summer fuel will plug in fuel filters and also stop flowing in lines at a few degrees under freezing. I have seen it so often when you think that it is to nice to freeze that is when it freezes.

Depending on how it's plumbed, any low spots in the lines could contain water.

If it sits unused for extended periods, good chance there is some water has condensed in the tank or the plumbing. If there is a water trap, it could be frozen.

For trucks we go up to 50/50 kerosene to diesel in real cold weather. If it gets too cold sometimes straight kerosene. But that is for an internal combustion engine, might be different with a stove.

#2 diesel fuel starts thickening at 25 degrees, and will plug many fuel filters by 15 degrees f.

Often times a filter has already been in a long time, and is already restricted, so the thickening waxy bits plug it up fast. A new filter might work down another 5 degrees.....

Anyhow, 25% kerosene should make things work in your temps. Probably could work with less.

Or a few ounces per 10 gallons of the additives, Power Service or the others. This would be simpler and cheaper. They really work, anyhow down to 15 below f or so, after that you want both a blend and a treatment to keep things flowing.....

Your problem is now the waxy stuff is all packed around the filter, even if the air warms to 35 degrees, the filter might be slow to warm and to flow again.

These treatments work much better if treated before you need them, rather than after......

Many states use some bio diesel fuel. Here in MN we have up to 20% bio fuel in summer, and 2-5% biofuel in winter. The bio portion will gel up a little sooner. So if your people bought summer diesel fuel and put it in, one could have 20% bio in the winter furnace and it might jell up at 20 degrees f, and be really hard to blend out even at 25% kerosene.....

More info than you wanted, Im in Minnesota we are running diesel farm equipment at minus 15-23 so far this winter.
I also have a fuel oil furnace in the basement and am familiar with it gelling when the temps get to minus 25. A bucket of hot water set under the exposed filter by the tank is the quickest to get heat back running, but you need to get fuel treatment in too as the hot water is short term fix!

We run into odd stuff. When I was a kid and got my first diesel tractor, it ran summer diesel all winter blowing snow, never hells. Didnt know why anyone made a fuss about it. Well, the plug in coolant heater was mounted right below the fuel filter, and plugging the tractor in for an hour the heat rose off the tank heater and warmed the fuel filter. The main fuel tank is above the engine, so the engine block heat kept the fuel warmed over time. According to me in that first year, fuel gelling would not be an issue its just imaginary.... we alllearn and realize there are no hard rules on this.

I would suggest you add some Power Service per the label to your furnace tank, and be sure to run it when the temps warm up so that wax already in the filter can get dissolved back into the fuel. Or Id add 20% kerosene.

Maybe you have an ice problem? We used to throw a couple cans of Heet in the outside fuel oil tank when we heated with fuel oil We used straight #1 so ice was the problem for us instead of gelling. The Heet would clear it up real quick.

(quoted from post at 00:01:56 01/30/22) I volunteer at a local rail road museum and the caboose I am working in has an oil stove which is fueled with diesel fuel. I tried to start it today with temperatures around 10 degrees and couldn't get fuel into the stove. There maybe something else going on but my first thought was the diesel fuel has gelled. I don't know what fuel is in the tank already or when it last got put in. We have a couple of days above freezing coming up next week so if it is gelled fuel the problem should go away for a couple of days until the cold returns and I will know that is the problem. My question is if it's actually gelled fuel it looks like I could add kerosene and keep it from happening again, how much kerosene is usually added to a gallon of diesel to prevent gelling? It probably won't matter if I have too much kerosene but I have limited space in the tank so I'm hoping I can add enough.

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With your limited space, I think the Power Service product called "Diesel 911" would be what you need. You would probably still need to get some heat to the filter.

I have had good luck with Power Service diesel additive in the outdoor tank of a fuel oil furnace. NOT Power Service 911, but the regular Power Service 'Diesel Fuel Supplement +Cetane Boost'. K-1 Kerosene and #1 diesel are hard to find around here, plus it's a lot easier and cheaper to dump in a quart of PS than to add enough kerosene to prevent gelling. I always buy fuel in winter months, when it's supposedly blended for cold temperatures, but I've found leftover fuel from the previous winter is susceptible to gelling. So I now always add a quart of PS as soon as it gets cold enough to run the furnace.

When diesel fuel gels, it doesn't all turn to pudding. Rather, paraffin crystals form in the fuel and get trapped in the filter. Paraffin trapped in the filter doesn't necessarily thaw out when the temperature warms up, so change the filter element before trying to restart the furnace. Make sure fuel can get through the fuel line to the filter (assuming the filter is below the tank), change the filter and re-prime the furnace oil pump.

In case you don't know how to prime the pump, you'll find a bleeder nipple on the pump. Attach a 1/4 inch ID clear plastic tube to the bleeder and run it to a container to catch the fuel. Find the restart button on the pump controller, hold it down and count to 30. The light on the controller should flash after 30 seconds (maybe 45 seconds); release the button and the pump should start running. Open the bleeder and watch for fuel running out the tube. When the fuel in the tube no longer has air in it, close the bleeder and the furnace should fire up.

Sometimes the pump nozzle will clog up shortly after a gelling incident, so it's a good idea to have a spare nozzle on had in case this happens. A furnace with a clogged nozzle will usually fire up but won't burn well enough for the flame detector to detect a flame, causing the pump to lock out after a few tries. The pump data plate should tell you what nozzle it was originally installed with, but double check when you change it out in case it's been changed to a different nozzle.

I buy filter elements, nozzles and other fuel oil furnace parts on Amazon.

As Steve and fixerupper posted you don't have a wax problem you have an ice problem. The difference is simple. When the problem is wax whatever you are running will start and run for a few minutes. The time that it takes enough wax crystals to get to the filter and get brought together so that gelling actually takes place. No flow at all means that the water that has been condensing inside the tank over the last year or ten and has accumulated enough to get up to the outlet and into the line and freeze. You can perhaps get it out by dissolving it but the better solution is to heat the tank and drain the water and all the rest of the crud out.

Thanks to everyone for the input. Wednesday is going to be warm enough around here to find out if its just a temperature problem or something else. I'm not usually that lucky so chances are its something plugged. Fortunately its a simple plumbing system. There is a line from the tank to the stove with a couple of filters and to the stoves carburetor with a couple of shut off valves in the line and its gravity feed. Easy enough to get apart if needed.

(quoted from post at 05:19:01 01/30/22) Thanks to everyone for the input. Wednesday is going to be warm enough around here to find out if its just a temperature problem or something else. I'm not usually that lucky so chances are its something plugged. Fortunately its a simple plumbing system. There is a line from the tank to the stove with a couple of filters and to the stoves carburetor with a couple of shut off valves in the line and its gravity feed. Easy enough to get apart if needed.

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f it has a carburetor it is best to use kerosene when temps fall below zero and only #1 the rest of the time. does it have a small tank on the back or just the large one outside?. The passages in those old carburetors are tiny. Been 40 years since I messed with one.

If you buy Winter Blend its usually okay or else on the farm I used to add some Kerosene (maybe around 1/4). Of course there are several brands of Snake Oil that work, your choice

John T

stoves carburetor

You are talking about an antique oil furnace.
Coleman made them as late as in the 1960's.

Just loosen the pipe going to carb and see if you have fuel flowing. If not, check filters.
The carb on that furnace is a real PIA.

The Coleman furnace I had an induction fan motor.
If the fan wasn't working, the carb wouldn't work either.
Keep in mind, it's been 60 years since I last worked on one...

If you can look inside the tank with a flash light, you might see globs of algae (microbes: mold, bacteria, and fungus).
If your filters look like the picture, you need to empty out the old fuel and globs, flush the lines and put in fresh fuel with biocide AND antigel. Especially if the same fuel is in the tank for months at a time.
Although you discovered a fuel flow problem now when it is really cold, the problem may have developed during warm weather.

This algae crap was rarely a problem before the requirement of low sulphur diesel.


Algae crap

When you are right, you are right when you are wrong, you are wrong I am guessing he is setting in his living room chair with his cozy wood stove and not in a cold caboose so he must be the smartest. I am ..pulling for you.. John RedGreen was also from way up Nort ; > )

well mr. red green i am talking from experience , and not looking up my answers online like i see on a bunch of your posts. years ago we had those diesel heaters in the house , my job was to go out to the 300 gallon bulk tank with a fuel pail after school and fill the diesel pail and carry it to the house to fill the heaters. i remember one time we still had summer diesel in the tank and it got to the -30-40 range and the fuel would not run out ,.. just dribble slowly out of the 1 inch hose. i have never saw summer diesel gell at 10 degree's. in the warmer weather than that it was running out just fine. and when the truck came to fill the tank the driver said to just add 5 gallons of kerosene to the tank if that happens again. dont worry i have froze my azz off lots of times doing them chores not sitting in the living room watching bonanza. and i dont need your rocking chair! been cutting wood all day and came in for lunch. so your guess is WRONG ALSO . ha ha.

(quoted from post at 09:01:13 01/30/22) stoves carburetor

You are talking about an antique oil furnace.
Coleman made them as late as in the 1960's.

Just loosen the pipe going to carb and see if you have fuel flowing. If not, check filters.
The carb on that furnace is a real PIA.

The Coleman furnace I had an induction fan motor.
If the fan wasn't working, the carb wouldn't work either.
Keep in mind, it's been 60 years since I last worked on one...

Click to expand...

rother in law's Dad bought a new pot oil burner with carburetor from some old time hardware store near Chesterfield SC late 80's early 90's,new stock as I understand.