Diesel bug ? when to act ? (1 Viewer)

EyUp

Free Member
Jul 3, 2016
260
396
Yorkshireman living in Surrey
Funster No
43,888
MH
Majestic 180
Exp
newbie
Until I had bought my first motorhome and diesel vehicle Id never heard of diesel bug !!

So when should I worry and when should I act, and with what !! What do you folks do, if anything ?

The MoHo is brand new.

:)

Carl
 

sewinlynne2

Free Member
Jul 21, 2013
180
218
Saron Dyfed
Funster No
27,053
MH
Elddis Riva GT Gold 175
Exp
since November 2016!!!
Hi. I understand what it is but I have not heard of any mohomers being affected. As far as I am aware it is a microscopic organism that can grow on and in the mucky bits and water in RED diesel and seems to only affect marine and agricultural applications. Don't think road diesel is affected. Normal good practice is to keep a full tank so no water condensation could enter fuel tank, using reputable fuel outlets who have a large turnover in sales of fuel and having your vehicle serviced as per its schedule. Apart from that don't think we have any problem here.
 
Upvote 0
OP
OP
EyUp

EyUp

Free Member
Jul 3, 2016
260
396
Yorkshireman living in Surrey
Funster No
43,888
MH
Majestic 180
Exp
newbie
Thats interesting as I read it on a narrowboat forum and at the time skipped over it. I remember reading about it here a while ago too but cant remember where ??? I did a search here but didnt find anything so .....wires crossed I think haha :D

Im mixing MoHos up with narrowboats ??

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0

jollyrodger

LIFE MEMBER
Oct 1, 2012
6,264
26,386
Devon/Cornwall
Funster No
23,107
MH
'Obby
Exp
Since 1968'ish
Have heard of it ,but never suffered it .
Ran fishing ,and cross channel charter boats on red (cherryade) ner a problem ,but as already mentioned tanks were mostly always full ...and we moaned when it went up to £0.14p a litre :( twin 90L tanks .
 
Upvote 0

DBK

LIFE MEMBER
Jan 9, 2013
17,969
47,804
Plympton, Devon
Funster No
24,219
MH
PVC, Murvi Morocco
Exp
2013
It can happen, generally bugs growing at the interface between the fuel and air with water contaminating the fuel are the triggers though there are different types of bug including some which like sulphur.
It can be a problem with boats which I guess are more prone to being damp. With a MH you use regularly it shouldn't be an issue but if you are going to store the vehicle for six months it would be sensible to leave it with a full tank. Temperature is also a factor and when cold the bugs don't grow as fast.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0

Doctor Dave

Free Member
May 18, 2015
463
1,110
Wiltshire
Funster No
36,413
MH
None
Exp
7 years followed by a break of 11 years and then 4+ years but given up now
Hi. I understand what it is but I have not heard of any mohomers being affected. As far as I am aware it is a microscopic organism that can grow on and in the mucky bits and water in RED diesel and seems to only affect marine and agricultural applications. Don't think road diesel is affected. Normal good practice is to keep a full tank so no water condensation could enter fuel tank, using reputable fuel outlets who have a large turnover in sales of fuel and having your vehicle serviced as per its schedule. Apart from that don't think we have any problem here.

Diesel bug has no colour prejudice so it can infect red, white, green or any other colour diesel. Probably the reason it mainly affects marine and agricultural applications is the size of the fuel tanks and the rate at which the fuel is used (or not).

(AFAIK The only difference between red and white diesel is the colour additive.)

Dave
 
Upvote 0
Feb 9, 2008
4,086
5,902
SW Scotland
Funster No
1,453
MH
LP Coachbuilt
Exp
Since 2008 after caravanning for 20 years
Only ever had problems with the bug in Lub. Oil. Our main engine would run on 17,000 litres and it would become contaminated with micro-bacterial infestation. Never found it contaminated the diesel. The problem with fuel was waxing through cross contamination of different diesels from different crude sources, i.e we could never mix North African diesel with Azerbaijani diesel, it just turned to a peanut butter consistency.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0

sewinlynne2

Free Member
Jul 21, 2013
180
218
Saron Dyfed
Funster No
27,053
MH
Elddis Riva GT Gold 175
Exp
since November 2016!!!
As I said it seems to only affect RED diesel(and by that, it is generally accepted that this is non road vehicle, untaxed fuel.) The obvious reasons being that it is generally mistreated/neglected by small suppliers/users in the way it is stored and used which can cause the contamination described and is generally kept and or stored too long in unsuitable conditions before being used. The vast majority of mohomers would never dream of putting such a poor quality fuel in their pride and joy and would most likely never leave/store the vehicle in a way that diesel powered boats or farm machinery are sometimes.
 
Upvote 0

two

Aug 4, 2011
4,901
4,560
West Midlands
Funster No
17,624
MH
A-Class Fiat
Diesel bug is a boating phenomenon. There are additives that will kill it but you’ll not need it in a m/h, so rest easy.

As said, you need water as well as diesel for the bug to grow, and it needs time to establish. Large tanks with a good area probably encourage it, as might careless refueling (letting water in) or purchasing stale fuel from a dodgy source. The result is clogged fuel lines and filters.

Diesel is used by some heating boilers and stored in large tanks that suffer condensation but, curiously, I’ve never heard of diesel bug in that. Maybe someone knows otherwise.
 
Upvote 0

two

Aug 4, 2011
4,901
4,560
West Midlands
Funster No
17,624
MH
A-Class Fiat
Like the man in the hardware shop once said to me as a lad. (Remember hardware shops? An Aladdin's cave of all sorts and wooden floorboards.)
I asked the man what the difference was between Pink paraffin and Ordinary. He replied, "Thruppence". (Remember pre-decimal coinage? Half Crowns and Florins.)

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0

DuxDeluxe

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 10, 2008
14,627
72,234
Planet Zog
Funster No
3,243
MH
A woosh bang van
Exp
since 2008
Only ever had problems with the bug in Lub. Oil. Our main engine would run on 17,000 litres and it would become contaminated with micro-bacterial infestation. Never found it contaminated the diesel. The problem with fuel was waxing through cross contamination of different diesels from different crude sources, i.e we could never mix North African diesel with Azerbaijani diesel, it just turned to a peanut butter consistency.
Ah ha!! an ex Chief Engineer.......... thankfully, diesel bugs are not that common (I still have a bug testing kit) and most of our issues as a testing company was the incompatibility between fuel oils as alluded to above. However, bugs are notoriously difficult to get rid of in a ship. A friend of ours has the problem with an old horse box and it took a lot of effort to eliminate it.

In modern vehicles?? Forget about it. Not going to happen really......
 
Upvote 0
May 8, 2016
1,685
78,506
silver coast, portugal
Funster No
42,972
MH
C Class: Low profile
Exp
Boatie for 20 years
My understanding (from boating and from experience of it) is that the biggest cause is the addition of organic (palm?) oils to diesel, which facilitates growth when left relatively undisturbed for extended periods (as in boats over winter)

Boats have huge fuel tanks, you carry a lot of reserve (at about a mile/minute at 23 knots on twin 370 HP diesels, you flamin' need it). At sea, that goes quickly, at 4 knots in the river, you keep a lot sloshing around in the tanks. I never use anything but regular diesel, no organic additives, and I reclaim vat where I can on the appropriate forms, no red being inshore most of the time. We test and filter fuel every season, and have no problems

But I digress, the OP has nothing to worry about with a M/H. As Dux says, forget it
 
Upvote 0

Enword

Free Member
May 20, 2014
1,900
7,999
Devon
Funster No
31,568
MH
Coach Built
Exp
Race van conversion for years
Had it in our Merc 407D in the early 90s "bugger" to get rid of back then:mad:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0

DuxDeluxe

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 10, 2008
14,627
72,234
Planet Zog
Funster No
3,243
MH
A woosh bang van
Exp
since 2008
My understanding (from boating and from experience of it) is that the biggest cause is the addition of organic (palm?) oils to diesel, which facilitates growth when left relatively undisturbed for extended periods (as in boats over winter)

Boats have huge fuel tanks, you carry a lot of reserve (at about a mile/minute at 23 knots on twin 370 HP diesels, you flamin' need it). At sea, that goes quickly, at 4 knots in the river, you keep a lot sloshing around in the tanks. I never use anything but regular diesel, no organic additives, and I reclaim vat where I can on the appropriate forms, no red being inshore most of the time. We test and filter fuel every season, and have no problems

But I digress, the OP has nothing to worry about with a M/H. As Dux says, forget it
If your marine diesel is proper marine diesel then not a problem, but EN590 road diesel has up to 7% bio products. Having said that, Maersk ran one of their feeder container ships on B100 bio diesel for a year without ill effects. Wouldn't like to try it in the tropics though.
 
Upvote 0
Feb 9, 2008
4,086
5,902
SW Scotland
Funster No
1,453
MH
LP Coachbuilt
Exp
Since 2008 after caravanning for 20 years
To get rid of the 'bugs' in our lub oil we would transfer the entire sump, some 17,000 litres to a holding tank. The oil was then heated to 38 C and all the water would fall out. The oil was then purified back to the sump and was perfectly good. This would work with diesel if you can find a safe method of heating the oil, the tanks and fuel system would also need to be thoroughly sterilised.

What happens is that the 'bugs' can only grow if there is water present in the oil, by heating the oil we both killed the bugs and removed the water. All was fine until we got more water contamination in the oil, to remove the contamination from the engine was not possible, how do you sterilise a 900 tonne engine? The fact the pistons were water cooled did not help matters as this is where the water came from. For interest it was a 9 cylinder MAN marine diesel producing around 33,000 hp.
 
Upvote 0
May 8, 2016
1,685
78,506
silver coast, portugal
Funster No
42,972
MH
C Class: Low profile
Exp
Boatie for 20 years
If your marine diesel is proper marine diesel then not a problem, but EN590 road diesel has up to 7% bio products. Having said that, Maersk ran one of their feeder container ships on B100 bio diesel for a year without ill effects. Wouldn't like to try it in the tropics though.

It is supposedly marine diesel, no additives, but no plans to go to the tropics for a while :)

To get rid of the 'bugs' in our lub oil we would transfer the entire sump, some 17,000 litres to a holding tank. The oil was then heated to 38 C and all the water would fall out. The oil was then purified back to the sump and was perfectly good. This would work with diesel if you can find a safe method of heating the oil, the tanks and fuel system would also need to be thoroughly sterilised.

What happens is that the 'bugs' can only grow if there is water present in the oil, by heating the oil we both killed the bugs and removed the water. All was fine until we got more water contamination in the oil, to remove the contamination from the engine was not possible, how do you sterilise a 900 tonne engine? The fact the pistons were water cooled did not help matters as this is where the water came from. For interest it was a 9 cylinder MAN marine diesel producing around 33,000 hp.

Kind of dwarfs what I have then :)

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Upvote 0

DuxDeluxe

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 10, 2008
14,627
72,234
Planet Zog
Funster No
3,243
MH
A woosh bang van
Exp
since 2008
To get rid of the 'bugs' in our lub oil we would transfer the entire sump, some 17,000 litres to a holding tank. The oil was then heated to 38 C and all the water would fall out. The oil was then purified back to the sump and was perfectly good. This would work with diesel if you can find a safe method of heating the oil, the tanks and fuel system would also need to be thoroughly sterilised.

What happens is that the 'bugs' can only grow if there is water present in the oil, by heating the oil we both killed the bugs and removed the water. All was fine until we got more water contamination in the oil, to remove the contamination from the engine was not possible, how do you sterilise a 900 tonne engine? The fact the pistons were water cooled did not help matters as this is where the water came from. For interest it was a 9 cylinder MAN marine diesel producing around 33,000 hp.
That sort of problem made me a nice living for some years...... (y)

Worst one was stability problems with 5 consecutive bunkering each of about 4-5000 tonnes. Massive debunkering operations, demurrage and 3am phone calls. Thank goodness I retired.....
 
Upvote 0

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Funsters who are viewing this thread

Back
Top