made a mistake:water in Fuel

[Mjdap]

Short story:

Trailered my boat the other night from house to Marina, late, in heavy rain.
I stopped at gas station, filled up boat gas tank, and apparently forgot to screw fuel cap on.

Trailered to destination, dropped trailer, and left. This was Three nights ago.

Marina put boat in water and in slip. I went to check on boat, and cap was not on. So, boat was not run since the fuel up, but I know water is in there based on rainfall.

I spoke to Grady Dealer Service and he advised to pump out two gallons of a sample and see how much water is in there, but I should be prepared to pump out tank, replace fuel with an additive.

Stupid...stupid....stupid. Any other suggestions? I will not run this boat until it is resolved.

 

[Hookup1]

Fuel

You really think that much water got in the tank? Does the water somehow run down the boat into the tank? Unless it funnels into the tank even if you got an inch of rain during that period it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Mjdap]

Well, the fill is on the top of the gunnel, facing upwards, and I can only imagine that if a cup were placed there, I would suspect about an inch or more would be in that cup after the rain.

So I assume that any water could be a major problem.

 

[Mjdap]

My dealer service man stated that if there were 1% or less of water in the tank, by volume, then I should be ok, assuming I added a water asborber.

Any advice?

 

[fishingFINattic]

Your have a 22' boat (or around there)
So how much fuel are you talking? 150 gallons? In other words - $400 worth of fuel?
Get it out of there! It is not worth the risk!
Take it as a hard lesson learned!

I know someone who went to the edge in there twin diesel boat - waves coming over the bow - reliezed they left BOTH gas caps off when one motor cut out - limped home on the other with water in the fuel - now THAT is bad -

I know it is a tough pill to swallow - but just get it out!

Tim

 

[seasick]

Two years ago, I left the cap off of my 208. It rained like the devil that night and the next. When I realised what i did, i removed the tank sender and pumped out a gallon of gas from the bottom. Not one drop of water! Two years later still no problem.

Pump some fuel into a bucket or a jar. Undo the line after the primer bulb and use the bulb to pump the gas. let it sit for a while and see if there is ant water. If not, add a bottle of EZsorb or the like and stop worrying.
If you find water, you can do as I did and pump the bottom of the tank.

Chucking 100 gallons of fuel is bad enough but finding a place to legally dump it is another story.

 

[jfmagana]

Almost the exact same thing happened to me about two years ago. I put some yamaha ringfree in the tank and let the Racor do its job. Never had a problem. A little water in not a big deal...relax and don't be hard on yourself.

 

[Pez Vela]

Take advantage of the water separation feature of your external Racor fuel filter. That's why you have one ... right? If not, now would be a good time to install one and learn how to take advantage of it. Your problem, minor as it is, will be solved.

 

[sfc2113]

I did the same thing on a different boat, gas tank with water is gas tank with water... Trust a good fuel water seperator, miine did its job and trapped about 1/2 gal water, check it often if see thru, or replace after every run till the tank is empty, Then fill up with additives, better than dumping 400$ worth of fuel. You should be ok.

 

[fishingFINattic]

better than dumping 400$ worth of fuel. You should be ok.

I respectfully disagree - while I do agree that he "should" be okay - no one can be certain - if he not okay, 400 bucks will be a drop in the hat compared to replacing other potential problems!

Tim

 

[eppem]

possible water in tank

Unscrew the deck plate over the fuel sender. Unscrew the sender and with a flashlight look into your fuel tank, if you have any significant water, it will be under the gas and you will see it. Make a simple hand pump with some tubing and narrow copper pipe and a primer bulb, you can slide this into the sender "hole" and pump out anything that is under the gas, especially if it has settled aft. PM me if you want better details.

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

Re: possible water in tank

Unscrew the deck plate over the fuel sender. Unscrew the sender and with a flashlight look into your fuel tank, if you have any significant water, it will be under the gas and you will see it. Make a simple hand pump with some tubing and narrow copper pipe and a primer bulb, you can slide this into the sender "hole" and pump out anything that is under the gas, especially if it has settled aft. PM me if you want better details.

Ditto, try pumping it into 2 gal. clear soda bottle(s), when you see gas coming out, stop and change in to a new bottle, pull about a gallon or two CLEAR gas, then add water absorber additive into your tank and you will be fine. The plain water in the soda bottles you can throw away(ask your mechanic where) and the gas on the other bottle use it in your mower.

 

[Mjdap]

Thank you for the replies. I will sample the fuel, and then determine corrective action. Hopefully the sample will confirm that the amount of water is small, and the additive and water separator will have done it's job.

I will post results, and thanks again.

Lesson learned.

 

[seasick]

Thank you for the replies. I will sample the fuel, and then determine corrective action. Hopefully the sample will confirm that the amount of water is small, and the additive and water separator will have done it's job.

I will post results, and thanks again.

Lesson learned.

Lesson learned...? I did it twice Left the cap off.

 

[catch22]

If it hasn't been mentioned before, there's a fairly simple way to drain off some fuel. Your existing fuel line draws from near the bottom of the tank anyway, so why not use it. Disconnect your primer bulb, attach a hose long enough to exit your scarboard, (drain plug) hole. Place a 5 gallon bucket under the hose and squeeze the bulb a few times. It should start flowing on it's on. When you've drained enough out, pinch off the hose in front of the primer bulb, let the remaining fuel in the hose drain off and re-attach it.

I've used this method myself and it's pretty fast. You might want to let the gas sit a while and then check for any seperation, (water under the gas).

 

[seasick]

If it hasn't been mentioned before, there's a fairly simple way to drain off some fuel. Your existing fuel line draws from near the bottom of the tank anyway, so why not use it. Disconnect your primer bulb, attach a hose long enough to exit your scarboard, (drain plug) hole. Place a 5 gallon bucket under the hose and squeeze the bulb a few times. It should start flowing on it's on. When you've drained enough out, pinch off the hose in front of the primer bulb, let the remaining fuel in the hose drain off and re-attach it.

I've used this method myself and it's pretty fast. You might want to let the gas sit a while and then check for any seperation, (water under the gas).

The problem here is that the pickup tube doesn't go all the way to the bottom by design. It usually has an inch or so of clearance. Now, let's say you have a half an inch of water in the tank, all is OK until you bring up the bow. Now that half an inch becomes 2 inches and water starts to get sucked into the motor. the only way to pump out the water is to go in the tank with a pump and make sure it pumps from the bottom

 

[BobP]

Do you have ethanol fuel in tank?

If so, not so good.

Water joins the alcohol (all of it) and seperates out of the gas to a total sum of a lot more quantity. This cannot happen with non ethanol fuel where water always goes to bottom of tank.

Ring free has nothing to do with water and alcohol.
Startron, Marine Stabil, EZORB, claim they do.

Water and alcohol on bottom, then gas on top.

I don't think anything can recombine it.

The stuff on the bottom is much darker - there's a good photo of a 2 liter soda bottle with phase separated gas being held by the guy who's suing the gas companies, in the BOATUS magazine.

Apparently the case passed the first hurdle, when the refineries said they were forced to use alchol and the judge ruled aganst them, they weren't- could have used something else to meet emission standards.

The racor water seperators will not separate water from alcohol, and will do a limited amount of water seperating depending how much is coming thru at one time.

Water and alcohol is corrosivem guys have fond rust in their VST tank internals and pumps.

Consider pumping it into 6 gallon ploy gas cans ans use with lawmover.
Overdose it with Stabil, will last for two years.

 

[Mjdap]

I had my marina service mechanic pull a sample and there was no apparent water within the sample. He assured me that the pick up was off the bottom of the tank.

So, I will run the boat, and keep tabs on the fuel filter/water separator. I have a spare, and will be diligent in checking on the filter.

So, here is hoping that the error does not have repurcussions.

Thanks for your suggestions and observations.

 

[Seahunter]

I wouldn't worry about it. The E-10 will absorb up to 0.5% water by volume in the tank. If you have 100 gallons in the tank the E-10 would absorb a 1/2 gallon of water with no adverse effects.

If it was more than that, which I seriously doubt, the Racors will take care of it.

 

[BobP]

Ethanol absorbs moisture from the atmoshere or as liquid poured in up to a percentage as you say, that gets dissolved in the fuel, meaning it does not seperate, it's dissolved.

If you fill a clear soda bottle with same dissolved fuel, you see no difference from top to bottom, neither does your racor which is doing the same thing as the soda bottle, it's just a column of fluid. Conventional fuel will only combine with water for a short time if you milk shake it, then sits and seperates, the racor will keep the heavier water on the bottom until you either drain it off or it fills with more water and then it passes right thru since the height rises to the draw off range.

So the motor will burn the fuel and dissolved moisture as one, which is OK.

The problem is not little dissolved water, it's too much dissolved water, that makes phase separation occur next. Then the motor will draw off the bottom and attempt to run on it, all the alcohol and water as a cocktail, nothing else. That's why if the fuel is out of spec, motor manuf can and will void the warranty. This type of fuel (alcohol and water) can be destructive to the motor, otherwise they would not say the fuel matters.

For those old enough, you ought to recall what dry gas was and what it was used for, to combine water seperated from gas in lines and such, that will collect (seperate) in low spots and freeze and expand during the winter and stop flow, so it causes the water to combine (dissolve) into the fuel and burn it off.

You were not using a precentage of 10% dry gas to fuel, were you? That's one gallon for 10 gallons of fuel (?).