Donaldson Filters & Parts

Your Diesel Fuel Is Dirtier Than You Think – Here’s What You Can Do About It

Diesel fuel can be too dirty for modern diesel engines, resulting in costly injector failures and equipment downtime. If you buy and store fuel in bulk, this is a solvable problem. I’m Gabriel Bleven, training manager at Donaldson Academy, and we’re going to talk about dirty fuel and bulk fuel filtration in this edition of Filtered from Donaldson.

Two common questions around dirty fuel and injector failures that we hear are first, why is diesel fuel too dirty for modern injectors? And second, I have filters on my engine and there are filters on most bulk tanks. Why aren’t they working? These are great questions.

So, let’s start with why is fuel too dirty? The answer has two parts. First, when you purchase fuel, it meets the industry cleanliness standards. But those standards haven’t been revised for decades and don’t meet the cleanliness requirements of modern high-pressure common rail diesel engines. So, until the cleanliness standards are revised, new fuel is typically too dirty for modern engines.

The second part of the answer may surprise you. Fuel can actually get even dirtier when stored in

bulk tanks. All fluid reservoirs (or bulk tanks) have to be able to breathe in and out to avoid building vacuum pressure inside the tank.

For example, when you pump out 30 gallons of fluid, you have to bring in the equivalent amount of air into the tank. So when the tank breathes in, it’s going to pull in airborne dust and dirt and moisture. Now the fuel gets dirtier and the moisture causes chemistry challenges.

Fuel becoming dirtier in storage leads us to the next question. Why aren’t the filters on most bulk tanks and engines good enough to solve the problem? The high-efficiency fuel filter on an engine is the last line of defense and faced with a big challenge if the fuel supplied to it is extremely dirty. The filter on the bulk tank plays an important role in this challenge. Unfortunately, most filters applied at the pump on bulk tanks are low efficiency filters that are not getting the fuel clean enough.

So, if the bulk tank filter and the engine filter aren’t enough, what is? Let’s walk through the simple upgrades that can make your bulk tank part of the solution instead of part of the problem. If you buy fuel in bulk, the solution begins with first protecting the fluid as the tank breathes in.

A high-quality breather filter that stops moisture and airborne dust and dirt should be installed. This will help keep the fuel from getting dirtier and wetter over time. Second, a high efficiency fuel filter should be applied on the dispense pump of the tank to provide a high cleanliness level of the fuel.

Lastly, if you really want to lean into best practices, high-efficiency filtration can be applied at the inlet of many bulk tanks. This cleans the fuel as it’s dispensed into the tank. That extra step of cleaning is the epitome of best practices.

We covered the common questions around what dirty fuel is and why some filters don’t always solve the challenge. In the end, premium filtration products are your best defense against dirty fuel. Applying high-efficiency filtration on the dispense pump of the bulk tank and keeping the fuel clean and dry while stored in the tank is the best way to solve the challenge of fuel that is too dirty for modern injectors.

Your equipment will thank you.

Thanks for watching this episode of Filtered, where we explore filter related topics and best practices. Ready to learn more? Follow the links below or sign up to become a Donaldson insider.