KEEPING IT CLEAN
For a reliable engine you need clean fuel and a clean tank; we test Marine 16’s answer to keeping it that way
uel problems are the most common cause of breakdowns at sea. Some of the blame for this can be laid at the boat builder’s feet. Fuel tanks are often hard to access and many have no drain cock or inspection hatch so owners have to rely on their engines’ inline fuel filters to stop dirt and water getting into the injectors and combustion chamber. However, these should be the last line of defence as they can quickly become overwhelmed if diesel bug or contaminated fuel gets into the system. Nor do they stop water and sludge accumulating at the bottom of the fuel tank, below the level of the fuel pick-up, caused by condensation and contaminated fuel.
Marine 16 claims to have solved this problem with a product called the Diesel Dipper. Rather than drawing fuel from 20mm above the bottom of the tank as most fuel pick-ups do, the Dipper deliberately sucks out all the sludge and water that lurks at the very bottom of it and that causes rust to set in and provide the perfect breeding environment for diesel bug. This contaminated fuel is then passed through a separator that removes any water and debris from the diesel and returns the clean fuel to the tank. Because diesel bug only thrives in the presence of water, if you get rid of the water you solve the bug issue too.
The heart of the unit is a low-power 12V pump that gently sucks the bottom 3-5% of the fuel from the bottom of your tanks at the rate of two litres per minute to prevent it emulsifying. This is passed through a series of baffles and swirl chambers that separates any water and sludge present and allows it to settle to the bottom of the unit for draining off later. The clean fuel passes out of the top of the separator and, after a final filtration process, is returned to the main tank. Due to the efficiency of the
B E L O W Diesel Dipper uses filters and swirl chambers to separate water and solids from fuel