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Fuel lines freezing

NorthernRedneck

NorthernRedneck

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Does anyone here use additives in their fuel tanks to keep the fuel lines and filters from freezing up? If so, what do you use?

The reason I ask is that yesterday, we had one of our cats freeze up on the trail in -30 celcius temps. We added some 911 fuel conditioner(think that's what it's called) to the tank, removed the lines going to the filters from the tank and blew them out with a portable air tank, then changed both filters just to be safe. It fired right up. I was just wondering if anyone else has ever had any problems. I think the reason why we had this problem is that temps here have been all over the charts the past week or so. +3 C during the day then down to -35 C at night. Could have caused condensation to form in the tank then cause the lines going to the filters to freeze up.
 
groomerguyNWO said:
Does anyone here use additives in their fuel tanks to keep the fuel lines and filters from freezing up? If so, what do you use?

The reason I ask is that yesterday, we had one of our cats freeze up on the trail in -30 celcius temps. We added some 911 fuel conditioner(think that's what it's called) to the tank, removed the lines going to the filters from the tank and blew them out with a portable air tank, then changed both filters just to be safe. It fired right up. I was just wondering if anyone else has ever had any problems. I think the reason why we had this problem is that temps here have been all over the charts the past week or so. +3 C during the day then down to -35 C at night. Could have caused condensation to form in the tank then cause the lines going to the filters to freeze up.
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In most cold climates areas I thought the fuel companys automatically added fuel conditioner to the fuel . I know they do in Elk City , Idaho
 
Al- I believe you're right but sometimes it is necessary for us to give the fuel that extra little bit of protection to avoid freezing up. I also know that up here anyways, the gas stations are allowed a certain percentage of water mixed in with their underground fuel tanks. It's not much, but when you get temperature fluctuations like I described above, it's often enough to cause that little bit of water mixed in with the gas to freeze.
 
Nope.........the yellow P.O.S. bum-bar-deer' the one that froze up..........

I can say that now since I don't have to run it for a while now. I'd take the Lamtrac any day over that machine. That one was basically on loan to our snowmobile club for the past couple years as a spare groomer to share between three clubs but they needed it about 80 miles away to keep another section of trail open. We were just driving it to the next town then another guy would take it the rest of the way.
 
groomerguyNWO said:
Does anyone here use additives in their fuel tanks to keep the fuel lines and filters from freezing up? If so, what do you use?

The reason I ask is that yesterday, we had one of our cats freeze up on the trail in -30 celcius temps. We added some 911 fuel conditioner(think that's what it's called) to the tank, removed the lines going to the filters from the tank and blew them out with a portable air tank, then changed both filters just to be safe. It fired right up. I was just wondering if anyone else has ever had any problems. I think the reason why we had this problem is that temps here have been all over the charts the past week or so. +3 C during the day then down to -35 C at night. Could have caused condensation to form in the tank then cause the lines going to the filters to freeze up.
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I assume that your are running diesel fuel? If so, the best additive I have used is "Power Services", it keeps the fuel from jelling, takes out the water and also cleans the injectors. I used other fuel conditioners for a time, but they kept jelling in the bottle before I could use it when it was stored in the cold. Figured if it jelled before I got it into the fuel, it wasn't going to keep the fuel from jelling either.

Guys would come to my shop telling me that they needed to have their fuel pump and injectors rebuilt, I would give them a bottle of the Power Services and tell them to mix it and run two tanks of fuel then come back. 90% of the time the engine was running like a watch, the sticking injectors were now operating normally with the laquer cleaned out of the system. Told them to come back when they really needed me to gouge them for some "real" work....

Better Mechanics though modern Chemistry....

http://www.powerservice.com/
 
groomerguy NWO Here in Anchorage I put Stabil in the tanks of my motorcycles and the Sno master. It's mostly isopropyl alcohol, not very expensive per can. Look up "fuel dryer" on the net. It's easy to find here @ gas stations and auto parts stores.
 
Fuel tanks when sitting over night develope condisation inside and drip down water into the tank. That water then can freeze up as well. The same thing can happen with diesel. Fuel tanks should be filled up every time they come back from the trail head. This prevents the condesation. Diesel fuel of course will jell up and give you another headache. That stuff Fogtender recommends sounds like the way to go. For gas engines a water treatment additive should be added if your tanks are going to sit for awhile.
 
That's one thing we always do before parking it for the day at the end of the shift is fill up the tanks to avoid condensation. I'm guessing the deisel in the tank probably jelled up in the lines. Once we put that additive in the tank and blew out the lines, it fired right up and never missed a beat the rest of the day.
 
One possibility as to why the deisel jelled up like that is the tank we store our desiel in. It's a 500 gallon tank with an electric pump. The tank was down to about half when I filled up the machine. Could be that the deisel in the storage tank had some condensation into it before I pumped it into the machine. And considering we only get that tank refilled 2-3 times each season, I could see that being a problem area. Perhaps we should be putting some conditioner right in our main tank to avoid condensation. Couldn't hurt!
 
groomerguyNWO said:
One possibility as to why the deisel jelled up like that is the tank we store our desiel in.
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I think that would mean there was a lot of water in the tank. The water will collect at the bottom of the tank, and the pump pick-up tube is usually a couple inches above the bottom of the tank. If the pump picked up some water, then either there are several gallons in there, or the pump tube is too deep.
 
Snowcat Operations said:
Fuel tanks when sitting over night develope condisation inside and drip down water into the tank. That water then can freeze up as well. The same thing can happen with diesel. Fuel tanks should be filled up every time they come back from the trail head. This prevents the condesation. Diesel fuel of course will jell up and give you another headache. That stuff Fogtender recommends sounds like the way to go. For gas engines a water treatment additive should be added if your tanks are going to sit for awhile.
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When you have a car/truck/snowcat of any kind that sits in a warm shop then is taken out to subzero temps, the fuel gets cold and any water in the system will freeze someplace, in the bottom tank's fuel intake, in the line, filter or pump.

The other side is when you bring it back into the shop, the fuel is cold and the tank will frost up from the water vapor in the air, when the water that turned to frost melts, it drops down into the fuel and you now have water in the tank. So using a good deicer is a must. Don't use the Alcohol additive like Heet in diesel fuel though, only in a gas engine application, but not in snowmachines that mix oil with gas.

Alcohol absorbs the water, but not "Into the gas" in gas you can see it in the bottom of the tank and it will pass though a gas engine with no problems, but in a diesel engine, the water/alcohol mix will wipe out your injector system, they don't like water in them at all.

The Power Services absorbs the water "into" the fuel at the molecule level and there is no pool of water/power services in the bottom of the tank like in gas with alcohol/water.

Another good policy in very cold temp's, never fill a tank part way with warmer fuel from an underground tank, fill it up to "almost" full. The fuel will expand in a warm shop or garage and come out the fill cap onto the floor it you fill it to the top cold. But by having less air space in the tank, you minimize the area for the frost to form in the tank to cause a water issue.

The other reason to use #1 diesel fuel is because #2 will jell at about -20 and colder, causing the diesel engine to slow down and quit. The Additives like Power Services will lower the jell point by quite a bit.
 
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