Question about gelling

[besserheimerphat]

Okay, I'm in the middle of our company holiday shutdown and haven't had to drive the truck to work or anything for about 2 weeks. I've had the truck plugged in and topped off the fuel before parking it in the garage. Since I basically haven't left the house, I haven't bothered checking weather reports or anything. The place where I fuel up says they treat their fuel for temps down to -10F. Well, I woke up this morning and the outside temps were -15F. Assuming my fuel has started to gel, how warm will I have to get the truck between now and Monday morning to make sure I get to work okay (to melt the gel I assume is there)?

It's up to -4F right now, with a high of -1F. I do have about 16oz of PowerService left, which I had mixed with the previous tank of fuel so hopefully my fuel lines and fuel filter are still clear. Any probelms should just be in the fuel tank.

Thanks, hopefully this won't turn into a 911 thread at 8AM Monday morning...

[oasis04]

If it's got diesel clean in it and in a garge and plugged in I wouldn't think you will have any problems at all.

[Dave]

If you are concerned about it get a bottle of diesel 911 and dump it in your tank. Wont hurt a thing

[amdriven2liv]

besserheimerphat,

If the tank you had was good to -10f and you added the "white Bottle" Power service, then topped off tank with more -10f fuel, plus in garage plugged in, you are good to go. Your fuel is well protected.

Also, good for you, calling the supplier to ask directly.

Happy New Year!

[lightninmike]

Well i dont know where you are but if its in the garage you are prob ok. If you have had the truck plugged in for 2 weeks you will get a timer after you see your electric bill.
If you are still concerned get a bullet heater and let her rip for a couple hrs in the garage

[besserheimerphat]

Okay, well, my "garage" is my old brick barn - disconnected from the house and not heated in any manner. If the outside temps are -15, then the barn and everything inside it are also at -15...

I guess "topped off" isn't an accurate description of what I did - I put about 3/4 of a tank of -10 fuel in when I filled it prior to parking. I do normally have a timer on it, but over the break I just left it plugged in incase I needed to go somewhere during an afternoon or evening which I never ended up doing. I wasn't planning on leaving the house at 6:30 AM during the shutdown. If plugging in somehow helps warm the fuel system, then I'm not worried but I assumed it was only a block heater.

I think we're ordering pizza for dinner tonight, so I'll stop by the convenience store on the way and see what they've got for emergency fuel treatment incase I need it Monday.

[shu873]

You'll probably still be ok at -15*. If I were you though I'd throw in a shot of powerservice and start it up and run it until warm. If you're really worried about it throw a quart of the 911 in there instead. That's what I do when temps get down to -20 or -30*. I don't wait for it to start having troubles. I try to be proactive.

[StarDriver]

Be aware, the heater ONLY keeps the block warm and doesn't do anything for the fuel, but as the others have said, dump some antigel in it just to be safe and run it for a little while to work it through the system.

What warms up the fuel is the excess fuel that is recirculated from the fuel injection back to the fuel tank, it picks up a little heat and transfers it back to your tank.

I stopped in Erie , PA last week on my way to NY to get a car and topped off with fuel and to add extra fuel additive and my tanks were actually had steam coming off of them from the snow falling on them. (FYI, I had my Pete, not my Longhorn.)

[KyBlue]

Originally Posted by StarDriver;1614713he

I stopped in Erie , PA last week on my way to NY to get a car and topped off with fuel and to add extra fuel additive and my tanks were actually had steam coming off of them from the snow falling on them. (FYI, I had my Pete, not my Longhorn.)

Yeah, but your pete, probably has fuel heaters.. I know our trucks do,

[StarDriver]

Originally Posted by KyBlue

Yeah, but your pete, probably has fuel heaters.. I know our trucks do,

It doesn't, I looked at the build sheet and the cold weather equipment option was deleted.

I don't pull that much weight so it returns alot of fuel to the tanks.