As part of spring commissioning, I want to extract 1 cup of diesel from the bottom of my tank to check for water or sediment. I'm curious what method(s) others have used to do this that I might replicate? Thanks in advance!
Easiest way to obtain fuel sample from bottom of tank on a Catalina 310?
- Thread starter Monheganlover
- Start date
I have a manual fuel pump. Where would be the best place to insert the hose?
The only way to reach the bottom of the tank would be to run a hose through the gauge sender hole. The pickup tube does not reach the bottom of the tank specifically to prevent picking up whatever has settled to the bottom over the years.
I check my fuel tank every other year (or worse) for water and settlement by pulling a sample from a testing port I installed in the top of the tank using a Pela oil extractor :
The sealant is Permatex #2 which is the only thing that sticks to polyethylene.
The suction tubing on the Pela suction pump has a 12" long clear section of vinyl tubing in it so I can watch the fuel slowly go by on its way to the Pela storage tank.
This is all you require for a check of fuel quality as your fuel changes over every year or so.
I've never found a trace of bacteria in the fuel simply by adding a shot of Biobor JF with every fillup :
The sealant is Permatex #2 which is the only thing that sticks to polyethylene.
The suction tubing on the Pela suction pump has a 12" long clear section of vinyl tubing in it so I can watch the fuel slowly go by on its way to the Pela storage tank.
This is all you require for a check of fuel quality as your fuel changes over every year or so.
I've never found a trace of bacteria in the fuel simply by adding a shot of Biobor JF with every fillup :
Thanks! I use Biobor also. I have a 2002 Catalina 310 and my fuel tank is metal so I guess I will have to go through the hole for the sending unit as previously suggested. Thanks!
If your using Biobor and replace your fuel maybe every year or so, your fuel should be clean enough to drink
.I hope you weren't looking at the $100.00+ cost of having it professionally analyzed. Eyeball analysis is good enough to keep your two filters clean.