Anti-Gel

I don't treat but I do have the luxury of traveling the same route every week. I purchase #1 diesel in Vermillion South Dakota when headed north and get more when coming back through the next day in the rare instance it will be below 0 in Kansas where I stop Thursday nights. Southern #2 diesel will get me down to about 2 below before it starts gelling. I don't even approach that anymore as once you gel, it will more than likely never happen again.

 

I just pump what ever they have. I idle my truck when it gets below 20.. When I shut down at home, Wisconsin. Never treat when on the road. If I go south east or west. Usually first fuel is in the North and top tanks close to home before I park. I did gel at home a couple times. I found out to late, these couple of local stations don't treat the fuel. The $20 for a jug of anti-gel would have been a lot cheaper.

 

My grandmother always said an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...


Is any one brand better than another? I had been using Power Service, but recently switched to Howes after several guys said that's what they use.

 

Suit yourself...

Truth be told, there was about 2 weeks last winter where everything from I-80 southward was coming out of the pumps like slush, and a lot of the #2 pumps simply froze. When it gets well below 0, I don't trust anything south of I-90 anymore, except for the local Kwik Trips in my area, and even they only blend about 30% #1 max.

Diesel fuel is not as resistant to gelling as it was 10 years ago, combine that with a lot of the new high pressure common rail systems that don't circulate and return nearly as much warm fuel back to the tanks, there's 2 strikes already.

Gelling itself is not always the problem, untreated #2 begins to cloud as warm as 35 degrees, and if left outside undisturbed for days can gel as warm as 20 above. The colder fuel gets, the more likely the waxes are to start separating, wax can also plug fuel filters once you start the engine.


The boss bawled me out 2 weeks straight for buying too much power service last winter, until my truck and one of the day cabs were the only trucks in the yard that would start and run at -25.

The past 2 weeks I saw quite a few trucks on I-94 between Bismarck and Minneapolis that most likely bought "winterized" fuel, puffing smoke on the shoulder on a -20F morning.

You guys that shut your trucks off for long periods at or below 0 with straight #2 are playing with fire...er ...ice i should say. Like many others i gelled up ONCE in 2007, and was the last and ONLY time.

If you keep you tanks close to full and engine running you will usually be fine unless it gets close to -35...but why risk it? I'd rather have some piece of mind in cold temps instead of being 6th in line on the list that a service truck has to get to.

 

Seems most of the gelling problems come from filters exposed to the wind.

 

They are both pretty good, Howes treats a little more fuel per ounce. Some say that Howes can push moisture beyond your filters and into the pump and injectors where power service supposedly won't.

I have heard some people rant and rave about Schaffers, I've never used it and most truck stops don't carry it. If you have a chance it is cheaper to stock up on anti-gel at a walmart or a hardware store, it is usually around $14 vs upwards of $20 at most truck stops.

But using either one is better than doing nothing. I have used both in temps as low as -45 and never had a problem. I believe they both say to double the dose when it gets below zero, but too much anti-gel can be a bad thing too and have the opposite effect, and it is hard on the DPF systems on newer trucks. Usually the normal dose of anti-gel is plenty adequate to keep winterized #2 flowing smooth.

I always cringe when its below 0, I pull my fuel caps off, and the insides are coated with frost. Thats what can happen to you tanks if you run them too low. If it really gets cold, like -30F or worse, you can add the little white bottle of FPPF along with anti-gel, it is an additional moisture disperser. I've done that before.

 

Some drivers put baby diapers around their filters and fuel/water separators.

 

Simple

Owner Operators :
will take care of their bread and butter. We can write off the $20. Anti-gel. And keep on trucking.


Steering wheel holders:

won't pre-trip, grenade their trailer brakes in winter. piss and moan about money. And not buy a Anti-gel to prevent being 6th in line for frozen brakes and gelled motor.

 

My company was on the Howe's bandwagon until last winter when they spent well over $10k on gelled trucks everywhere.

What we found at our terminal in Toledo where it was regularly below zero for several weeks was any of the trucks that had fueled someplace with blended bio that the Howe's was making something in the fuel/water separator that could best be described as a jellyfish. In talking to the service managers at both KW and Freightliner they both said that Howe's with blended Bio and even the slightest amount of moisture will cause this.

They also pointed out that on the newer generation of motors with the higher pressures the filters have a much smaller micron number (the size of particle that will pass) and as such even fuel that is clear to the naked eye can have enough precipitated wax to plug the filters. So I asked what we could do to prevent this, additives etc. and both agreed separately that Power Service is the better choice of readily available additive. One suggested finding fuel with no Bio blended into it but in this day and age that's almost impossible unless your running locally and fueling at the same location every time.

The company made a switch to Power Service and as of this week this season we have had only a couple gel ups. Personally on my 2015 T680 with the Paccar motor I have noticed when in cold weather I have lower fuel suction when I treat with Power Service. I don't use the full recommended amount but rather use about a third of one of the 250 gallon (80oz) jugs every time I fill up which is normally in the 150 gallon range.

 

Well the lesson here is use it smart. Knock on wood I've never had my fuel gell, but I did drop some PS in the tanks heading from Houston to Ind, first time I've done it all year because the fuel price was too good to pass up over in Baytown, not to top the tanks off.