Fuel Additive for winter

Howe's works fine for anti gell purposes and is reasonably priced. I use that and haven't had any problems right down to minus 40 degrees . Put a water removing additive through the tanks as well as you can get condensation over summer and that will cause issues in cold temps. I haven't used the product you're describing but if it's more expensive than howe's then just save the money and use howe's.

 

I used it for a couple of years and grew kinda fond of it. I run primarily in the upper midwest all year round. I have had issues with other brands off and on, but the Amsoil product did a great job. Especially with so many outlets now having some level of biodiesel in their fuel. I am subjecting myself to a guinea pig test on a different product this winter. XLP Diesel Additive. It is made in Olathe, KS under control of Chevron. The product is marketed thru Amway. I have a friend, whose son is a dealer and wanted me to try it. The data on it shows almost identical properties as the Amsoil stuff, but is a lot more cost effective, as the application rate is lower. You might want to take a look at it yourself and compare. If you use the Amsoil stuff, get it on a Preferred Customer or Commercial account so that cost is a lot lower than list price.

Here is the info on the XLP stuff I am trying......

http://www.quixtar.com/Documents/IWOV/vis/010-en/pdf/ShopBuy/XLP_Diesel_SellSheetV08.pdf

Both the Amsoil stuff and XLP seem to address not only general fuel gelling, but cold filter plug point and anti-icing. There has always been some level of water in fuel, but ULSD seems to really be prone to higher levels of water nowadays. The anti-icing addresses that. And fuel stability is becoming more of a problem. Again, these two products target that also. I was a little hesitant to move away from the Amsoil product, and if the XLP doesn't perform well, then I will go back to it. Only after looking over the data on XLP and seeing it was pretty close to the Amsoil product, and more cost effective, did I decide to try it out.

 

70% diesel and 30% kerosene works well also.

Most fuel additives can be expensive, just saying.

 

Get your Howes at a farm supply store... 2/3's the price of what you find at the truckstop.

 

$14.99/ 1/2 gal at my local TSC. Atwood's online presence is less-than-wonderful, and their employee's at the local are......not bright. I'll check when I go to town. I don't know the application rates, just giving you prices.

 

Howes is a good product. I used it for several years. But after a couple of instances of icing problems, I decided it was time for something else. ULSD was the big factor in that. Could be Howes has modified their formula in the last couple of years to handle that better. Howes always did an exceptional job handing fuel gelling. But it did not handle icing well for me. You have to look at application rate along with the cost. Lets take a look at what you mention getting Howes for.....

$15 for 1/2 gallon, or $30 for 1 gallon. Compare that to $57 for a gallon of XLP, but the XLP treats 600 gallons of diesel, lowers cold filter plug point 35 degrees and prevents icing to -50F. Howes treats only half that much fuel at the below 32F suggested applicaton rate, doesn't even mention how much it reduces cold filter plug point (more critical than gel point, since it will happen before fuel actually gels) or how low it prevents icing. Run the numbers on application cost per gallon of diesel and see which one comes out better. If they are the same cost, then determine which product does a better job. The Amsoil product falls in between Howes and XLP for cost per gallon application.

 

But the ULSD factor has to play in here as well. Icing has become more of a problem with ULSD than previous diesel formulations. Kerosene will do nothing to prevent that. I have seen more cases of trucks being down more for icing in fuel than gelling in the last few years. They thought it was gelling, but closer examination of filters showed it was ice crystals that had plugged up the filter. This is easier to see on those trucks that have Davco filters. And the cost of Kerosene is substantially higher than regular diesel. So the overall cost per gallon must be considered. And Kerosene is an extremely "dry" fuel for lubricity. Overall, I would opt for the additive with today's fuels.... even in a mix of diesel and kerosene. It is cost competitive and addresses more problems than just the gelling issue.

 

I've only had my davco ice up once and I already knew the filter needed changed. I use Howes and always fuel with Philips 66 fuel. If it's getting -40 with the wind blowing the truck idles all night. I've seen guys run the pull-up diapers on they're davco to insulate it if the wind chill is low.

Had one of the old boys say they always ran a gallon of unleaded on top of there tanks after filling. Don't know if that would help with the new fuel.

 

True and was thinking about that after the fact, Daveco filters are useful in many ways but can lead to a cold spot in the fuel system in the winter weather. I noticed new day cabs have them mounted on the back of the day cab.