In The News
How important is it to clean tanks prior to converting them to E-10 or Biodiesel?
If a tank is clean and has no water, it isn't necessary to have them cleaned. Having said this, it must be added that it is quite difficult to determine tank condition without a visual inspection of some kind.
The water print out on your probe is not a reliable indicator of water in your tank. Sticking your tanks is better, but you need to stick all three entry points for a fairly reliable reading. Tanks are usually tilted and have low spots. A large tank may have 20-30 gallons of water and located in areas not touched by sticking.
Recently we received an emergency call from a station owner in Columbia, SC who had experienced phase separation. We spent 8 hours removing the water, sludge and ethanol from the tank bottom. The next day we went back to remove additional ethanol/water that continued to accumulate after we had removed all existing waste the first day.
This station was closed down for 3 days and was charged for almost two days of our services plus about 400 gallons of fuel was lost. These tanks had not been cleaned prior to conversion.
So, repeating the question, do tanks always need to be cleaned prior to biofuel conversion? The answer is clearly yes, unless you are certain they are both clean and free from water.