It is getting to that time of year when the temperature is dropping and diesels aren’t particularly fond of the cold weather, especially when it gets below 0° F. Treating fuel with an anti-gel should be pretty easy, you should be able to just dump it in and be on your way right? Well almost… Here are a couple of things to remember to properly “additize” your diesel fuel this winter.
FIRST: STORE ADDITIVE PROPERLY
Keep your anti-gel stored somewhere protected from the elements until you are ready to add it to your fuel. Room temperature is optimal, but anything above 20° F works. Anti-gels will actually get pretty thick when sitting on their own in the cold, to the point where you could say they have “gelled.” It is just the nature of the flow improvers, once they are in the fuel, they will dissolve and help your fuel to flow freely. For reference, our Hot Shot’s Secret Diesel Winter Anti-Gel has a pour point of -65° F once it is mixed with the fuel. If your bottle does gel up just warm it back up, give it a shake and use it normally.
SECOND: USE BEFORE FUEL GELS
Make sure to put the additive in when the fuel is above the cloud point. The cloud point is the temperature at which the waxes will start to separate, making the fuel look cloudy. Adding an anti-gel below the cloud point will negate any benefits the anti-gel has to offer. The cloud point can be anywhere from 0°-15° depending on the quality of the fuel you are dealing with. Even in freezing conditions, an underground fuel tank you are pumping from should be above this clouding temperature (somewhere between 35-50 degrees typically.) If you pour the additive in when you first fill up, the anti-gel can properly mix with the fuel and be effective.
THIRD: MOISTURE CAUSES ISSUES
Any research on cold diesel fuel will tell you that it is the wax paraffin in the fuel that causes gelling issues. As the fuel gets cold, these waxes tend to crystalize, and these crystals plug up your fuel filter, leaving you stuck on the side of the road if you even make it out of the driveway. This is absolutely true, but there is a little more to this picture that we should look at. Water. Moisture gets into diesel fuel through condensation, this isn’t something you can avoid. We all learned in school water freezes at 32°, so it too can cause trouble in our fuel filters as the temperature drops. Be sure your anti-gel has dispersing agents in it to take care of the water and help free the system of moisture, like Hot Shot’s Secret Diesel Winter Anti-Gel does.
FOURTH: KEEP DIESEL HEALTH
The last thing you should do is make sure the fuel system is healthy. While gelling and icing get the bulk of the attention, are several contributing factors to keeping you trouble-free. Besides protecting you from gelling, Hot Shot’s Secret Diesel Winter Anti-Gel is fully formulated to provide seven benefits to protect your engine. A cetane booster to burn the fuel completely and help with starting on the coldest of days, added lubricity to protect the fuel system and injector cleaner that cleans the entire fuel system. Hot Shot’s also included a rust and corrosion inhibitor, a fuel stabilizer, and water dispersant on top of the anti-gel properties. Hot Shot’s Secret is one of the few companies that will give you it all in one package, resulting in maximum performance from your diesel.