Hemmings Motor News Blog

You ought to see the things done in the arctic to keep diesel from gelling during the winter months!

I'll bite. What do in the arctic with this stuff? How is it different than what they do where ever else it gets cold?

Off the top of my head, so less than comprehensive:

Heated tanks, fuel lines with augers in them, heated filters, insulated under-hood plumbing, heated battery trays with blankets around the batteries.

Basically full temperature control of the entire fuel path.

Also dipsticks that serve as immersion heaters for lube oil and transmission fluid, in-hose heaters for antifreeze, yes, when the overnight drops to -50°F or colder*, you do whatever it takes to keep those vital fluids flowing.

*_{Cold enuff to freeze the kiwis off a brass monkey!}

And to think we just used to add 10% gas to keep it from freezing. Now that would make quite a mess.

Brad

Convenient of the of the bus-line director to blame biodiesel and not take responsibility for cold weather fuel maintenance himself. Non-winter blended diesel fuel gel at about 15°F, B-20 or diesel with vegetable oil blend can gel at about 15°F; it's semantics.

Shock and awe / whizz bang

When I was in the Arctic, (123 miles north of the Arctic Circle) we used an additive simply called "Heat" added to the diesel. In the Cats we drove, (picture a tracked school bus on steroids) the entire fuel delivery system was in an insulated sub-floor of the vehicle. As far as the "Heat" additive we were advised not to expose bare skin to the liquid chemical as it was transdermal and poisonous as all hell, but once this evil stuff was added to the fuel it would not gel at -40F even if poured into an open container left out.There were strip heaters in the tanks and the Cats got us around when we needed to.

While I was at "Point Arthur", we set a record cold of -78F with a wind chill of -128F. We could not expose skin to the outside air for more than 30 seconds or frostbite set in.

Coldest I have ever been in my life, for three and a half months.

Regards Dragon