Winter Diesel

peasant

On the continent all oil companies and filling stations from about November onwards only sell so called "winter diesel". This diesel has some additives that prevent it from coagulating in cold temperatures.

Is this done in Ireland as well ?

I know it doesn't really get that cold here, but last year my camper wouldn't start after having been left untouched during a succession of really frosty nights (-7 deg C) because a parrafin plug had formed in on of the fuel filters.
So that couldn't have been filled with winter diesel, even though the last filling was done in December.

peasant

hmmm ...obviously not .....:D

Anybody else ever have trouble with solidifying diesel at cold temperatures?

alias no.9

How basic or modern an engine is in the campervan? A common thing for older diesels was to put a small ammount of petrol into the tank to stop the gelling. This has the added benefit of cleaning the injectors.

Do not do this on a newer diesel with a high pressure pump (common rail or pumpe deuse) as they have extremely fine tolerances on moving parts and require diesel to lubricat them.

peasant

While my camper is quite ancient, it has a direct injection engine nonetheless, so I won't fuff about mixing petrol into the tank. Also it is parked up most of the time and a petrol/diesel mix tends to separate again, given enough time ...the last thing I want is a layer of petrol floating on top of the diesel in my tank.

I'm not overly worried about this happening again ...mainly just curious if "winter diesel" is a known entity in Ireland or not ...

Wishbone Ash

Would it be possible that the supplier had sold very little diesel and was still stocking summer grade in December? (Hardly likely, all the same, as most seem to get a fill every other day).

I was always under the impression that the additive was automatically added.

peasant

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Would it be possible that the supplier had sold very little diesel and was still stocking summer grade in December? (Hardly likely, all the same, as most seem to get a fill every other day).

I was always under the impression that the additive was automatically added.

So there is "winter diesel" here then?

Yes ...quite possibly ...as far as I can remember the last fill was taken onboard in some quiet little backwater of a place ...

crosstownk

To avoid any complications the best thing is to start the engine every day and let it run for maybe half an hour (better still take it for a drive).

I've never seen 'winter diesel' on sale here in Ireland. But our temperatures don't drop as low as other countries thanks to the Atlantic...............