Water collecting in Fendt water traps SCOTLAND

DGC1

Member
Location
Scotland
never had an issue with water in fuel in +20 years of operation but in the last two weeks ALOT of water collecting in the water traps.
fuel is from one reliable main supplier drawing directly from grangemouth

fuel rep did the tank dip test on both yard tanks today and on 4 machines and all texts came back showing zero or less than 1mm of fuel in bottom of the tanks, 20 year old tank had zero.

dip test a water trap and the paste goes bright pink instantly so it is water
sensor on water trap on a tractor serviced on Saturday was throwing up a fault code today

digger also got error codes coming up due to water level in fuel and this digger has never thrown a code in +6000hrs

any thoughts anyone or anyone in Scotland having similar issues or their water traps at their main tanks filling up recently?
its almost as if there is water suspended in the fuel and its not settling on the bottom of the tank but sitting suspended until it reaches the bowls on the machines
dg
 
fuel rep did the tank dip test on both yard tanks today and on 4 machines and all texts came back showing zero or less than 1mm of fuel in bottom of the tanks, 20 year old tank had zero.
Sorry, I’m not quite following all of your post, did you mean that there was less than 1mm of water in the bottom of the tanks?

How many storage tank are there, two or more? Are they all outside?

Were the two affected machines filled from the same or different tanks?

The fuel supplier undoubtedly is defending their own supply etc. There may be water entering the fuel either inadvertently or deliberately at your place. Possibly not obvious. I’m not accusing anyone, just trying to think logically as some of the tank tests would appear to contradict the “results” on separate machines.
 

DGC1

Member
Location
Scotland
yes dip tests are contradicting the amount of water that's showing up in the traps on the tractors.
same fuel supplier for years
same fuel tank
same tractors
same everything except there is water now collecting in bowls which leads us to suspect that there has been a fuel quality issue but if we have this issue then im sure others will have it.
+30000L been put through the machines in the last two weeks so plenty fuel going through, its tiny quantities of water vrs overall fuel volume but enough to be a problem.
 

DGC1

Member
Location
Scotland
dave,
no all filled from the two main tanks, one of these tanks is 20 years old and it had zero water on the base of it when tested

washed the tractors the same way as always and theres not been a problem before, its showing up across all machines fendts, fastracs, digger last night so it is 100% coming from the tank.
its also not sabotage as if it were the issue would be a lot worse than a few bowls of water + tanks are locked as are the tractor caps

yes never needed water traps on the tanks up to now but now need to get them on

heard of a few folk putting additives in their fuel but I don't see why we should be doing that when we have never had a fuel issue before

dg
 
yes never needed water traps on the tanks up to now but now need to get them on
It’s really sensible insurance to fit a trap or water blocking 10 or 2 micron filter and doesn’t cost anything really compared to the cost of repairs.

If you think it is fuel supply at fault the only thing you can do is to get it lab sampled. It may show up other contaminants or issues with the fuel too.
 

DGC1

Member
Location
Scotland
Do you have a drain bung on the back of the storage?
Theoretically the tank should be mounted with the front slightly higher than the back so any water should drain off

there doesn't seem to be any fuel whatsoever in the base of the tanks, the pink dip test didnt even change colour on the bottom of the stick!
so this is why im suspecting that there is a small percentage in suspension, possibly coming from biofuel mix or simply a tiny difference in fuel quality
still big enough to cause problems on the machine!
 

Little squeak

Member
Location
Lancashire
My uncle had a water in the fuel problem over 30 years ago when contacting the supplier was told "it cannot be us otherwise we would have found out off another customer by now". so he asked who else had fuel delivered with that tanker before and after him. It turned out they had problems too but hadn't thought of their supplier. I would try that line of enquiry even if it just eliminates a posibility.
 

puntabrava

Member
Location
Wiltshire
yes dip tests are contradicting the amount of water that's showing up in the traps on the tractors.
same fuel supplier for years
same fuel tank
same tractors
same everything except there is water now collecting in bowls which leads us to suspect that there has been a fuel quality issue but if we have this issue then im sure others will have it.
+30000L been put through the machines in the last two weeks so plenty fuel going through, its tiny quantities of water vrs overall fuel volume but enough to be a problem.
i would be inclined to not trust the findings of your fuel rep. He would have to be an idiot to state his company have put more water into your tanks than the font in Belfast cathedral uses in a year.
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
I would suspect that water has built up in the bottom of your tank to the point it is now up to the take off point.
A large tank will suddenly release this due to surface attraction. My advice would be to drain a stillage full of fuel off the drain plug and let it settle, then add a Water trap to the outlet, they cost very little
 

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