How long for water and diesel to seperate?

[Radshooter]

Last night before going to work I drained a couple inches of diesel from the filter canister into a clear plastic bottle to check for water contamination. When I got home from work this morning, there was no sign of water whatsoever in the bottom of the bottle.

Is 12 hours enough time for seperation, or do I need to let it sit longer? So far it looks good, but I want to be sure.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[steved]

Diesel and water don't "mix"... you should have seen "beads" of water in the bottom of the bottle if there was any... or a distinct layer if there was a lot of water. You should have seen it within a few minutes even if you shook it up... so it sounds like you don't have water...



I only get a couple beads of water in 500 miles of driving usually.



steved

 

[WDixon27]

in extreme cases of water contamination diesel will get milky white, but generally they stay separated with the water on the bottom in little beads

 

[steved]

in extreme cases of water contamination diesel will get milky white, but generally they stay separated with the water on the bottom in little beads

Usually to get to the milky white, you need some sort of agitation/mixing... with no agitation/mixing, it will settle out. And generally, that's a lot of water!!



steved

 

[WDixon27]

our big forkllift caught rain the tank is built in and the drain probably hasn't been able to be removed in over 20 years, fortunatly the old 3-71 didn't seem to mind it too bad if i kept the filters drained

Usually to get to the milky white, you need some sort of agitation/mixing... with no agitation/mixing, it will settle out. And generally, that's a lot of water!!



steved

 

[Radshooter]

Thanks guys. I am OK on the water. No sign of any beads at all. The only reason I checked it was I filled up at a different station last week than my usual place.

Do I need to be worried about the few flakes of sediment in the bottom of the bottle? I hope the fuel I drained for my sample was PRE-filter, not POST-filter with that much sediment in the bottle. There were only 4 or 5 small flakes, but still... .....

Thanks again,
Steve

 

[PC12Driver]

When we fuel the plane (Jet-A, close to the weight of diesel), I'll wait about 30 minutes for the water to settle out before I sump the tanks. In the days of flying pistons I could sump right after fueling and clear the water, since the weight difference between avgas and water is greater than jet fuel and water.



The drain on the canister is pre-filter. Don't sweat the flakes since the filter will catch 'em.