Red sludge in the bottom of fuel tank

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08-03-2018, 11:09 PM

joem

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Red sludge in the bottom of fuel tank

I picked up a IBC tote new, so it was clean and perfect and I use it to transport diesel to my rigs, genset and home heating tank in the winter. I always buy green non dyed on road diesel and not home heating oil- Oregon uses B5 blend and the tote sat idle for a year- what on earth is this on the bottom of it??!!?? - smells exactly like old school turpentine (tree pitch) and is extremely sticky! The entire tote smells like pine pitch, extremely odd!

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08-08-2018, 12:29 PM

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My guess would be red dye for off road fuel not mixed well

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08-08-2018, 03:08 PM

KATOOM

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Likely thats whats called asphaltenes and is caused by overly hot diesel fuel and if it can make it up the fuel line it will plug up the fuel filter. I understand this is becoming more of a problem with the introduction of ULSD too.