[Vwdiesel] Low Sulfer Diesel Blamed for School Closings

[Val Christian]

Well, the temps here are not real cold, about -20C or 0F at night, 
perhaps a little below.   

I haven't had fuel problems, but am running an old load of fuel.

Now, some schools have closed because they can't keep their boilers
running on fuel oil.  kids are sitting in class with jackets on.

My non-media ources confirm that there are fuel problems, and even the
highway crews are seeing problems with fuel.  I figure it's the first 
winter with new formulations...and everyone is getting the bugs out.
With highway, fire, EMS and schools having problems, there will probably
be allot more screaming than a bunch of old men with diesel VWs can 
do, so that's probably a good thing.

Below is one recent article.  Oh, James, we never see -38 here..where
are you at, northern Canada, perhaps?

Val






		Weather Causes School Bus Problems
		<br>
		by Bonyen Lee
		<p>
		Local schools that  struggled to get students to class on time in subzero temperatures Monday had a problem with their transportation fleets.
		<p>
		<a href="http://www.rnews.com/Story_2004.cfm?ID=45899&rnews_story_type=18">Click Here</a> for full story.
	




> 
> Well, while you can't give the news much credence these days, they may 
> be on to something here.
> I've had failure to start twice now, solely from gelled fuel.
> I live in the deep freeze lately, and the thermostat has been 
> exceptionally low the last few weeks, off and on.  Morning starts are 
> -38C, still not as cold as it has been in the past, but cold enough to 
> feel Mr Winter crawling through your woolies when you stand outside 
> futzing with fuel filters.
> 
> I received a delivery of winter fuel at the start of winter... I only 
> asked if they had winter fuel.  Was told yes.  So I had 500 gal dropped 
> on top of maybe no more than 50 gallons that was left in a 1000 gal tank 
> of straight summer fuel.    First time the therm hit -30, it was a  no 
> start.  Fuel was like snot.  great.  Didn't have stanadyne in that 
> particular tank, so get the melt down, kerosene, propane torch, warm 
> duds adn get it going.
> Happened again on Saturday.  -39 in the morning on my way to work at 
> 6:00, well, that was the intent anyway.
> 
> Discussion with the fuel supplier ensued...
> 
> See, I have always filled at the start of winter, with not the most 
> winter blend, but with the sort of winter blend.  It's supposed to be 
> good to -28 in end of oct, -40 for the rest of winter, but I can't wait 
> for the winter blend when the tank is empty...
> Shit, I used to run summer fuel all year round wityh stanadyn in it when 
> it got colder.  The main difference with the fuel now, is that if it sez 
> -20 as a cloud point- that would be it... cloud point means jello.  I 
> dipped my diesel genset tank, and it came out stuck to the stick i globs 
> like semi-solidified jello.  Really throws a wrench in things on the 
> farm, all stuff has summer fuel in it when parked in fall, and if you 
> need to get it going, you're screwed. I tried to pump some summer fuel 
> out of the slip tank, and no dice- it's jello right now.  I've NEVER 
> seen that, ever.  I've seen it snotty thick, but would still pump with a 
> big unfiltered pump.  If I had to rely on a diesel thing that had summer 
> fuel in it, I would walk right now.  That was not the case with the 
> previous sulfurated blend last year.
> -james
> 
> Scott Kair wrote:
> >  	No info on the pour/cloud/clog points of D15, but it was between 5 &
> > 10 below 0F here (central IL) Monday morning, roughly close to your temps. 
> > 	At work we had 3 failures to start among the Diesel fleet, all
> > attributed to a combination of block heaters not being plugged in, low
> > compression, and/or weak batteries. Overall, the failure to start rate among
> > the gassers was significantly higher, although none have block heaters.
> > 	Fuel tank is above ground, but the mechanical staff changed the
> > inline filter last week. We haven't run a cetane check since the D15
> > deliveries began late last summer. Fuel, this being a local government
> > agency, is low bid. 
> > 	My assigned 1990 IH 4900 series dump truck with a 466 series 6 cyl.,
> > re-sleeved in-frame in summer 05, fired right up, and worked all day, but
> > the block heater was plugged in. Fuel filters are of unknown age and
> > mileage.
> > 	I'd be inclined to view the news reports with some skepticism.
> > 	  
> > Scott Kair
> > "Obama for America '08"
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
> > Behalf Of Val Christian
> > Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 9:59 PM
> > To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> > Subject: [Vwdiesel] Low Sulfer Diesel Blamed for School Closings
> > 
> > It's been in the vicinity of -20C at night in the Rochester NY area.
> > At least one district, and one Ambulance company have blamed low sulpher
> > diesel for their problems.
> > 
> > Rush Henrietta school district showed heavily waxed filters, and said they
> > didn't know how their fuel was treated, and possibly extra treatment may
> > have caused the fuel filter clogging.
> > 
> > Spencerport Ambulance "borrowed" some diesel from the Spencerport School
> > District, who's tanks are underground (and therefore warmer).
> > 
> > Anyone know what the claimed cloud point is for ULSD?
> > 
> > Val
> > 
> > ps: Local News agents reporting:  WROC, WHEC, WHAM, Democrat and Chronicle,
> > also, rnews.com (website down)
> > 
> > 
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