My name is Johnny Bradford, and I am here to talk about what can go wrong if you skip fuel polishing. First, what is fuel polishing? Fuel polishing is a procedure that we do where we remove the water from the fuel. There is a big misconception that fuel polishing filters the fuel. Where it does that secondarily, the main purpose of polishing is to remove water from the fuel system.

Now, water is introduced into the fuel system due to a condensation effect that happens inside the fuel tank of a diesel engine. Not all the fuel that goes into the engine gets burned. A portion of that lubricates and cools injectors, and that, in turn, goes back into the tank. When you take something hot and you cool it down, the air surrounding it condensates, and it literally rains inside the tank. So that is where the water gets introduced into the fuel system.

The two main reasons why you want to fuel polish your system is that when water is introduced into your diesel fuel tank, it provides a breeding ground for algae to grow in, and in turn that algae create sediment that can be suspended in your fuel system which can get into your fuel filters and clog them. If it bypasses the fuel filters, it can get into your injection pump or your injectors.

The other main reason why you want to polish your fuel is that water does not have the same lubrication qualities as diesel fuel does. If the water bypasses your filters and gets into your engine, your injection pump and your injectors can be seized by that just due to the lack of lubrication qualities of the water that’s inside your engine.

I have some samples of good fuel versus dirty fuel. So, if you look at the good fuel, it’s nice and clear. You can see through it, and everything is good. There are no yuckies on the bottom, and the yuckies is a technical term; nothing on there. If you look at this bad fuel or dirty fuel, I should say just because it’s dirty also doesn’t mean that it’s bad. Dirty fuel can be cleaned and reused. The best way to look at this or the best way to test your fuel is to have Duthie Power come out and do a fuel sample and to ascertain if the fuel is of good quality to be used in your piece of equipment.