Clean Fuels of Indiana

Preventive maintenance, these two words are echoing across the fuel industry like a rock slide. As more and more people become aware of the costly expenses associated with an, "out of site, out of mind" policy toward fuel storage tanks preventive maintenance is the only logical alternative.

As fuel providers we worry about the image of our c-stores, parking lots, bathrooms, service trucks and even our employees. Why do we worry about these things? The answer is quite simple, because the reputation, bottom line, and very business depend upon it. We know that if customers are not satisfied then they will go somewhere else to achieve their satisfaction. Along this same line of thinking why is it that we don't seem to show the same concern toward the well being of our fuel storage tanks?

As human beings we have a natural tendency to overlook issues that are not causing us grief right now. Take a moment and think, when was the last time you thought about your fuel tank? What is going on inside of your tanks below the concrete? How is the tank wall integrity holding up? Contrary to what some believe the inside of your tank is not a sterile environment that you can seal up and never look at again.

We all want to assume that the product going into the customer's vehicles and our own vehicles is pure fuel and the best fuel. Unfortunately we are finding that a lot of the fuel we are pumping into our cars today is less than the best. Some major oil companies are leading the way to provide a very clean product from the tank to the pump. They are accomplishing this by implementing aggressive preventive maintenance programs.

It is true that most storage tanks, be them above ground or below ground, contain some amount of contaminate. This contaminate is not always at a level to be considered harmful to the consumer. Yes, I am saying that some contamination in your fuel tank is acceptable. What I am not saying is that low level contamination should be ignored. Low level contamination can become high level contamination and cause you a problem very quickly.

It is surprising how little people really know about the tanks on their property. I cringe inside every time I ask a storage tank owner if I may sample their tanks and they point to a back wall where a tank monitoring system is and say, "That thing on the wall tells us about the inside of the tank." A lot of t.m.s are near the middle of the tank and are hardly ever in the right location to detect your tanks trouble spots. I immediately follow up with a series of key fuel contamination questions. "Are you having any trouble with your fuel, any trouble at all?"

The first reply I get is not usually a surprise and falls in with what I said earlier about preserving our reputation, it goes something like this. "No, we have clean fuel." Now I know that this conclusion can be backed by a print out from the tank monitoring system, (t.m.s) showing zero water. This is all our subject needs to justify his statement.

I will continue with my questions to see if indeed this site has a preventive maintenance program or if it's experiencing any trouble. "Have you experienced downed pumps and tank equipment? Frequent filter changes more than once or twice a year? Complaints about lost engine power, plugged fuel filters or acceleration hesitation? Do you ever experience slow pump rates?" This last question always reminds me of a business professor whose lectures all seemed to stem from the belief that we were all greedy, impatient grouches intent on having our needs met now. "People want what they want, when they want it, right now!" I don't know how many times I have been at a site and witnessed a consumer come into the store red faced, mean mouth the poor girl behind the counter, pay for his fifty cents worth of fuel which took five minutes to pump and swear off the station for life. I personally believe that my professor was wrong that we are all this way, but it seems that the majority can behave in this fashion if the situation is right.

Now I begin getting some stubborn yes answers and it becomes evident that this particular fuel storage tank owner has convinced themself of four falsehoods. First, the monitor is infallible and can be solely trusted. Secondly, his fuel is clean enough. Thirdly, these complaints are purely coincidental and just part of the fuel business. Fourthly, these so called problems are in no way connected to a contaminated fuel storage tank. Nothing could be further from the truth. These problems are directly related to a contaminated fuel supply.

If our subject, allows me to bottom sample the tank, nine times out of ten it will contain something like this; water, black ooze, algae, rust, dirt, unknown substances and dirty fuel. For this example our subject will not show much concern and explain that, "All tanks are dirty like this and the pump pipe is eight inches from the bottom of the tank, and this stuff would never get to the vehicles pumping gas." This statement is true and false both at the same time. Will black ooze stream from the pump and seven gallons a minute into the customer's tank? Probably not, in some cases it has, but it's not likely. I will touch on this issue further into the text but first we need to talk about sampling in more detail.

If low level contamination is discovered through bottom sampling the fuel storage tank needs to be sampled again every three, six to 12 months depending on the sites history. Sticking your tank as a means of contamination detection is not acceptable. Sticking your tank with water paste is important for the detection of water but is often done improperly. What good does it do to stick the tank at the fill if deliveries are constantly pushing the water away?

I have sampled thousands of fuel storage tanks and what I discovered was that many are slanted toward the submersible turbine pump or S.T.P from right where the product is pumped from the tank to the consumer. Yet all across the nation tanks are being stuck at the fill. In defense of these, "fill stickers" it is not practical to pull the S.T.P every time to stick the tank. Keep in mind that "sticking" the tank will not detect particulate, acidic sludge, or other unknown liquids which could be more harmful than water.

The problem is that today's engines are becoming more and more intolerant to any type of contamination. Most engine damage is caused by particles measuring in at 10 to 20 microns, or just under one thousandth of an inch. Most pump filters are rated at 10 micron on gasoline pumps and 30 microns on diesel pumps. Some filters are designed to catch water and actually work quite well so the odds are that consumers will not get enough water to instantly shut down the vehicle, but it has happened. In all fairness, not all moisture found in a vehicles fuel tank comes from your hometown station. If you don't keep your vehicle tank full it will produce condensate, and in turn rust. Filters at the pump remain an absolute necessity but cannot do the job alone.

Filters pumping from a tank with low level contamination should only be changed once or twice a year. More frequent filter changes mean that more contamination is making it to the pump, increasing the chances of damage to a customers vehicle, wearing out vital parts of your equipment on its way, just waiting to cost you money.

Microbiological contamination is entirely a different threat than particulate. This type of contamination will not wear your equipment out; it will eat it alive like a ravenous animal. The acids produced by these "bugs" will break down fiberglass polymers and steel tank walls. I have pulled s.t.p's that were pitted so badly that the entire stand had to be replaced for fear of it falling apart. (check out our link on H.U.M. bugs.)

Now back to our hard case example, after being presented with all of this information. At this point our sample person should be seeing a problem but maybe not convinced that something should be done outside of the traditional methods they may be used to. Scratching their head they look at me and say, "My cousin has a hand pump, I'm going to have him pump some of this off the bottom into a couple drums." After hearing this I have to take a moment of silence and reflect back to the number of times I have sampled tanks that had undergone this procedure and found them to be filthy. If this person ran the world we would still be burning whale oil in our homes for light and heat.

You cannot remove enough contamination from your fuel storage tank to correct the neglect your tank has experienced over the years without aggressive agitation of the product, period. A one inch copper tube attached to a pump running at 5 gallons a minute will not correct the situation. Another route is to totally empty the tank, enter it and scrap and scrub the walls down. This avenue is dangerous and costly, if you are considering this perhaps something is seriously wrong with your storage tank and an integrity test is called for.

Here are some interesting numbers representing a worse case scenario for a 10k tank that has been neglected for a number of years.

After our test subject has been presented with these numbers he may still hang on to a shred of doubt and give me this excuse, "These are not my tanks, I only own the station." I hate to break it to you but that wont hold up. Let's look at it this way, who owns the fuel in the tank? Who will the customers come to when they are dissatisfied? Who will directly lose the business when people say your site sells dirty fuel? The public is becoming more aware of fuel contamination issues and they see you as being responsible. After all you did sell the fuel to them.

A lot of these costs can be avoided by practicing good housekeeping techniques. Keep spill containment wells clean and free of both water and fuel. Make sure all seals are tight and functioning correctly. Sample your tank at the s.t.p access every 3, 6 to twelve months. If contaminate is reaching a harmful level, clean the tank. Chemically treat your fuel storage tank and get your site enrolled into a preventive maintenance program. If you own fuel and it runs equipment or vehicle this applies to you. Do not every again, as long as you live fall victim to an easily prevented fuel problem.