For some years now the Algae-X diesel fuel cleaner has troubled me. These units are extremely popular among the diesel engine crowd and are widely used on a lot of diesel engines. I even recall that Yanmar offered them as an accessory item at one point, and may still, not sure. Well this week, as I mentioned the other day, I've been here in Portland, Oregon conducting an engine certification class for the ABYC and the topic of the Algae-X came up during our session yet again. The question was, what did I think about the effectiveness of this popular device? The photo below shows the unit I'm referring to in case you are not familiar with these nifty little units and where it integrates into a typical diesel fuel system:

I've taken more than a few of these units apart over the years and basically the fuel runs through the unit and gets exposed to some reasonably powerful permanent magnets, that's it. There is really nothing exotic about their design beyond that. I've been told by Algae-X sales people that the magnets essentailly neuter the microbes and stops them from proliferating.

I've questioned the name of the product. Algae requires sunlight to proliferate. If you are getting sunlight into your diesel fuel tank, you have bigger problems than the Algae-X can deal with. OK, so the stuff is not actually algae, but it is in fact microbial growth. These microbes are indeed living organisms, albeit microscopic.

So, my next question is, how much magnetism does it take to have an impact on microbes? I went to the science on this and discovered an interesting white paper discussing this in a medical context. Excerpts from the white paper relevant to this topic follow:

“Electro-therapies utilize low voltage electric micro-currents in the blood and body tissues to disable a wide variety of microbes, including fungi, bacteria and parasites. With this, they have been shown to be remarkably effective with all kinds of diseases and conditions. In addition, very short bursts of a strong magnetic field are used to treat infected lymph glands, tumors and other parts of the body that may contain pockets of pathogenic microbes or cancer cells.”

“ An oscillating magnetic field between 1 and 100 Tesla in strength has been used with similar good results to kill microbes in food samples or living tissue. When treating humans and animals the field strength commonly ranged from 2 to 5 Tesla. One Tesla is equivalent to 10,000 Gauss or 10 K Gauss. In an experiment with mammary cancer tumors in rats after 6 days of treatment 15 out of 18 showed tumor shrinkage while the remaining 3 had a growth interruption.”

So, could the Algae-X folks please respond to this post with some information on how many Tesla of magnetic field strength their relatively small magnets actually deliver? I'm not buying their premise and suggest that the product is one of the most successful marketing gimmicks I've ever seen. I'm not a micro-biologist, but I need somebody to explain the true science behind the Algae-X to me, and provide me with specific data to support the long standing premise that these devices actually have an impact on the microbes that can grow in diesel fuel. My position is based on the above two paragraphs, and the fact that I'm certain the magnets inside an Algae-X device will not generate anywhere near even 1 Tesla of magnetic field strength. Get back to me people, I need help on this.

I'm on the road this week and conducting a seminar in Portland, Oregon for the ABYC addressing gasoline engines. During the class sessions we do sometimes compare and contrast gas vs. diesel and so on.

Well I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love it when I find out about something new (to me) from someone attending one of my classes, and today Ruth turned me on to a home run resource that I hadn't heard of before but is apparently common knowledge here in the Pacific Northwest. So, I've got to share because this is really useful stuff. It's a website: www.boatdiesel.com and it really has use to many different boater types. The site has a forum for Q + A, a series of calculator functions to help determine correct propeller size and pitch based on your boat's actual specifications, horsepower requirement calculator to name several. the site also provides access to manuals, and articles specific to a variety of diesel engines.

The site provides a service, and access to specific areas of interest is  limited by a series of "membership" categories, from the recreational boater level right on up through super professional levels. But that said, even at the consumer level, which costs $25 per year, the amount of knowledge that can be gained is well worth the price. Check it out!

We'll have to wait until tomorrow for my update on "Penta man" my Volvo IO painter. He appears to have finished sanding the unit down and hopefully today will be priming the unit. I'll report as soon as I see fresh paint happening. For now, some exciting news came across my desk yesterday regarding ValvTect gasoline fuel additives. It certainly sounds like good news to me. When you first read the press release that follows your immediate reaction may be that it is self serving on the part of ValvTect. Well it is sort of, but the thing to remember is that they used third party testing to some really tough standards to get their results. This adds a high degree of credibility to their claims. I know I'm going to be trying these additives in my engines this year based on these findings.

Here's the press release:

VALVTECT COMPLETES ETHANOL TESTS

ValvTect Petroleum, the largest supplier of marine grade gasoline and diesel fuel in the nation, announced the results of its most recent laboratory tests to determine the effectiveness of ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment to prevent ethanol-related problems.  The findings determined that ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment was effective to help prevent the three most serious ethanol-related problems that affect boaters: storage stability, corrosion and phase separation.

In an independent laboratory test, using the same ASTM (American Society of Testing Materials) protocol used by gasoline refiners and engine manufacturers, ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment almost doubled the stability (storage life) of the E10 ethanol-blended gasoline.  "This is exceptional performance, especially since one of the industry's most widely used ethanol treatment additives only improved the stability of the E10 by 20% in the same test," said ValvTect president Jerry Nessenson.

ValvTect reports that ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment completely prevented corrosion in a National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) corrosion test, while the competitive product tested did not prevent corrosion.  "Components in an engine's fuel lines, carburetors and injectors are made of a steel alloy that can corrode when using ethanol or even non-ethanol gasoline," said Nessenson.  "There are wide-spread

reports of corrosion that can be avoided with the use of an effective ethanol gasoline treatment, such as ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment."

In the ASTM moisture control test, ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment retained more water and ethanol in the fuel than the untreated E10 or the competitive product.  "This is an important feature that can help prevent phase separation," said Nessenson.

"These test results prove the effectiveness of ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment to help prevent the most common ethanol related problems," said Nessenson.  "Boat owners should not be afraid to use E10 ethanol gasoline if they use an effective ethanol gasoline treatment, such as ValvTect, and apply good fuel system maintenance."

ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment is available in aftermarket containers for boaters that fill-up at gas stations.  It is also used to formulate ValvTect Marine Gasoline that is only available at Certified ValvTect Marinas nationwide. 

          For more information, contact ValvTect Petroleum Products.  800-728-8258.  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ;  www.ValvTect.com.

Yesterday I discussed some of my observations as I watched a fellow preparing his outdrive for a fresh coat of paint. As I mentioned yesterday we need to track his progress over a few days. As of last evening it appears he's done all the sanding he's going to do. As I mentioned he's got sections of the drive right down to bare aluminum, so a proper primer is going to be a must unless he wants to deal with the color coat lifting off the metal sooner than later. A close up of the drive last night clearly shows the bare aluminum.

So now the real question is, what will he use for a primer coat? Will it be one of the zinc based paints I mentioned yesterday, or just some basic automotive primer. I'm betting he'll use the wrong paint. Why? Well in the photo below, right next to where he's working, my spy camera caught a look at a Walmart bag with some paint in it.

I immediately recognized the label on the can showing through the plastic bag. Krylon paint. Not that Krylon doesn't make a good product, but its the wrong stuff for this job.

Tomorrow I'll let you know the final result of this if the fellow shows up today. Its actually sunny for a second day in a row here in Rhode Island, so there's a good chance I'll catch the end of this outdrive ruination today. 

Well the monsoon season here in Rhode Island is finally over (we think) and only about 25% of the state remains underwater. But, today the sun came out and things are finally beginning to hop here at the marina where my office is located. So, I got my spy camera out today and caught this fellow getting ready to do the deed to his outdrive. I like his style, radio blaring, brought the lawn chair along and looking comfortable while he gets ready to do potential damage to his rather expensive Volvo Penta outdrive. We're going to have to keep an eye on this fellow probably through tomorrow because he got my attention with his moves so far, and they're some of the wrong moves.

In the above photo I see things that many people would not give a second thought to, so I have to share so you don't make similar mistakes. First off you can clearly see the blue masking tape around the perimeter of the drive unit. That tells me he's going to be applying some paint to the drive unit soon. He's been sanding away on the drive unit for the last few hours or so and I can see bare aluminum showing in some spots. Issue # 1 is the sanding itself. This drive unit is covered with soluable salts because I know the boat stays right here in salt water. If he is going to apply paint to the drive unit he needs to be certain the soluable salts are removed first if he expects the paint job to last. That means washing the drive thoroughly with a readily available salt neutralizer like Star brite "Salt Off". Sanding without washing first just drives the microscopic salt particulates into the surface of the metal. Eventually they will be the cause of a small osmotic blister that will begin to lift the paint away from the surface. Ultimately the blister will burst and expose the naked metal to the seawater. Corrosion begins right after that. So the process goes this way: Wash with salt neutralizer. Then sand loose paint and scuff surface. Solvent wash to remove all paint dust and traces of oil. Mask off areas where you don't want paint. Prime with a zinc based primer from either Tempo Products, or Moeller. (Zinc Chromate or Zinc Phosphate). Finally, once the primer dries, you can add the color coat, which is readily available for all of the popular outboard and IO drives.

Back to the tape. I can see that historically the boat's anti-foulant paint was brushed right up next to the IO drive housing. This is wrong! There should be a 1" separation between the edge of the anti-foulant and the drive housing. Since many anti-foulants contain cuprious oxide (copper based) we don't want that coming in direct contact with the drive metal, as it can induce corrosion at the interface. So when I look at a masking job for an outdrive, I want to see the tape all the way around the lower portion of the drive unit as well as where you see it in the above photo. Stay tuned, I'll check on this fellow later and see if I learn anything more about what sort of paint etc. he's planning to use.