Anti gel - at what temp does everyone start adding

[Chance575]

Supposed to hit freezing here over night next week. At what point does everyone start adding anti gel to the fuel. Discuss

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[OnlyOne]

The winter fuel already has the additive. Unless you live in Alaska I probably wouldn’t worry about it.

 

[Tacos]

Depends on where you live and where you buy your fuel at... I live in Iowa we get some ridiculously cold winters here. I can tell you I have seen the pumps frozen at Casey's at -11 air temp and seen the pumps still working at Kwik Star/Kwik Trip at -34 air temp.... It has more to do with where you get you fuel then anything... That being said I only run Kwik Star and I still dose it with Power Service when the lows get to -5 or colder.. keep either a bottle box diesel 911 or a litter of pure kerosene in you vehicle just in case you do gel up

 

[Gladman]

Depends on where you live and where you buy your fuel at... I live in Iowa we get some ridiculously cold winters here. I can tell you I have seen the pumps frozen at Casey's at -11 air temp and seen the pumps still working at Kwik Star/Kwik Trip at -34 air temp.... It has more to do with where you get you fuel then anything... That being said I only run Kwik Star and I still dose it with Power Service when the lows get to -5 or colder.. keep either a bottle box diesel 911 or a litter of pure kerosene in you vehicle just in case you do gel up

And yet, I have added nothing to the system on this 3.0 Ecodiesel and run it including cold starts at -35 C (which is is very close to -35 F btw). Unless the diesel suppliers are not treating their diesel at the refinery load out point in the US like they do in Canada, you have no need for further additives. I don’t know what the quality component of diesel distributed in the US is, but the last time I saw a diesel engine vehicle have gelling problems in Canada was 1978 and it was -40 F.

 

[BuckeyeButch]

I've owned several diesels over the years. I only use an additive when it gets below -0.

 

[spectre6000]

Only if you're on a road trip in winter headed somewhere much colder than where you started within a single tank of fuel. Like others have said, it's in the pump. Just buy from a reputable station that gets a reasonable amount of traffic and don't worry about it. Additives aren't necessary. I never added anything to any tank of diesel, and never had a problem. The only exception is older diesels that aren't set up for the modern ULS fuel. All you do is make sure you get a biodiesel blend, and you're golden. I read a study a while back that showed biodiesel to be one of the better, if not best, lubricity additives, and courtesy of the RFS Act (I think that's what it was called), it's in pretty much all on-road diesel you can buy in more than enough concentrations.

 

[IOS-XR]

I've owned several diesels over the years. I only use an additive when it gets below -0.

Same here. We did have some issues a couple years ago when it got down to -15f with some decent snow. The highway trucks somehow got some biodiesel that froze up. County only had one functioning plow truck for two days.

This will be the first winter for our Gladiator diesel. I believe the gas stations around here are already switchping to the winter blend.

 

[WXman]

I use Hot Shots EDT year round. I'm 99% sure that it includes an anti-gel additive, among many other things.

I will say that our retailers switch to winterized fuels in October of each year. Last winter, even using the winterized diesel, my new compact tractor had serious gelling issues at temperatures between 10 and 25 degrees fahrenheit. I ended up having to use a concentrated anti-gel to keep the tractor running to handle the snow storms.

So, I wouldn't trust the winterized fuel by itself to protect your fuel system on a diesel pickup. What worries me is that if the fuel freezes on the truck, that means the lines, filter, injection pump, and everything else will also be frozen. Do you know how long it would take to thaw everything out? Not to mention risking damage to a $10k high pressure fuel system.

I will also mention that not all anti-gel additives are created equal. Some brands are pure garbage. The video Project Farm did on this topic was very eye opening.

 

[kevman65]

If it's parked outside around the clock, sustained temps below 0 and wind thrown in, you're better off to have an additive in the fuel.
Once the entire system has set up from the cold, it's going to take time and effort to get everything thawed out again.

Refineries may add additives to diesel fuel, but they send that fuel all over the place and you don't know if it has enough for your specific location. You also don't know the conditions the fuel is stored in before it hits your tank. Diesel will pick up water easily and carry it with it.

 

[Courtsm3]

My old 2002 Cummins never added anti gel at our Canadian pumps, just 911 cetane boost/lube as ULSD doesn’t lubricate the fuel system as well as previous diesel fuel did. 416,000kms no issues.

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