Thread: Tank Cleaning
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Old 01-05-2019, 07:19 PM
sdemore sdemore is offline
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Tank Cleaning

Need some advice on cleaning my fuel tank.

When I picked up this boat, it had been sitting on a mooring ball for 3 + years and the fuel tank had evaporated dry (along with the rest of the fuel system). The fuel level sensor was completely rusted out, but the tank is Monel and is still like new. The filter is one of those bronze Perko units with the washable hard filter elements. The filter housing had very hard, dried out deposits plugging all of the places it could settle, but it dissolved and cleaned up with carb cleaner. I am ordering a new filter element now, as well as a spare.

I've been having recurring problems with the carburetor fouling. When I opened and drained my filter/water separator today, the clear fuel is now yellow/orange and full of crud (rust particles, dirt, etc). The fuel that is in there is less than 2 months old and there are probably 10-15 gallons in there. I can't pull the tank out of the boat and the biggest opening is the fuel level sensor hole on one end of the tank. I can't figure out a reasonable way of accessing the interior to clean it.

I'm wondering if I could just take the output of the filter, connect an electric fuel pump with a return to the tank filler, and let it run for several hours. With winter here, I could easily find a rough day to keep sloshing the fuel around the tank and let the filter take out the contaminants. I could also throw in a couple of those disposable cheapo inline filters if that would help.

Do you think this would work to clean up the tank? If not, any other suggestions I might try?

Thanks,
Steve
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Steve Demore
S/V Doin' It Right
Pasadena, MD
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