A youthful Charlie in his Army days

Thinking of changing your fuel?

News

02/18/2021

I was contacted on LinkedIn the other day, with an interesting question:

“Have you got any experience running Perkins 1506 engines on MGO and any issues with injectors or performance? What oil would you recommend and what are the expected service intervals?”;

I asked Charlie – one of our project engineers – to give him a call and talk through what the application was and provide some advice.

As it turned out, these engines were destined for the Antarctic, and the operator wanted to know if they could use marine gas oil instead of standard diesel to run their 4 brand new engines.

From a logistical, cost and storage perspective you can see this makes absolute sense, but does it make sense technically?

Well, that’s where it gets a little more complicated…

Charlie has experience of alternative fuelling from when he was in the military…

A youthful Charlie in his Army days

A youthful Charlie in his Army days

They implemented a Single Fuel Policy using aviation fuel for all of their diesel engines.

The result?

The older engines faired well, but in some of the newer engines, with closer tolerances within the fuel system, problems started to emerge with starting and running.

The reason why is likely that aviation fuel does not have the same lubricating properties as diesel, which was causing wear within the fuel system.

Now, in this case, marine gas oil is thicker than diesel so there could be other consequences that would need investigating before deciding to use it, such as:

  • This heavier oil will contain more contaminants which may cause wear inside the fuel system
  • Being thicker, it may not flow quickly enough to keep the fuel system internals properly supplied or lubricated. This will be especially true given the ambient temperatures in Antarctica
  • May affect the spray pattern on the injectors which may cause loss of power or excessive smoke

The outcome of this call is that the operator now has more information on what the results could be of using this alternative fuel source, and can make an informed decision after testing before the engines are installed in their final location.

If you need any advice and need to speak with an expert, get in touch we are happy to help.

Signup to receive our newsletter

Simply enter your details below to be kept up to date

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Engineer Resource Vol. 2 is now out for FREE download. Get your copy now!

A collection of articles to help you improve engine reliability, performance and safety specifically for engineers, brought to you by Bartech Marine. Simply enter your email below to get instant access.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By completing this form you are agreeing to our privacy policy.

Freeguide
free engineer resource guide
Top