Hans Posted March 5, 2021 Share Posted March 5, 2021 A club member called me what to do. She put 20 ltr diesel in the clean water tank . All clever Advice welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted March 5, 2021 Share Posted March 5, 2021 Hans, Tell your friend that she is not the first to do this! Here is an old thread with a lot of useful info... https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Diesel-In-Water-Tank/38970/ Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted March 5, 2021 Share Posted March 5, 2021 Thats much better than Water in the Diesel Tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulmold Posted March 5, 2021 Share Posted March 5, 2021 Biomagic is referred to in many threads on this subject, they have a new website and web address...... https://biomagicuk.co.uk/biomagic-products/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Chodkowski Posted March 5, 2021 Share Posted March 5, 2021 Sell the van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 BioMagic Water Tank Cleaner is advertised here. https://inter-bio.com/biomagic-water-tank-cleaner.asp These 2014 and 2011 forum threads discussed the diesel-in-water-tank issue https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Hints-and-Tips/fresh-water-tank/36876/ https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Diesel-in-the-water-tank-/22723/ Some of the links may be out of date and the Auto-Sleepers link needs forum registration to view. Another treatment is described here https://simplegreen.co.uk/index.php/simplegreen-co-uk/simple-green-blog/76-what-to-do-if-you-ve-put-diesel-in-the-water-tank and there are plenty of online comments https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=motorhome+diesel+in+fresh+water+tank&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 This (marine) one mentions BioMagic positively https://truce.nz/tips-n-tricks/removing-diesel-in-fresh-water-tanks/ 20 litres is a lot of diesel and the filler hose leading to the water tank will have been contaminated as well as the interior of the tank. Hopefully the problem was realised immediately after the diesel fuel had been put into the tank rather than being unnoticed and water then been drawn from the tank. In the latter case diesel woulfd have found its way into the water system’s pipework and, if hot water had been drawn off, have also entered the water boiler. (For the record, Hans lives in Belgium. So it’s likely that the club member he mentions also lives there - or at least in Continental Europe not the UK.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinM50 Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 She will never git rid of the taste and smell no matter what she uses. Only solution is a new tank, piping and probably a pump. Caktanks will supply cheaper and quicker than M/H dealer. It's going to be c€500 to fix it. Don't know if insurance will cover it? http://www.caktanks.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajohno Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 I agree with the above to clear it properly a new tank and fill line at least is required or the tank can never be used for drinking water again. in the least I would do this (having been in similar situation with cross contamination in ships FW tanks) A removing the diesel might be easier if there was some water already in the tank and the van hadn't been driven far to create a large interface of water /diesel mix. it needs to be sucked out from the top' not drained or more of the tank will be contaminated, then use oil soak pads used for spills to remove any remaining fuel oil (they do not suck up water) fill the tank completely with water and keep using the oil spill pads. suck the water out via the filler. Now the tank needs to be chemically cleaned and at least the filler line replaced. flush through with plenty of water over a week or two, it will eventually clear but wouldn't trust it for drinking for a couple of months.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocsid Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 I completely agree there is no really satisfactory "cleaning it up" solution, only varying degrees of replacement depending on where any trace of diesel oil got. Potentially a very big bill, so one I would exhaust every possible insurance claim angle, before picking the bill up. That is what we insure for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weldted Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 I have used Biomatic on four vans for customers it takes a while and may require two treatments, this is ok if you haven’t used the taps etc. Clean it out use it for everything but drinking, the taste will eventually fade but always remain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted March 6, 2021 Author Share Posted March 6, 2021 That is correct Keithl. On my Range Rover diesel there is a safety block in case of the petrol nose entering. You have to reset whit yellow plastic strap. I support about 150 motorhomes on about 400 dogs in agility on farmers land to make it happen. The same in the UK where it was invented. Man In the bar and woman outside playing whit their dogs. Improvement and better markings need to be done on this. The tank was sucked out and a product was introduced by a belgian dealer which i do not have the name.I have a lot of experience of cleaning tanks on oil tankers. This must be done be cause the crude oil attacks the walls and is corrosive. They need also to be degassed. Then they go ballast them whit sea water Half height for the the next load. And inert gas pumped in to prevent explosions. So my idea is salt water 70 deg C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 Weldted Did you mean "Biomatic" or "BioMagic"? I notice that a US "Bio-Matic" product exists, http://ultra-cheminc.com/shopexd.asp?id=164 but I'm not sure if it would be appropriate for cleaning a diesel-contaminated water tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted March 6, 2021 Author Share Posted March 6, 2021 She called me. After putting in the diesel she looked at the dashboard and no diesel. She understand what went on and tapped off the diesel to ground. No pumps used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 Hans - 2021-03-06 2:54 PM She called me. After putting in the diesel she looked at the dashboard and no diesel. She understand what went on and tapped off the diesel to ground. No pumps used. That was lucky depends how assessable the tank is mine has a 6" screw off lid I'd get some water soluble degreaser like Muc Off or similar give the inside of tank a good coating then wash it out repeating a few times finally using some thing like Puriclean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weldted Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Biomagic https://inter-bio.com/biomagic-water-tank-cleaner.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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