Aquafighter, a new solution available worldwide, is designed to keep a boat’s diesel tanks water free and eliminate or greatly reduce the risks created from water/condensation in the fuel tank such as diesel bug, microbial growth, tank corrosion, clogged filters, injector misfire, reduction in fuel efficiency, loss of acceleration, fuel degradation, engine stall and engine failure, company officials said.
The cost of water in diesel fuel adds up very quickly and contributes to most equipment failures, repairs and maintenance costs. The problem is not only due to free water but more commonly from bound or emulsified water that is mixed in with the fuel rather than separated to the bottom of the tank. While some solutions can mitigate free water accumulation, they cannot do much with bound water.
Other solutions force water out of the fuel to the bottom of the tank creating a perfect environment for bacteria growth and diesel bug. However, Aquafighter is the first solution designed to remove and isolate both the free water and the bound water directly in the tank itself. By doing this, Aquafighter both rids the fuel of water and also protects the fuel tank from water, officials said
Aquafighter was developed by DieselCare AS in Kongsvinger, Norway in 2015. Starting in 2017, after extensive laboratory and field testing, it was utilized by a major international fuel company to return millions of litres of waste diesel back into spec quality fuel and also as a leave-in tank maintenance solution to keep their fuel station tanks water-free at all times. As a maintenance solution Aquafighter keeps the fuel better-than-spec at all times, prevents bacteria/bug growth, reduces the need for filter replacement, eliminates the development of degraded/cloudy fuel and significantly reduces the wear on every part from the tank through to the engine, officials said.
“Fuel is often at the bottom of the list of properly managed assets in operations using diesel. However, as a career fuel management professional this should be quite the opposite,” Per Jahnsrud, CEO of DieselCare AS, said in a prepared statement. “The fuel that is allowed to enter your fuel system is a determining factor for how your boat or diesel machine will support your operation. And in most cases, if the machine does not operate properly, the operation does not proceed as efficiently or effectively as it should.”
Steve Schultz, with DieselCare AS, said, “Aquafighter is a simple, inexpensive solution that allows all boat operators from the largest workboat fleets to the weekend boater with a tiny fuel tank to have tank maintenance and fuel quality management superior to the best additives and fuel polishing systems available on the market. When customers use Aquafighter, they find that much of what they currently do to mitigate water and maintain fuel is no longer needed.”
Aquafighter is available in various sizes for tanks with openings as small as 1.5" and capacities ranging from 5 ounces to 10 gals.
“We are fully behind the Aquafighter technology because there are thousands of diesel boats and literally millions of fuel tanks across the country and every one of them is susceptible to water accumulation,” Martijn Noordink of TSE Holland, an Aquafighter partner said. “Water is a fact of life and diesel with water is the root cause of many, if not most, operational challenges.”
“Our goal is to get Aquafighter into every accessible diesel tank and help customers eliminate or greatly reduce their maintenance costs, their annual repair statements and their machine downtime,” David Schoofs of Aquafighter partner, MCS Germany, said.
