Fuel tank drain off.

martin1314

Hi guys, 
I suspect there may be some water in my fuel tank and I'm looking to drain off a gallon or 2 just to make sure and give me some comfort. 
The boat has been sitting in storage for some time now and is getting moved into the water next week. And has a half a tank of petrol in it. 
Your thoughts and methods would be very much appreciated please. 

Martin

Willhound

Any water would be located in the bottom part of the tank as fuel is lighter and will be sitting on top. My mechanic has a rig that is a fuel pump with battery clips and a long thin piece of gas line, with a thin wire attached to it so he can get it down the filler neck, and into the bottom of the tank. And only used with a lot of ventilation.
But if you're only looking to remove a gallon or two, unless it came out pure water, I wouldn't worry much about it. I'll let the mechanics on here kick me in the keester if they don't agree, but in all my outdoor power equipment, particularly boats, I've been using a product called Startron for many years and it seems to help, particularly since even a lot of marina gas has ethanol in it now too.

randy56

If you have to remove it you can buy a 12 volt electric fuel pump and 1/4 inch rubber gas line. Then you can fish the rubber line into the tank then pump into 55 gal barrel to discard. does not take to long. 

aero3113

There are additives that you can put in to help get rid of the water.

martin1314

Hi guys, thanks for the advice. I'm trying not to take all the petrol out as I have limited space and equipment.
What additives can you put in and are they okay and any good...... 

Martin

Willhound

As mentioned above, I use Startron http://www.starbrite.com/startron
I don't know about their claims of increased mileage, but it has a built in stabilizer and is supposed to help absorb any water back into the gasoline so that it can be safely burnt off in small amounts, instead of one big gulp of water into the filters etc.
Ok, I think, for just regular day to day condensation etc.
But if you suspect that you actually have an accumulation of water in the tank, drain the bottom of the tank anyway, as per the suggestions above.
An easy test is to get whatever pump you can down into the bottom portion of the tank and suck out a gallon or so. Take some of that and put it in a glass jar with a lid, give it a shake and then let it sit for a bit. If any appreciable amount of water you'll see it separate out.