Rust in gas tanks

koviak · Post by **koviak** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:44 am

Hey all, I have a 1989 10 meter mc with twin 125 gal. tanks. Ran over the weekend and lost power on one engine. Did manange to get started to get home. Sunday pulled filters and dumped out to check, rust settled to the bottom of the bucket. Any suggestions on cleaning out tanks ? I put gas in almost every weekend to keep it fresh and use Star-tron additive in fuel.

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 8:53 am

Your tanks are galvanized steel? If so you may be getting rust on the inside of the tank. There are previous posts about this, as well as advice on pumping out the tank. My single tank was a 75 gal galvanized steel one that started rusting on the inside. It got so bad I was concerned about it rusting through and dumping gas in the bilge. I replaced it with a 55 gal polypropelene (plastic) tank and have had no rust issues (obviously)....of course I did pump a few gallons of water into the tank one day....but that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish.....

LSP · Post by **LSP** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:32 pm

Do tell Randy ....interested minds want to know.

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:03 pm

If the tank are rusting out inside its time to get new tanks . There really is no other good choice.

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:42 pm

Uhhhhh.....well, it was a case of mistaken identity......on the part of the water, not me........Just so happens I had BOTH fills open and they are next to each other (GREAT IDEA!!!!!). I was filling the water tank AND the gas tank and the stupid water thought it was gas and spilled over into the gas tank. Luckily it wasn't the other way around. That's my story and I'm stickin to it! Lesson learned the hard way.

koviak · Post by **koviak** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 4:39 pm

Tanks are aluminium. Never seen one rust out but I have seen corroded exterior due to placement in the bilge. Don,t know where rust is from (brown as aluminium is more of a white powder). Has anyone used a service to polish there fuel ? 125 gal. side mount tanks are not coming out until I repower ( years down the road ).

1967 seavoyager · Post by **1967 seavoyager** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 8:54 pm

Probably the red sandy residue that separates from the fuel, it is a dirt based product after all. Sounds like you need to wash out your tanks & use spin on filters for the best filtration.