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So, here's there deal.
Most brands, such as Power Service, Hot Shots, Howes, even my own brand, are simply that - Brands. At most, we buy the base materials from someone else, slap them together, get an EPA license and call it a day. At a minimum, we simply rebrand someone's existing product.
Those base materials, come from a very, very limited number of companies out there. Afton Chemical, DOW, few others.
Majority of fuel additives, however, come from a few specific blenders. Don't believe me? It's public knowledge.
All legal, diesel additives can be found here:
EPA approved diesel fuel additivesSo into fuel additives. You have a few different types of fuel additives:
1. Your 'normal' fuel additive - treats lubricity issues and probably brings up the cetane levels.
- Arguably with today's fuels, you rarely need to bring up Cetane levels but that's an entirely different conversation.
- Also normally has some R&O (rust and oxidation) inhibitors in it.
2. Your 'winter' Fuel additive - Same as above, also adds cold flow improver.
- Reduces gel point / cloud point in SOME diesel fuels, not all.
3. Surfactant based fuel additives - These are kind of new / 'state of the art' ones, that were designed for post Tier 4 (emissions) engines.
- These fuel additives are very good at getting rid of water in fuel.
- Also can have R&O properties, additional cetane, cold flow, etc.
- Down side is, they can create carbon particles by getting scalded in common rail systems running too hot. Thus, could lead to fuel filter issues.
So, in a small diesel engine, do I recommend fuel additives? Yes. I recommend a fuel additive in everything. All the fuel I sell, which will be heading towards 30+ million gallons of diesel fuel this year, will have additive in it.
But it's knowing your fuel. Some fuels cannot take winter fuel additive - it's a waste of money. Why? Honestly it's because this one refinery doesn't strip the wax out of their fuel. So it clouds up at literally around 3F. Most fuel clouds up around -10f. And there is no amount of fuel additive that will stop it from geling, the only choice is to cut it with kerosene. But that's a rare exception.
Should you run biocide? Unless you have a known algae problem - No. If you don't have a algae problem, biocides literally do nothing else. They kill bacteria.
Key to stopping Algae? Keep your tank full. Cycle your cans (or drums, or tanks) often. Keep your fuel stored in a temp and humidity stable area, as well as sealed. (The metal jerry cans with the rubber gaskets are good. Plastic jugs, with EPA 'friendly' tops - are bad. Go figure.) If you have a bulk tank or drum, use a filter on it - 30 micron at least, 20 micron preferred. If you have a bulk tank, make sure you have a filter on your air vent as well. Descant filter.
So, TL;DR
- Yes, run a fuel additive.
- Brand isn't super important when it comes to simply looking at Lubricity / Cetane in summer.
- Brand really isn't important looking at Winter flow either. Most cold flow improvers come from 1 company in Germany.
- If you have a water issue, we can talk about that later.