The Hybrid Approach to Fuel Care, developed by Bell Fuel & Tank Services, promotes the idea that you need a three pronged approach to fuel care in order to best solve and prevent problems. Chemical, mechanical, and testing. Testing often seems to be the forgotten child of the fuel care triad. Yet, it’s an essential element of the process that comprises best practice fuel maintenance and care.
People have no problem considering fuel additives to solve problems. And fuel polishing (i.e. mechanical maintenance of fuel and the inside of storage tanks) is just as well regarded. Fuel testing? Often it’s met with a yawn and treated as an afterthought. This is a mistake. We're here to make sure you don't fall for it.
Fuel Testing Shouldn't Be An Afterthought
Fuel testing should not be an afterthought compared to fuel treatment or polishing because only fuel testing does these important things
- It tells you the actual condition of your fuel
- It tells you if the fuel treatment you did improved the condition of the fuel (and by how much)
- It tells you if the fuel polishing or filtration you did improved the condition of the fuel (and by how fuel)
Without fuel testing, all of these end up just being guess work. Guess work may be fine for some areas. But not for fuel.
which tests are the important ones?
There’s a broad landscape of tests out there. For the uninitiated, the whole scene can be overwhelming.
To know things down, there is a more narrowly defined slate of fuel tests that can tell you important things about the condition of your fuel (and whether any actions you took for the fuel did what you wanted them to).
The most important tests are the ones that tell you whether the fuel meets legal specifications for its properties. These are the ASTM D-975 tests - density, flash point, cetane value, lubricity, etc.
Other important tests tell you about the state of the fuel with respect to microbial contamination and even stability.
Fuel testing is essential to best practice fuel and tank management because it is the only way to know if your fuel (or tank) has a problem or is heading towards one. The hybrid approach's fuel testing element gives you an objective window into your fuel's condition at the exact time you need to know.
