Howdy,
Ive been following this topic with interest.
After a conversation with Deb about this topic she did a little reserch at work. ( She works for a global fuel company ) and not all is as it should be with all fuel companies all the time.
There is pump diesel and there is commercial diesel.
Commercial diesel is supplied to Navy, mines and other companies that require large stocks of bulk fuel for un interupted supply ie a mine can still operate if road is closed due to rain etc. This fuel has more stabilizer in it and will last 10 - 12 months without cetane degredation or seperation. This fuel upon request can have biocide additive included in it also.
Pump fuel in some cases because it has a high usage rate has little stabilizer in it and a short life of around three months. Most of it is out of the refinery and burned in less than a month so there isnt a problem.
You can smell it when its starting to turn with the pungent waxy smell.
As I said earlier not all companies do it and not all do it all the time.
As Onetrack eluded to there is many standards for the quality of fuel and they out line the min and max values for the particular elements that make up the product however there is no standards for the types of and amounts of chemicals other than those required.
There is nothing to notate shelf life.
We would never know.
After spending the last three years working on the RAN patrol boat fuel problems I can tell you the biggest enemy to thy diesel isnt stale fuel its water. Most of the old jerk pump style engines can tolerate abit of water in the fuel and never have a problem. Fuel standards, ASTM D975 as an example have always accepted 0.05% by volume can be water and its not detrimental to engines however these modern new fangled high pressure common rail engines cannot handle it and problems are starting to show up. MTU Detroit have a max allowable of of 0.02% now on their common rail engines and its going to get tighter than that in years to come. The differeance between 0.05 and 0.02 doesnt seem such a big deal but in filtering world its a huge step and requires some complex kit to achieve it.
Its a molecule size thing so im not going to bore you with that.
Buying some fuel now for Alice scout....go for it. Follow the recomendations of the others with keeping the condensation out of the drums and you'll be fine.
Sorry for ranting again.
Basil
GM Diesels - Converting diesel into noise since 1938.
