During the summer while pulling my trailer it sure would be nice to have a 56 gallon replacement fuel tank (I have a LB). However, during the winter I fill up with 17 gallons every 2 weeks. I'm wondering if with a larger fuel tank, I would run into trouble with either too much water condensing in the tank or the fuel getting too old. If I fill up when the 56 gallon tank is half full, it would be about every 3 weeks to fill up with 28 gallons.I run PFFP Total all the time, so hopefully the water would not be a problem. I suppose I could at Stabil with each tank to help keep the fuel from going bad. Do you guys think I would run into any fuel problems, or are any of you guys running low miles per week during the winter and not having any problems?
Thanks for your input.

P.S. I think this board is the best on the entire Internet and the Chevy/GMC with the Duramax is the best truck. Am I prejudiced; yes, but the truck is still the best.

So is there a reason why you don't just run the tank down to say an 1/8 of a tank? Seems to me you loose the advantage of the extra capacity to fill up evey time you hit half a tank? :confused:

JP

I have the 75 gallon tank on my truck and I love it. I enjoy going a month without having to fill up. I also like the fact that if I go on a long trip, I don't have to fill up until I get to 1100 miles. When I drove from Alaska to California with a 22,000 lbs load, I made it 725 miles and was sweating it when I finally found a station open. When I filled up I put in 70.6 gallons, I figure that about 3 gallons of the tank is for airspace, so that left me with a little over a gallon left in the tank. I have heard people talking about needing 7 - 10 gallons in the tank for the pickup tube to keep fuel in the lines without sucking up air. Well, I can vouch that it did not suck up air and I was in the mountains going through canada at the time. Supertanks is where I got mine. I also use additive in my fuel and have not had a problem yet.
Jeff

Hey Ace,

What additive do you use?

As to this thread, someone told me that you could develop algea in the fuel. Is that correct? Can someone who knows about this please elaborate?

Hey Hauler,
I fill up when at half tank for 2 reasons. I have a half gallon CAT fuel filter hooked up pre OEM so I'm filtering the fuel again after it comes back from the return line. If I filled at 1/8 tank, the fuel wouldn't get filtered quite as much. Is it a big difference, probably not, but it makes me feel better. Next, according to my diesel advisor, its easier on the fuel pump if you fill before you get to a quarter of a tank. Does it make a big difference, probably not, but it makes me feel better. Everything I can do, even in small measure, to prolong my diesel seems worth it to me.
So is everyone saying that fuel won't go bad when filling 28 gallons in a 56 gallon tank every 3 weeks during the winter and there won't be any chance of water condensing and then freezing in the fuel lines or fuel filters during the cold winters???
Thanks.

Next, according to my diesel advisor, its easier on the fuel pump if you fill before you get to a quarter of a tank.
Did he say why it's easier on the fuel pump? That doesn't make sense to me, but I'm no diesel mechanic either. Also, I travel for a living (catch a plane on Monday morning and come home on Friday afternoon) and the second summer I had the truck it sat for a month with a full tank. I had no fuel problems. Then the next winter it sat from end of Nov. to the beginning of Jan., still no fuel problems. I do use Stanadyne fuel additive. I can relate to any ritual that gives peace of mind (heck, I'd wear a red bandana every day if I thought it would make my injectors last to 200K miles:D ), but I would rethink the fill up at 1/2 tank, especially if you go to the larger capacity tank, unless there is a good reason like the "easier on the fuel pump" thing. Again my $.02 worth.
JP

My father inlaw gets a diesel storage tank filled up, once a year. For farm use. He doesn't add anything to it. But he is not aware if the supplier adds something to it. NEVER had a problem. Surprises me, with all that I have read, on this site.