# Water in gas tank



## True Blue (Nov 25, 2008)

What is the easiest way to remove water from a gas tank? i pulled my fuel filter off and about half of what came out was water. Does that mean My tank is full of water or does that mean the filter is catching the water before it reaches the motor?


----------



## delta dooler (Mar 6, 2008)

I would guess that it means you have alot of water in your tank, and your filter is catching it before it reaches your motor,.

you can either pull the tank, (probably not an option) or access it where your sending unit , or fill hose is and try and pump it dry, 

adding fuel stabilizer, alcohol, methanol, or ethanol is NOT going to help. I went thru the same thing with my boat, once you get all of the water/fuel out, try and keep it topped off when not in use, this will keep condensation to a minimum, and hopefully will not have any future problems.

water could be getting in tank from condensation inside tank, maybe your vent is on outside of hull , and wave water is getting in that route. But if its an older boat I would bet that its just condensation that has built up over time.,


----------



## DOUBLE "D" & LV (Oct 2, 2007)

You may not have a lot of water in the tank because the filter was only half full of water. You can put another filter on and reprime the system, recheck the filter to see if new water is in it. If there is no water or very little, you may only have some water in the tank. If there is no water, you can change the angle of the boat a little and reprime again to see if water is in it. If no water then the filter got what was in the tank for the most part. Ater the first short run in the water, I would recheck it. The water sinks to the bottom of the tank and filter, so it will get picked up pretty quick. If you have a lot of water, then I would pump the tank until you do not get any more.


----------



## Turtlebait (Dec 3, 2008)

Let us not forget the all important, yet woefully neglected, O-ring on the gas filler cap! - Ric


----------



## tyler0421 (Jan 10, 2008)

I am having this problem now. I was told by someone that there is a company that come to you and suck all of it out filter out water and whatever else is in the fuel and put the filtered fuel back in your tank when complete.. Anyone ever heard of a company that does this?


----------



## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

If you get water in your tank just pumping it with the pickup line WONT get all the water out. The pickup isn't on the bottom of the tank and a lot of water will remain if just pumped with the pickup line. You must remove the tank sending unit and rig a sparkproof pump up with a long enough tube to reach into the lowest spot on the downside of the tank then you can pump the water and crap all the way out of the tank. After you have a water free tank keep it topped off all the time after using it and you should be problem free unless you have a leak into the tank. One of the worst spots for water getting into a tank is the vent when underway most vents will back flood when salt water gets splashed on them. My remedy for that was to put a second cover over the original vent with the hole facing the opposite or off to one side from the original one.


----------



## X-Shark (Oct 3, 2007)

All good Info. 



Do you have a Racor filter with a sediment bowl on it?














This allows for bleeding off the water.



Should you have a major problem with a LOT of water? Draining it and running it thru a Racor filter funnel will separate the water from the fuel before it goes into your container that your draining it to.



http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...RL=true&storeNum=6&subdeptNum=68&classNum=219
















Remember water in fuel can be the devil. Killing a motor or putting you in harms way.



I'd start with the Racor fuel filter above so you can monitor it closely. If it persists in having water in it, then go to the plan for draining the tank.


----------



## Fishermon (Oct 19, 2007)

+1 on checking the O-ring on the gas filler cap...Had that issue before. A Racor water fulel separator is a must and in fact I'm considering in installing a secondone after reading all this ethanol causing problems to fiberglass thanks and rubber hoses (especially on older boats). The Shallow Water angler mag. april/may 09 has an article on the whole deal.Also you can check this web site for further refrence. http://fueltestkit.com/


----------



## John Becker (May 2, 2009)

Denatured (think that's spelled right) alcohol. Add it to the tank, it mixes with the water and will allow it to burn up with the fuel.


----------



## Deeplines (Sep 28, 2007)

Two things. 

If you live on the west side of town I bought a pump last month that you can pump gas with. You can pump it out with that,which will enable you to get to the bottom of your tank where the water is. 

2nd - I called the gas filter company you are talking about a few years ago. It's cheaper to just pump out the gas in your boat into 5 gal. cans and use it in you vechile. Then put new gas in your boat. 

All this saying of course, you pump out the water 1st then use the gas in your car and make sure your tank is clean before putting new gas in.


----------



## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

> *John Becker (5/23/2009)*Denatured (think that's spelled right) alcohol. Add it to the tank, it mixes with the water and will allow it to burn up with the fuel.


If you go that route make sure is pure (100%) alcohol or you'll just be adding more water to the tank.


----------

