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Peter Jones contacted The Green Blue to ask if we had any information or advice about how to store used fuel collars on board without causing the boat to smell of fuel. He suggested that modern less permeable plastic films may be more effective at keeping in the smell.
Unfortunately The Green Blue could find no information to confirm this and so last year Peter conducted his own experiment to find out what was the most effective way of keeping the smell in. Peter Says:
"Once the fuel collar has absorbed some diesel there is a risk of it making everything smell of diesel in whatever space it is then stored. Anything made of polythene will be unsatisfactory to prevent this, since although polythene is completely impervious to water, organic molecules readily migrate into and then through it. The only difference between using a heavy duty bag or typical polythene food container will be the time it takes for the diesel to diffuse through the polythene and to reach the outside."
Name: Peter Jones
Occupation: Enjoys cruising!
Reason for test: To see if he could make using a fuel collar an acceptable ption to him or any other boat owner.
Desired result: To store a used collar without any fuel smells
Product: Fuel collar, cooking bags, polythne bags
Description: Fuel collars are designed to sit around the fuel nozzle when filling your boat to help prevent fuel entering the water. Once used they need to be stored carefully and when finished with disposed of as hazardous waste.
Peter did the experiment using the following method:
"I
bought some Sainsbury's Multi-Purpose Cooking Bags (the packet doesn't say what they are made of but obviously they are not polythene, which would melt). I put a small amount of diesel on two pieces of kitchen roll and put one in a cooking bag and one in a (new) polythene bag. I tied them securely with a wire tie and put each into a separate empty syrup tin and put the lids on. Today (2 months later) I opened the tins. There was a slight smell of diesel in the tin with the cooking bag but when I took the bag out I could hold it close to my nose without detecting more than a very slight trace of diesel. On opening the other tin there was a fairly strong diesel smell and when I removed the polythene bag from the tin I did not put it near my nose as the smell was fairly strong when it was a foot away and there was a film of diesel on the outside, sufficient for my fingers to pick up enough that it has taken a couple of washes to get rid of the smell."
It would therefore appear that putting a used fuel collar in a cooking bag and securely tying it(the ones I bought are 250mm x 380mm) should considerably reduce the escape of the smell, although it would still be advisable to put it in a space with some ventilation. It would, of course, be important not to contaminate the outside of the bag when inserting the collar.
