GEAR GP- 5041910 - Caterpillar

General Recommendations and Contamination Control Guidelines for Fuels
Follow all applicable industry standards and all applicable governmental, environmental, and safety guidelines, practices, regulations, and mandates.Note: These general recommendations and guidelines concerning maintenance and care of fuel and fuel storage systems are not intended to be all inclusive. Discuss proper fuel safety and health, handling, and maintenance practices with your fuel supplier. Use of these general recommendations and guidelines does not lessen the engine owners and/or fuel supplier responsibility to follow all industry standard practices for fuel storage and for fuel handling.Note: Where recommendations for draining water and/or sediment and/or debris are stated, dispose of this waste according to all applicable regulations and mandates.Note: Caterpillar filters are designed and built to provide optimal performance and protection of the fuel system components.Clean fuels, as detailed below, are strongly recommended to allow optimal performance and durability of the fuel systems and to reduce power loss, failures, and related down time of engines.Fuels of "ISO 18/16/13" cleanliness levels are particularly important for new fuel system designs such as Common Rail injection systems and unit injection systems. These new injection system designs utilize higher fuel pressures and are designed with tight clearances between moving parts to meet required stringent emissions regulations. Peak injection pressures in current fuel injection systems may exceed 30,000 psi. Clearances in these systems are less than 5 µm. As a result, particle contaminants as small as 4 µm can cause scoring and scratching of internal pump and injector surfaces and of injector nozzles.Water in the fuel causes cavitation, corrosion of fuel system parts, and provides an environment where microbial growth in the fuel can flourish. Other sources of fuel contamination are soaps, gels, or other compounds that may result from undesirable chemical interactions in the fuels, particularly in Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD). Gels and other compounds can also form in biodiesel fuel at low temperatures or if biodiesel is stored for extended periods. The best indication of microbial contamination, fuel additives, or cold temperature gel is very rapid filter plugging of bulk fuel filters or machine fuel filters.To reduce downtime due to contamination, follow these fuel maintenance guidelines in addition to the recommendations given in the “Contamination Control” Chapter in this Special Publication:
Use high-quality fuels per recommended and required specifications (refer to the “Fuel” chapter in this Special Publication).
Use recommended Cat filtration products. Change your fuel filters per recommended service requirements or as needed. Never fill the new secondary fuel filter with fuel before installation. Use the fuel priming pump to remove air from the system.
Follow proper practices of fuel transport and filtration from storage tank to the machine to allow the delivery of clean fuel to machine tank. Keep the fuel storage tank clean of water, debris, and sediment.
Filter the fuel coming into the bulk storage fuel tank and at every subsequent transfer into and out of any container and prior to adding to the engine fuel tank preferably through filters with a rating of 20 microns (c)