Waxing warrants more attention
Page 18
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ALTHOUGH not privileged to attend the RHA Tipcon '82, I have endeavoured through the channels of the technical press to follow all the reports. Having experienced many early morning difficulties years ago through diesel waxing, this is a matter which through successive years, I have sought to avoid by "being prepared". I was therefore somewhat surprised to read that delegates offered no discussion on how diesel waxing during cold winter spells was to be overcome, other than one point of view, which stated it should be the fuel suppliers' responsibility to include de-waxing additives in winter supplies!
Surely we ought to adopt a more positive line than this.
Maybe suppliers will make it their overall responsibility, but I am not certain that the problem is quite as simply solved as that. For many of us winter grade dery goes into bulk tanks soon after the beginning of October, and during recession cutback on fleets and mileage can result in certain bulk tanks retaining a proportion of summer grade fuel for several weeks.
For this reason, I know of some operators who have been tempted to question whether they were wrong to install bigger tanks in their efforts to avoid being caught out by a shortage of fuel for any number of reasons? Additives appear to be the answer, but whether bulked or added by the individual user seems to me to be a matter for further debate and consideration.
If Tipcon '82 represents the views of our industry overall, it's high time to refer people to the vernacular and "suggest that they got their fingers out". To drift along in the hope that severe weather will always pass us by is likely to prove costly in unnecessary delays.
NIGEL BREEZE Southend-on-Sea Essex