Simple device prevents fuel clogs

. Often there is no alternative to fuel drawn from a rusty drum, especially in remote areas of Third World countries. The operator knows they are going to end up with flakes of rust, mud or water getting into their fuel system, often leading to breakdowns or desperate attempts to clean fuel filters and/or diesel injectors by torchlight. The problem is exacerbated by the way all vehicles draw fuel from the bottom of the tank, so if there are any contaminants, these are almost inevitably more dense than fuel, so they will all reside on the bottom to be drawn into the system at an early stage. The solution, according to Simon Forster, of Industry Control Solutions in Uplyme, Devon is “FuelActive”, which he told us, “Picks up from the bottom of a float. It was invented in Cardiff by Mike James, a JCB fitter”. The demonstration unit we saw at the Defence Vehicle Dynamics show had a plastic float with intakes at the bottom, able to move up and down inside a mesh cylinder. Fuel was taken via a flexible tube attached to the top of the float. According to J. A. Barden, chairman of Hydrainer Pumps, said of it, “Extensive testing has indicated that the benefits of installing the FuelActive system will give us significant improvements in reliability”. Industry Control Solutions www.icsfuelfilters.co.uk