Finally...a Puff of Smoke!

[Angela]

I've NEVER had a puff of smoke, not even a tiny one, on start up. It's cold in Miami and today, I finally got my first puff of DD smoke!! My neighbors didn't care for it much, but I thought it was pretty and was out back on the dock trying to savor all I could of it. I love DD diesel, burnt or unbunrt. I think I'm a rare breed (or a sicko!), but just had to share my new found "puff of smoke" that you guys talk about. Confession...when I was changing fuel filters on my genny every DAY, I would put the old filters in the trash can in my stateroom overnight. I just love the smell of diesel.

Just had to share my "puff of smoke" story. Pascal was my witness!! I really had a puff of smoke, finally.

[Maynard Rupp]

"Sicko", that is the correct word Angela. Keep sniffing that stuff and your hair will turn red.

[Jaxfishgyd]

You would flip over my boat then... Probably even overdose in happiness.

My DD's would SMOKE for a short period of time when it was "cold" up here...

Then I started putting DieselKleen in my fuel and did install small block heaters (250w) a few years ago... Now very little smoke, usually less than 10 secs even when it was in the 20's this past week

[MikeP]

I find this smoke thing interesting...

In our marina there are 13 or 14 53MYs. They ALL smoke on startup and they all smoke the same way. On a cold, no block heater, startup they smoke a LOT. And it doesn't matter how long they run at the dock warming up, they still smoke slightly as they are leaving. The ones I have seen out running do not smoke at all while moving along. But they ALL smoke again when they are coming back in to the marina at idle speed. My 53 acts exactly the same way.

The conclusion that all of these 53s have engine problems seems a bit of a stretch...

[stormchaser]

I am also a lover of the smell of diesel!

[Nonchalant1]

I can't remember if I recounted this story here or not, but dockmate of ours once had a diesel smoke cloud create a fireball. He said that he had just started up and had a big smoke cloud drifting slowly across the marina when it went over a gas barbecue grill at the next dock over and just went "FOOM" with an orange glow and disappeared. No fires, no real explosion, just "Foom" and gone. I was skeptical, but the guy is not prone to exaggeration. Does that sound reasonable that a diesel smoke cloud could burn? And if so, why haven't I heard about it happening before?

Doug

[stormchaser]

I'd raise the BS flag on that one. Diesel does not explode. You can actually throw a lit match on a puddle of it and the match will simply go out. And I'd doubt there's enough unburned uel in the smoke to burn.

[garyd]

Wrong on the diesel not exploding stuff. I had a diesel fired heater. The pilot went out and it took a little to get it relighted. But when it did it exploded the hot diesel fuel vapor. Just like that guy said FOOM then gone. I was there, no BS.


The pyroes on this forum can show you how to get flour to explode, let alone diesel fuel.

I have also used enough diesel to start and burn countless fires on my property. Hot diesel can act like gasoline. Be careful!

garyd

[MikeP]

"You can actually throw a lit match on a puddle of it and the match will simply go out."

When I was a kid there was a mechanic down the street that used to amuse us by lighting his cigarettes and putting the matches out in a container of GASOLINE that he used for cleaning parts. The matches never did ignite the gas!

I'm not suggesting that it is safe to either put your matches out in gas OR use gas for cleaning solvent. At the same time, I must admit that when I was in my teens we ALWAYS used gas as the cleaning solvent for doing car work...

[krush]

The atomized fuel cloud can very possibly go "Froooooooomph" if the right air/fuel ratio is present. Coal dust is another very dangerous one.