Avoid Costly AdBlue Mistakes

Avoid Costly AdBlue Mistakes

Preventing the costly misfilling of AdBlue with the SB325 magnetic nozzle.

In order to meet emissions standards, diesel powered vehicles and plant equipment are required to reduce their emissions down to a certain level depending upon their engine size.

In order to reduce the Nitrous Oxides present in emissions, Selective Catalytic Reduction systems (SCR), which use AdBlue, are now established as a feature of construction plant.

AdBlue is a registered trademark of Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF); a man-made solution comprised of 32.5 per cent urea mixed with de-ionised water. Commonly mistaken as a fuel additive, AdBlue should actually not be mixed with diesel at all and is dispensed into a completely different tank of the vehicle. Whereas diesel is for the engine, AdBlue is for the exhaust system.

Accidentally miss-filling AdBlue into the diesel tank is a costly mistake to make. Even for drivers that have been working with AdBlue for a long time, accidents still happen. Just look at how often people put petrol in their diesel car.

Mistakenly putting diesel into your AdBlue tank is unlikely as the AdBlue fill point is designed for a smaller 19mm spout nozzle, making it almost impossible for larger diameter diesel nozzles to fit. However, the other way round is becoming a common problem in the industry.

As AdBlue is not compatible with many materials, should it be put into the diesel fill point, it can corrode the pipework and components of the fuel system.

This can result in thousands of pounds worth of damage as well as having to pay a professional to drain the tank and flush out the system.

Centre Tank Services offer a simple solution in the form of the nozzle used to dispense the AdBlue. The Piusi SB325 AdBlue nozzle, which will be showcased at Plantworx Construction Show 6th-8th June 2017, is available with a magnetic miss-filling spout.

Thanks to its magnetic spout, the nozzle will only release fluid into a fill point that has a partnering magnetic adaptor inserted into it.

With a magnetic adaptor fitted in the AdBlue fill point only, the AdBlue nozzle can physically not dispense into the diesel tank as there is no partner magnet to open the magnetic spout and enable dispensing. The accidental filling of AdBlue into the diesel tank is therefore avoided.

To meet ISO standards, most new AdBlue using vehicles and plant machinery already have a magnetic collar inserted into the AdBlue fill point at manufacturing stage.

If the plant operator isn’t aware of this feature, and opts for a dispensing system with a standard nozzle rather than the available magnetic nozzles, miss-filling will not be prevented and the benefit of the magnetic collar is wasted.

If you don’t think your machinery already has a magnetic collar fitted, a retrofit magnetic fill point adaptor is available to buy alongside the miss-filling nozzle. To be sure, simply hold something metal like your keys or a screwdriver by the fill point to see if you can feel the magnetic force.

For plant operators that want to prevent the accidental miss-filling and save potentially thousands of pounds in plant repair costs, simply change your standard AdBlue nozzle to the SB325 nozzle with magnetic miss-filling spout.

Centre Tank Services are industry leading distributors of fuel dispensing, storage tank, AdBlue and lubrication equipment and are the exclusive UK distributor for Italian fluid handling equipment manufacturer Piusi.

For further information on Centre Tank Services click here.

Related posts