Daily Service Tanks

Within the engine room there should be a daily service tank holding sufficient fuel for say 8 hours running; for a modern diesel engine 1 liter of fuel will provide approximately 3.5 kWh of electrical energy, for a gas turbine the fuel requirement will be greater, and 1 liter of fuel will provide approximately 2.2 kWh of electrical energy. The underbase of a diesel generating set is often used as a daily service tank; the arrangement requires a lift pump to provide a supply of fuel to the injection pump or pumps. The alternative is to mount a service tank at a level above that of the engine and to rely on gravity for the supply to the injection pump. For service tanks up to about 1000 liters the tank can be mounted on a stand fixed to the engine underbase, but larger tanks will for practical reasons be mounted on a floor-mounted stand. Fuel tanks and pipework should not be of galvanized iron as zinc and fuel oil are incompatible.

If extended running is required the daily service tank is normally topped up automatically, by gravity or by an electric pump, from a remote bulk fuel tank. Where there is no bulk fuel supply topping up of small or moderate-sized sets can be achieved manually using a semirotary hand pump attached to the engine base frame and provided with a flexible hose for extracting fuel from manually handled barrels at floor level. As...