inside
WEDNESDAY June 5, 2013
Lynch stands for Eden-Monaro Page 3
Check your bank account Page 6
CRL in town pages 40 & 38
Aldi specials page 5
Local motorists are urged to beware changes made to local diesel supplies which have made it likely to freeze in temperatures less than minus four degrees Celsius. Some local motorists have been caught in recent weeks, and this has caused considerable damage to their vehicles. Alpine Mix diesel fuel is sold in all petrol stations in areas with severe winter conditions to ensure diesel fuel doesn’t freeze over in cold temperatures. In the last three years however, government legislation has lowered the sulphur in diesel, because of greenhouse gas emissions, meaning its freezing point is much warmer than it used to be.
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Paul Lester from Region Service Station, Cooma, has been fighting to solve the problem of freezing diesel.
FROZEN FUEL!
The current Australian standard of Alpine Mix diesel has a freezing point of minus five degrees, which is hardly practical in the severe winters on the Monaro or the Snowy Mountains. All diesel fuels contain wax molecules. These are natural components of the crude oil that diesel is produced from. Wax is considered an important diesel component because of its high cetane value for good ignition quality of the fuel. However, in severe winter conditions especially in inland or high country areas, the diesel may get cold enough for the wax to start to crystallise and solidify. If enough wax crystals solidify, the fuel lines, filters and strainers in diesel powered engines and machinery may become blocked and as a result may become difficult or impossible to start and operate. This phenomenon is known as “waxing”. Over the last three years there have been many reports of accidents, car damage and work time lost due to the freezing
point of Alpine Mix diesel not being low enough for our harsh winters. Paul Lester from Region Service Station Cooma and Mick Klima from Rhythm Snowsports Petrol Station believe that this is a huge safety issue for anyone using diesel powered engines and machinery and it’s just not good enough. Mr Lester has been fighting it for years through fuel representatives as well as speaking to members of government throughout NSW. He says the scary thing is that vehicles and machinery can become blocked and stop even while they are in operation. “They just don’t understand because this doesn’t happen to the same extent anywhere else in Australia. It’s like hitting your head up against a brick wall,” Mr Lester explained. Mick Klima is concerned that people aren’t aware of the issue, especially tourists travelling to the mountains who don’t
understand that diesel has a freezing point. “It’s definitely a safety issue and an inconvenience for people and it needs to change but because it only effects a very small amount of people the government doesn’t worry about it,” Mr Klima said. Although Emergency Services, machinery workers and buses are hugely inconvenienced by the high freezing point of diesel fuel they have found ways to combat this issue so that they aren’t affected by it. Monaro Rural Fire Service Team Manager, Jim Darrant, says that it was a huge issue for the RFS before they became aware of it but they now combat it by adding additives to their diesel fuel. “It’s still a concern though, it’s something extra that could go wrong. It’s an inconvenience and a potential risk,” he said.
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Volume 7 Edition 23 ISSN 1834-0318