Recirculation Unit or Advanced Fuel Conditioner: Which CTS Product Will Suit Your Fuel Needs?

Backup generators are essential for many businesses like hospitals and data centres as an emergency power supply. Keeping the fuel inside these generators clean and circulated is important – as without them, backup power would fail and could be extremely detrimental. As backup generators aren’t used very often, the stored fuel can be sat for a long time which increases the risk of contamination and diesel bug sludge.

Luckily, there is equipment on the market that keeps fuel moving, stops water settling and destroys diesel bug before it has a chance to leave the tank and contaminate the fuel.

At CTS we have designed and engineered the CTS Fuel Recirculation Unit and Advanced Fuel Conditioner to improve fuel quality and avoid costly downtime from fuel contamination, which is done by circulating the fuel and using a magnetic conditioner and filtration system to break down diesel bug particles.

Let’s take a closer look at the two products to help you determine which one is right for yours’ or your customers fuel needs.

CTS Fuel Recirculation unit

The unit uses a two stage Piusi ­filtration system with bowls to observe and drain any contamination. There is a 30 micron water and particle ­filter, and a 5 micron ­final fi­nishing fi­lter.

The magnetic fuel conditioner breaks up any bacteria growth and diesel bug to prevent filter blockages.

CTS Advanced Fuel Conditioner

Again, there is a two stage ­filtration system but instead the Advanced Fuel Conditioner uses two high performance Cim-Tek Ultimate Defense fi­lters. These filters are a 10 micron water and particle ­filter, and a 2 micron fi­nal fi­nishing fi­lter.

Then a magnetic fuel conditioner breaks up any diesel bug in the fuel.

This level of filtration combined with the intelligent control panel targets multi-pass ISO level 14/13/11 and water content below 60ppm.

CTS Fuel Recirculation unit

There is an input for an alarm or gauge to detect a low fuel level, and a leak probe for a drip tray if one is installed on the tank. The light illuminates if activated and the pump turns off until action is taken to fix the issue. There are two passive BMS outputs for the remote warning of fi­lter block and low fuel level/leak/fault to alert the user that they need to act.

CTS Advanced Fuel Conditioner

The Advanced Fuel Conditioner also has two passive building management system (BMS) outputs and an input for an alarm or gauge. If activated, the alert details show on the digital panel and in the control room, and the pump will shut off until the issue is resolved.

The control panel has a filter degradation warning and flow rate graph warn the engineer or tank owner of when the fi­lters are likely to block, which allows for pre-emptive maintenance to take place. A filter block warning message indicates when filters must be changed for operation to continue, with QR customisable QR codes on the control panel to go to purchase replacement spares if not available on site.

The event and alarm log screen shows the systems latest activity, giving the user full visibility on when filter degradation, blockages, low level, leak, pump stoppages, and engineer activity has occurred.

A pump service required message also alerts the user based on the pumps estimated working life, directing them to order a replacement pump from your website via a QR code.

CTS Fuel Recirculation unit

The flow switch will detect when the fi­lters are blocked and stop the pump until the filters are replaced.

There is an internal timer to control the period the fuel is circulated. The recirculation unit is set as standard to turn over 1.5x the tank capacity every 28 days, which is the period that it takes for bacteria to form.

It is fitted with an Italian manufactured Piusi Panther pump which guarantees a long, trouble-free service life.

CTS Advanced Fuel Conditioner

The Piusi K600/3 pulse meter counts the flow rate and identifies a drop which the prompts a display message on the panel indicating ­filter degradation. If the flow stops completely due to a blocked ­filter, the pump will turn off until the ­filters are replaced.

It comes as standard with automatically set system run times between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday, but this can be altered through the touchscreen control panel if necessary. The conditioner turns over 1.5 x the fuel tank capacity per month, which is the period that it takes for bacteria to form.

The Advanced Fuel Conditioner is also fitted with a Piusi Panther pump, as the Italian pump manufacturer is known for its quality and longevity.

CTS Fuel Recirculation unit

The unit has an IP55 rated control panel with large, visible coloured lights for diagnosing any issues that need to be dealt with, such as blocked filters, a low fuel level, leak, or fault.

CTS Advanced Fuel Conditioner

The touchscreen control panel gives advanced operational information including ­filter degradation and block alerts, flow rate trends for ­filter life expectancy, event and alarm log details, pump change required alerts and the time until the next run cycle. This gives the tank owner or engineer full control over pre-emptive maintenance.

An engineer login is required before anything can be altered on the unit, which prevents tampering, and also has a manual mode to enable system priming.

CTS Fuel Recirculation unit

The fuel recirculation unit can be branded with a personalised label to include a company logo, branding in the company colours, and contact details so users know who to contact for spare fi­lters and parts.

CTS Advanced Fuel Conditioner

Both the unit and control panel have branding available, as well as customisable QR codes to send users directly to yours or your supplier’s website to buy spare ­filters and replacement pumps when needed.

CTS Fuel Recirculation unit

The unit is plated for sturdy fi­xing to a metal fuel tank or cabinet.

CTS Advanced Fuel Conditioner

This unit is also plated for sturdy ­fixing to a metal fuel tank or cabinet but has ­fixing points for easy manoeuvring without obstructing the two fi­lters.

Both units can help you keep your fuel contamination-free, depending on the level of filtration you require and if you need pre-emptive maintenance with a more intelligent system for more control. Having a recirculation unit or fuel conditioner as part of your fuel maintenance programme means fuel can be used at best performance and cut machinery down time or power outage, keeping your business running.

Find out more about both products by clicking the button below.