Many car owners of cars with a diesel engine, probably wondered more than once what the difference between summer diesel and winter fuel. In this article we will try to understand this a bit.

If you try to distinguish diesel fuel by color, then I can disappoint you, It is no different in color. Then what's the difference?

Summer diesel

This fuel contains many complex paraffin molecules, which easily crystallize even at a positive temperature (+1, +2). If the temperature is below - 5 degrees Celsius, then summer diesel fuel begins to fall into solid paraffin crystals, the viscosity of the fuel begins to grow, characteristic turbidity appears, as a result of which the fuel ceases to flow normally through the fuel system. The filter starts to get clogged up, and the engine will not start in the near future.

Зимнее дизельное топливо

If you do not "intermeddle" in complex chemical processes for the production of winter fuel, then you can simply say that the technology for preparing winter fuel differs from the summer one in its complex distillation technology. Winter diesel oil is distilled at a temperature of +320 degrees Celsius, this makes it possible to remove the final product from most of the paraffins (from 80% to 90% of paraffins). Such fuel at its price is not significantly different. But it does not freeze, and has a great effect on the performance of a diesel engine at low temperatures outside.

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It often happens that careless sellers of fuel at gas stations offer not winter diesel fuel, but summer fuel with all kinds of anti-freezing additives. The simplest such additives are antihelium. They contain substances that do not allow paraffin molecules to clump together. Thus, with the help of anti-gels, diesel fuel does not thicken or grow cloudy, and the freezing temperature increases markedly.

With these additives, the freezing temperature can be increased to - 30 degrees Celsius. Independently turn summer diesel fuel into winter fuel; it is also possible by adding additives directly into the fuel tank.