Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker
I haven't had any gelling issues. I am presently in Wisconsin and it is -25F. The truck is running just fine and I have a B5 blend in the tanks. Matter of fact, this makes the second night of this low of temps. A lot of trucks are gelled up along I80 in Iowa and I35 up to the Twin Cities....
The Pilot truck stop in Des Moines had over half of its pumps down due to fuel gelling and filters clogging up today. They are running a B5 blend. The Love's truck stop just down the road in Newton is selling the same blend and I filled up there twice in the last two days and have no problem in the cold weather. It handled -29F last night. Pilot is notorious for plain cheap fuel.
I filled up at that Love's truck stop in November, added just a normal amount of Power Service, and had no troubles. Then on December 20th I filled up at a Kum & Go near Grinnell and my fuel gelled up the next day (about -8° that morning). They were nice enough to pay for my towing, but I won't be buying fuel from them in cold weather.
Right now I am filling up at the New Century Farm Service pumps in Grinnell, All the school buses, all the city trucks use these pumps. They have two blends -- $2.219 for unblended #2 ULSD (about 42 cetane), and $2.449 for premium blended diesel, #1 and #2 plus antigel additives plus cetane booster plus emulsifier.
I paid the extra 23 cents/gallon and did not add any of my own additive. But I do carry a quart of Diesel 911, just in case. If I'd had some with me on the day of the gelling problem, I had enough warning I think that it would have saved me from calling the tow truck.
Question: Love's in Newton and New Century in Grinnell post the same prices, +/- 1 or 2 cents. But NC charges more for their super-dooper winterized fuel. How well treated is the usual winterized fuel at most truck stops, and do they charge more than the posted price for a special blend?