The abient temperature in the garage is the ambient temperature in the vent or fill tube. All that "cold" diesel fuel, the connection to the tank moderate the termperature. The condensation really is an issue after the droplets start to form and roll down the vent line. If it's just condensation on the surface that stays there, it doesn't end-up in the (soup of the) fuel :^))).

Moreover, a boiler burner is a lot lesss senstive than a injector on a marine engine or asperated.

We have emergency generator tanks for the buildings that we manage. They range from 500-2,000 gallons. We of course periodically (monthy or bi-monthly) run, load test, and check the gensets for life-safety and mission critical support reasons. As I recally, the generators have 25-50 gallon "belly tanks" on their diesel engines. (A belly tank is small tank that the is just below the engine, that tank is filled from the main tank. This is done so that the engine can start without worrying about drawing the fuel from a 100' or more below up the fuel line to the generator.)

We are based in the DC metropolitan area. Humid, damp, cold enough in the winter, hot enough in the summer to grow "GUNK". For most large tank situations, our building engineers sort-of roll their eyes when I mention water concerns. They have the tanks treated, kept pretty full, change the seperator and pre-filters, and nothing untwart seems to happen.

40 miles away in Annapolis, I wish the same would true for sailboaters ;^)))))).

By the way, the tanks DON'T get cycled very much. Our buildings are on grids that VERY seldom lose power. The residential and smaller commercial customers of the power company have issues with storm interuptions that most commercial buildings don't have in the City.

Todd: By the way Todd, is it the first or second deriviative? (i.e., The rate of change; or the rate of the rate of change in your description of absorption?)

RichH: Don't be exaspertated by Doctor Professor Engineer Dunn, he lurks making simple observations until he gets offended by some scientific or logical transgression -- and then he strikes, usually in two bites :^)))