Spring Equipment Maintenance Tips

Spring Equipment Maintenance Tips

Spring Equipment Maintenance Tips. I'm Greg Martin with Washington Ag Today.

There is no doubt that spring is here. That mean getting your machinery ready for another busy season and According to a recent farmer survey, 38 percent of respondents plan to hold onto their equipment longer as a means to reduce operational expenses this season. Ron Jessen, CHS director of product management for Cenex brand fuels has three tips.

JESSEN: When you take a look at keeping that equipment for a longer period of time, the secret is making sure that we're maintaining it. There's some symptoms we want to be watching for. The first symptom is just a delay on start up after sitting idle. The most common solution is just simply to replace your air and fuel filters.

Jessen says it's also important to drain off any water from the fuel tanks.

JESSEN: The second symptom we should be looking at is the emission of that black smoke which is really sign of over fueling. It could be an indicator that we may want to clean those injectors. By using a proper, premium diesel fuel such as Cenex Ruby Fieldmaster is critical in keeping those injectors clean and operating efficiently.

Number three according to Jessen is delayed or slow acceleration.

JESSEN: Our premium diesel fuels improve power by 4.5%; can improve the lubricity by 10 to 15% and actually improve the fuel economy by as much as 5% so we look at the investment that we make in this equipment and the investments that you are making at the pump - yeah the price of premium diesel fuel may be a few cents more per gallon but switching to that premium diesel can actually result in larger operational savings by increasing the fuel economy and reducing your repair costs.

And that's Washington Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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