Jet Fuel In The Water

[Huggy Bear]

When I was on the TR the water on the ship often reeked of jet fuel. Not always, but often enough that it became a running joke in the ready room. The corporate knowledge (a bunch of aviators-fwiw) was that the ship used the same tanks for water and fuel and that accounts for the residual fuel in the water.

I don't remember any other ships doing this except for the TR. Does anyone else in here have experience with this - or was it just the ship I was on?

 

[Mav0130]

Idk about that but i drink jet fuel after I PT

 

[FrankTheTank]

I cruised on the Enterprise and was told that there was fuel in the water.. Don't know if it was true or urban legend but it tasted like it.. The only question, I remember, at the end of the day was Tabasco on my popcorn or not.... And well of course other than rats... Was that the darkest, most overcast night I have ever seen....

 

[cosmania]

Dude, if you haven't heard, jet fuel is a laxative, and the last thing that the ship needs is constipation.

 

[Intruder Driver]

JP in the water keeps you regular.

On the Independence, Midway and Forrestal, ships I cruised on, we smelled and/or tasted JP in the shower, in the bug juice, in the water, everywhere.

 

[haubby]

Its hard to find true bug juice anymore. That stuff had soo many uses.

 

[Bio]

Constellation had JP in the water BAD during the early 80s. Ranger did, too, in the mid 80s. When I would get home I'd leave my clothes in the garage until I could wash them once at home.

I heard & thought it was related to using the same tanks for JP and water.

My last carrier exposures were Nimitz and GW in the mid- and late-90s. Neither had any JP in the water. No bugs, either.

 

[lowflier03]

Same here on the KH. Its especially bad around unrep time. There are days you cant drink the water on the boat due to the fuel taste. I have heard from some SWO's onboard that the same tanks are used for fuel and freshwater. ie they add freshwater to the fuel tanks when they get low in order to help the ship ride lower/smoother. Dunno how true that is though. (Ive also heard that smell/taste is an additive put in the tanks to keep them from corroding.)

 

[JIMC5499]

JP in the water keeps you regular.

On the Independence, Midway and Forrestal, ships I cruised on, we smelled and/or tasted JP in the shower, in the bug juice, in the water, everywhere.

I can vouch for the Indy and Forrestal having JP in the water. I saw the water on the Indy support a flame for a few seconds.

 

[Schnugg]

On every deployment I've made (6 of them) the water never tasted that good. The Big E definitely had a fuel taste to it. Same with some of the others. Considering the water is all made in an evaporator, why it tastes so bad who knows...bug juice syrup made it all sweet and consumable in the dirty shirt.

We did make the mistake of making water in port once...although potable, it smelled and tasted real bad.

 

[insanebikerboy]

As fuel is pumped out of a tank, water is pumped into it. Since the two don't mix, it's not an issue of contamination. And yes, it's a ballast/safety issue, if the tanks aren't filled the ship can mess up it's center of gravity, and if I remember a half empty tank can be somewhat of a fire/explosion hazard.

As for drinking water, possible I suppose. Freshwater is used as saltwater would cause too much corrosion, and the freshwater we made was almost 100% pure. I just can't remember the pipe routing to say for certain.

 

[A4sForever]

.....Does anyone else in here have experience with this - or was it just the ship I was on?

They all did it, they all had the "taste" ... the intensity varied from ship to ship ... it seemed like the older ships (i.e., WW2 left-overs and -27C's) were worse. I waved on the IKE when she (he?) was brand new and there was NO JP taste in the water --- but then, the cats and A/G all worked, everything on the platform worked, you could get 30 KTS across the deck just by asking for it, and the air conditioning worked.

I suppose time changed all that ...

 

[brownshoe]

I don't remember any other ships doing this except for the TR. Does anyone else in here have experience with this - or was it just the ship I was on?

Being the old fart that I am, I can't speak about the ships today. But I do believe that A4's is probably right. I did many det's on the Lex and the Indy... I only drank soda or bottled/canned juice. The water smelled and tasted awful!

Steve

 

[MasterBates]

JFK had bad JP taste in 2004. WHEN we had water.

I can understand the pumping H20 into fuel tanks for ballast reasons. But do they pump it back out to supply drinking water?

 

[JIMC5499]

I can understand the pumping H20 into fuel tanks for ballast reasons. But do they pump it back out to supply drinking water?

All it takes is one snipe having a bad day and turning the wrong valve at the wrong time to foul things up for years. Just consider yourselves lucky that the JP ended up in the water instead of the water in your aircraft's fuel tanks.