Neither should form actual ice crystals, that would be a water contamination issue.
In Minnesota we have bio blended diesel fuel, up to 20% in summer typically 10% but depends on relative costs they can blend to 20%. In winter they like to keep it at 5%.
So in addition to choosing #2 or #1, you want to be sure to get fuel from after October to get the lower bio blend.
Don't get me wrong, I'm very pro bio diesel blend it helps replace some sulfur, just have to be smart about it, when it is below zero you want a lower blend.
We had a real humid wet fall into December here, hovering at 30 degrees, then suddenly hit the deep freeze fast as it shot below zero.
Both my diesel tractors gelled up, I didn't get the additive mixed in fast enough.
What happens is the fatty bits (which are in #2 and in the bio portion both) turn into a waxy glob. It might start out as a thickening below 30 degrees, but at 20 or so it becomes little fatty globs that don't want to pass through the filter so well, and by 5 degrees they are larger fatty globs that will pack up a filter.
#1 diesel is thinner, less btus, far less of the fatty type materials, doesn't live the fuel system nearly as well. But those fatty globs don't form until about 60 below F.
So if it gets near 20 degrees F, you want either a blend of #1 diesel mixed in with your #2 and/ or some fuel additive like Power Service, Howes, or so forth. These additives mix with the fatty type stuff in the diesel and keep it from forming globs, keep it all liquid.
The colder it gets, the more of this blending or additive you need. But also, too much additive goes the wrong way, and messes up the fuel too. and the trick is, the additive or the blended fuel likes to work before it is so terrible cold; they tend to stay separated if you try to mix them in the tank after we already hit the below zero temps.....
When both my tractors gelled up this winter, they still were running but only at idle speed, no power - a bare trickle of fuel was getting through the filters. I was in the yard, so I got an ice cream bucket of hot water from the house, poured it on the fuel filter very slowly, and heated up the fuel filter. Let the heat soak in for 5-10 minutes. This dissolved the fatty lumps again, altho it kinda concentrates the fatty stuff and makes the engine have to deal with that thicker fuel all at once.... It will reliquify and go through the filter if you get it warm enough. I also added more fuel treatment.
Got the tractor running again that way, and drove to the shed, let it run inside (door open) to keep the wind away, so the engine heat got out to the filter area and kept things warmer. The Diesel engine pumps more fuel than it uses and returns it to the fuel tank, and over time it heats the fuel and blends it to put the additive in the whole tank.
After this both engines have worked fine now on #2 diesel, without changing filters, yesterday it was 7 degrees when I ran them.
You just need the proper treatment to keep the fatty bits normally found in diesel fuel liquified, either by blending #1, or using an additive, or keeping the fuel filter warm.
Again, if you see actual ice crystals in the fuel, you have a contamination issue and need to get the water out of your tank and fuel supply, that is not the common gelling issue that you have, it is a contamination issue? Water in a Diesel engine is not a good thing, small amounts can be absorbed and flushed through with an additive but Diesel engines are real sensitive to water in the fuel; you don't want that in any amount really.
Older farm diesels from the 1990s and earlier can deal with a lot on all this. The new modern engines with EPA emissions run at a whole different level, and you have to be careful what you do with them, very high pressure, far less forgiving. On the other hand they tend to heat the fuel more as they pump it through and if you don't gel thrm right away, they keep the fatty clumps away on their own.
In any case, a new fuel filter before the first real cold snap is a good idea, it allows better fuel flow and more room for a few loose fatty gel clumps to not mess up your day. As Warner fuel and additive blends pass by they can re liquefy those fatty clumps and keep problems away.
It is a balancing act on keeping a good clean fuel supply, and keeping enough lubricity in your fuel to keep the fuel system lubricated (that is what the fatty lumps do for you as long as they haven't globbed together too much...) but keep the fuel flowing in all kinds of weather.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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