Fuel Filtering System

Yes indeed...a vacuum gauge. Also the Racor allow visual inspection of the filter so that you my remove, inspect and foresee a vacuum event, before hand. I like racor's for small craft.

 

Mark,

I figured you'd think Tony knew his stuff!

 

He is amazing and I buy from him any chance I get just to pay rent for his knowledge. One of the pics on his site of how to do filters is mine. How I met him was searching for spin-on filters a few years ago when I was going to install an engine I didn't feel comfortable running with Racors.
I know what you mean about the clear bowl, Michael. There is a perceived advantage in poking one's head under the hatch and seeing that there is either no water or there is all water (at least there is no obvious line demarcating the fuel/water boundary) but I have problems with that bowl. I know it has its adherents and I don't care to change anybody's mind, but taking the thing apart one day to get a glob of gunk out of the bowl, I set up an operating room clean work area, got everything back together, fired her up to check for leaks and there were some paint flecks from that aluminum top of that thing in the bowl. I took it apart again as they wouldn't come out the drain, bead-blasted and repainted the top, put the thing back together and there was a new goober in the bowl that had been waiting for the opportunity to drive me insane. I took the entire unit, fuel and all and threw it off of the boat. Funny thing is, it landed in snow and didn't break. I got $150 for it within a day. The way I see it, there could be a bit of water in the very bottom of the bowl, by the threads, and if one has the metal fire bowl installed, there could be more water yet that is not seen - so you are draining a bit of fuel each day anyway. The system just seems so cumbersome and likely to introduce foreign matter that I'll never go back.

 

It's not uncommon to keep the dual filters running in parallel full time. This obviates the need to periodically "freshen" the fuel in the filter. The upside to this approach is that you get twice the running time between filter changes. Down side is that you need to replace both of them at the same time, and hopefully you've planned ahead and have spares on hand. You maintain the ability to change them while under-way by just shifting the 4 way valve to filter through one while you change the other.
Mark's point re. the vacuum gage should be considered. There is no better way to tell when the filter is ready to be changed. Not even by looking at it. Most models of Racor's either come with a gage already or are ported for easy after-market installation of one. It'll be up to the dynamics of your specific whole-system as to what range vacuum gage to use, but it will be measured in the range of 0 to 10" hg or so (maybe higher, depending on fuel line, etc).

 

Hi all, my boat's return diesel feed runs into a little PVC bottle. I have to empty it regularly - bit of a hassle! Question: do I have to throw it away, or can I pour it back into the main tank? Seems logical to me, but need to get your expert advice on this, please. Pierre

 

Put it in the tank. Why don't you just run it to the tank?

 

Thanks Mark. Exactly what I thought. Just was not sure why the previous owner built it like this? Also, this will remove the diesel smell from the bilge every time the little tank over flows....

 

......it must be a small engine to run to a seperate tank, certainly plumb it back to the fuel tank, it is clean and filtered fuel anyhow.

 

This was just sucking a lungful of fuel out of a 44 gal drum (on deck) with a 1 inch hose and syphoning through one of these http://www.mrfunnel.com/Mr._Funnel/Home.html

They couldn't keep up with the flow

 

Ive used "Baja" filters when taking fuel from steel barrels. Don't know of the Mrfunnel. I guess it would work. The filter looks small for passing 15gpm.

http://www.bajafilters.com/index.html

 

Magic Crystals.... H2Out

I saw this article in the Feb issue of SAIL magazine...rather interesting and well worth the read:

There is a new way to keep your fuel clean
Magic Crystals
http://in.zinio.com/reader.jsp?issue=416207129&o=int&prev=sub&p=70

http://in.zinio.com/sitemap/Sports-magazines/SAIL/Feb-12/cat1960028/is-416207129/pg-70

This H2Out product has other uses as well such as in our cold boxes (refrigeration)
http://www.h2out.com/
...a leader in developing reusable products for water adsorption technology. Made in the USA.

H2Out® Systems prevent mold, mildew, rust and corrosion damage in fuels, fluids and interior spaces.

 

Blue/Pink indicating silica gel beads.

They want $40 for half a pound and $190 for the filter which takes 2 pounds,so well over $300 with shipping.

Buy your own for $5-8 a pound and make your own filter....that's what I did.

Well,actually what I did was order 200 pounds from China and with shipping I think it was $300

 

Cleaning a large quantity of old diesel fuel

I have access to around 1,000 gallons of old fuel that runs an old generator quite nicely when filtered, but it's in drums and I have to suck it out and put it into my tanks.

Any ideas of the cheapest way to do that? I do have two large Racor water separator/filters, but I can imagine going through an awful lot of elements.

Does anyone know of any other way to polish such a large quantity cheaply, some kind of centrifugal filter perhaps?

 

I found it online for around $4.50 a pound for the gel. Figure another couple of bucks for some large diameter clear tubing and some end fittings.

 

I made fuel scrubber permanently fixed on the boat made by running fuel through a 10 dollar water filter in a clear plastic and then into an oil filter housing. The oil filter was the cheapest I could get and never gets dirty.

The water filter can be blasted clean with water pressure from the tap ( faucet)

Its very slow though, approx 10 liters 1/2 hour. I just let it run for a few hours, but I don't have dirty fuel --well not any more.