Fuel filter changes

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David W

David W

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Jun 1, 2004
412
Catalina 27 Victoria BC
A recent Pacific Yachting article on "Keeping your diesel happy" recommended changing fuel filters every 100 hours for sailboats and every 300 hours for powerboats. That sailboats would require filter changes more often than a powerboat is counter intuitive to me. Wouldn't the greater fuel demands of a powerboat equate to more fuel through the filter leading to earlier contamination therefore the need for more frequent changes? What am I missing? David
 
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AndyK

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Mar 10, 2004
195
Hunter 33 Salem, MA
fuel turn over

Sailboats do not turn over their fuel as often be cause we use (a lot) less. The fuel can become more contaminated as it ages from diesel bugs, water, condensation, age, etc. If you are not familiar with diesel bugs check here for a pretty good explanation: http://www.morison.com.au/contamination.htm Andy
 
Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
On another thread there is some discussion

concerning one tank or two and how to use them. I have a fairly small tank (10 gallons) and in an active year I may have to refill once. By not having a large volume with a correspondingly large surface area it seems to keep the fuel cleaner. I have a glass sediment bowl as a first stage and then my primary filter. The bowl is always clean when I check. Fuel tanks will pant with changes in air temperture, That is to say as the air in the tank gets warm some will be vented and as the air cools some will be drawn in. This is the mechanism by which water in the form on condensation gets into the tank. The smaller the tank the smaller will be the volume of air exchanged and therefore the lower the risk of water accumulating in the tank.
 
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Waffle

Yes you are missing something

Powerboat use up fuel much hase than sailboats therefore the fuel is clean because it has less time to grow alege. It is better for the filters to burn fuel fast!
 
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Bill O'Donovan

See for yourself

Next time you change the filters, see if they're dark and foul-smelling. That suggests you were right to change, for they were contaminated by algae and God knows what else. Rule of thumb is that PM is good insurance.
 
RichH

RichH

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Feb 14, 2005
4,773
Tayana 37 cutter; I20/M20 SCOWS Worton Creek, MD
What you are missing is ----

... and what is missing in that 'advisement' is that diesel fuel has a relatively short 'shelf life'. Once decomposition begins in earnest the particulate begins to 'grow' and adheres to the tank walls ... ready and available to 'slough - off' in a heavy seaway. A filter will only take out the debris that is already in the tank (or better - whats forming in the tank. The BEST remedy is to periodically clean out the tank every few years to remove all the deposits of waxes, agglomerated particles, etc. .... then you dont NEED to change the filters so often. Ditto on the erroneous method of 'always keeping the tank topped off' .... keep on board the 'just' fuel you NEED plus a bit of reserve/emergency. Why 'store' a superabundance of fuel only to have it decompose and foul the tank?????? There ARE other methods to prevent the uptake of water vapor (condensation): - desiccant traps for the vent line. http://www.bp.com.au/fuelnews/ADF1402.pdf
 
Franklin

Franklin

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Jul 20, 2005
2,422
Whitby 55 Kemah, Tx
RichH

you just need to go sailing more often :) I burn a tank a year and that's just getting in and out of the marina.
 
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Scott Fuller

corrected link for diesel bugs

looks like the link lost a dot along the way
 
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