Fuel Polishing ! ! ! ! !

Steve Dion · Apr 18, 2012

Steve:

Most of the Racor filters will do the water seperation. There are many electric fuel pumps available that are suitable for diesel fuel.

I am not sure why you want to do this unless you are having issues with your fuel. You can always pump everything out of your tank and start over with fresh fuel.

Bill Roosa · Apr 19, 2012

I'm with Steve, if you have a Racor (or other brand) fuel filter/water separator you should be set. Just put it in the supply line and let the engine pump suck fuel through it. It does not require a separate fuel pump unless you intend on leaving the filter in until it is plugged. A vacuum gage on the filter outlet will let you monitor the filter state and is a wise investment though.

robertsapp · Apr 19, 2012

Unless you're having some type of problem, I'd just:

1. Use a good quality primary filter on your fuel system
2. Put an access port in your fuel tank and use it to drain and thoroughly clean your tank.
3. Fill it with fresh fuel with biocide

Having a clean tank and fresh fuel is much better than operating and maintaining a fuel polishing system. And I don't think you should ever pay for fuel polishing services unless your tank is completely inaccessible, because cleaning the tank and replacing the fuel is cheaper than a polishing service, which just puts cleaned up but possibly stale fuel back into a dirty tank.

Ted · Apr 19, 2012

Fuel Polishing

Here's another twist to what you are trying to accomplish.
http://www.parkerfuelpolishing.com/downloads/FPM_marine.pdf
http://www.parkerfuelpolishing.com/index.html

Maine Sail · Apr 19, 2012

There are plenty of inexpensive pumps out there that can do this. We use a Carter rotary vane pump but Walbro also makes some excellent pumps. As for a fuel water separator there are also many of those too and I would buy one rather than try to build one..

Some tanks, like the one on our boat, are impossible to clean in-place and require LOTS of labor to remove, like removing the engine.

When designing the new tank we chose a high turnover dedicated polishing system but it was designed and built specifically for this fuel tank with it's own tappings and a pick up tube that is about 1/8" of the absolute bottom of the tank. The returned fuel is returned below fuel level to prevent foaming as well. For the filter we used a Racor 900 Turbine but you can get less expensive commercial/industrial filters too..

Having replaced a fair number of filthy tanks, got two out behind the barn right now, I will never have another boat without a dedicated built in polishing system.. I think the total cost for all the parts was around $400.00 and that included the Racor 900. This can easily be done for under $200.00 if you want but probably won't be as high a turn over rate.

Keep in mind that a polishing system will NOT clean a dirty tank, just the fuel, but it can keep a clean tank clean..

gray_penguin · Apr 22, 2012

My system is not nearly as nice looking as Maine Sail's but it has served me well.

P2 will be a Walbro FRA-1-1 Fuel Pump Walbro FRA-Series Fuel Pumps are the perfect choice where low cost and good durability are important. The FRA-1 fuel pump supersedes the Walbro 2401-1 fuel pump, which has been discontinued. The FRA-1 is one of two pumps that supersede the Walbro 2108-1 fuel pump. (The FRD-1 is also an acceptable replacement for the Walbro 2108-1 fuel pump.)
F2 will be a Plastic (polypropylene) 10" home water filtration housing with a standard 5 micron water filter (details below)
I will have a vacuum gauge between the filter and pump to keep an eye on the filter as if collects junk. The higher the vacuum the more junk has been collected.
There is also two valves (shown in red on the diagram) that can direct the clean fuel to the engine instead of the tank in case the main (F1) filter gets clogged up.
Filter Details:
This is a water removing filter designed for use in a whole house water filter that uses a 10" filter cartridge.(available on eBay or most home improvement stores) The inner filter is a standard 5 micron polypropylene filter cartridge and is replaceable. The outer layer is a filter that incorporates a Super-absorbent Polymer that will absorb up to 60 times its volume in water and the impurities carried by water. This filter will not absorb vegetable oils, animal fats or petroleum oils. After the oil exits the inner filter, it is directed through the Super-absorbent Polymer layer which absorbs and holds water but allows the oil to pass right through.

(I actually ended up placing a Raycore filter between F2 and P2 also but it really is only there for redundancy not necessity)

The valves (shown in red on the diagram) change the flow of clean pressurized fuel from going back to the tank and instead into the engine, by-passing the main Racor in case it clogs up or the main fuel pump goes out.

The details can be seen here: http://www.winddragon.net/projects/fuel-polishing.html

Roger Long · Apr 23, 2012

gray_penguin said:
My system is not nearly as nice looking as Maine Sail's but it has served me well.http://www.winddragon.net/projects/fuel-polishing.html

That is a really neat looking and simple system. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work very well.

I especially like the diagram

newage1461 · May 9, 2012

Fuel removal.

Removing the old fuel from the tank sounds like a great idea, but what do I do with 5-10 gallons of diesel fuel, 2 gallons at a time?

Steve Dion · May 9, 2012

Put it in a couple of jerry cans and take it to your local fire department or give it to someone with an oil burner furnace.

MICHAEL7914 · May 16, 2012

are you getting water water water until water enters injection pump...i had this problem too ...cause ...when i bought boat it had been fitted with wrong filter insert..a 2micron which filters every last drop of h20 from fuel...fitted 10micron filter end of problem ..good luck