Fuel Seperator

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PAT

While, I have never had a problem wiht water in the fuel and recently had the clam shell cover installed over my vent as recalled, I am concerned about water in the fuel. I know where the seperator is located but want to know the proper process. There are two drain nuts on the bottom of the filter, which one is the water drain? Do I have to open the vent nut? Will this be under pressure? I don't want the seperator to become air bond, how do you prevent. In general, What is the proper process by which I should check the seperator.
 
Jun 3, 2004
143
Hunter 33 Santa Barbara
Fuel Separater H33

Pat, I too installed the clam shell cover that was sent to me. When I had the 50 hour service done by Yanmar (prior to getting the clam shell update), the technician said he found water in the filter. I found water in the bowl at 100hr when I checked it again, as noted below. Your fuel separater is probably the Racor 110A. To drain water (if there is any) you unscrew the small brass fitting on the bottom (the other is darker on mine and larger). I had to remove mine in order to get any drainage. Simply loosening it was not enough to get the drainage. Apparently, if you have trouble getting it to drain, you would loosen the vent fitting you mentioned. Of difficulty is the confined space to work and containing whatever drains out when you loosen (or remove) the drain fitting. I found it very challenging to stop the flow from the filter, containing the liquid, and getting the drain plug back on. There has to be a better way. Maybe replace the drain plug with something with a little valve? After I tightened everything, I ran the engine, expecting that I would have to vent - but not a problem. Hope this helps. Michael
 

JohnEh

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Jun 7, 2004
76
Hunter 36 Baton Rouge
Raycor Filter Info.

We have had numerous issues with water in fuel. After the first episode, we purchased a clear plastic bowl with drain cocks. This enabled us to see the water in the bowl and then drain it off. The draining off process was easier with the clear plastic bowl, but still hard because of the small space in the engine compatment. Ours starboard which is attached to the engine compartment separated. So, our Yanmar dealer installed a much larger fuel separator with a clear plastic bowl and drain cocks back by the fuel tank. This is much easier to see and get to by removing the teak panel in the aft cabin. The larger filter is suppose to do a much better job and the replacement parts are cheaper. I am waiting to get the exact name/model so I will have a replacement filter on board.
 

AndyK

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Mar 10, 2004
195
Hunter 33 Salem, MA
My travails

Have you tried opening the fuel tank access port in the port-side rear cockpit locker and shutting off the fuel valve? It might slow some of the fuel from emptying out of the fuel line. On my 2004 33 getting this access port open was a real challenge. During manufacturing somebody put bedding compound all over the port's seal making it reeeeeal difficult to get off. I have actually been trying to find the right part number to purchase a replacement fuel filter. I got this part number off of the side of the filter: R12PUL. Unfortunately I cannot find reference to this part anywhere, including the RACOR website. I contacted Hunter tech support and they said they had no idea and I should try contacting a Yanmar (!!???) parts dealer in Florida (I'm in Massachusetts) which confounded me since this is a Racor part. Any information that anybody has would be a real help. Andy
 

JohnEh

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Jun 7, 2004
76
Hunter 36 Baton Rouge
Raycor Filter

See my post. I think that changing the whole filter is a much better solution, but if you want to stay with the raycor, my element for our 33 was 120A($11.58) item R12P and the clear bowl is item #RK10215($18.45) which we purchased from Green Marine In Metairie, LA - telephone # 504-833-7386. The Yanmar people in Fla said they would not sell me anything because I live in LA which is not in their territory. Raycor provided me with the telephone # for Green Marine. They sent the parts to me UPS. You could check for a closer dealer.
 
Jun 3, 2004
143
Hunter 33 Santa Barbara
Racor 110A Fuel Separater Filter

The standard filter element is a 10 Micron filter. The yanmar technician suggested putting in a 2 micron filter (R12S). Attached is a picture of the filter assy, with the element clearly visible. Others have discussed a clear bowl, but I read that that is not recommended inside an engine compartment due to the heat... Michael
 

JohnEh

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Jun 7, 2004
76
Hunter 36 Baton Rouge
Bowl/Micron

Yes, the heat in the engine compartment is an issue with the plastic bowl. That is one reason why our Yanmar dealer moved the filter with the clear plastic bowl to where the fuel tank is. He installed a much bigger filter where there is much more room. In respect to the microns, the smaller the microns, the finer the filter and the easier it is to get stopped up and shut down the engine. The Yanmar filter is 10 microns and the original raycor on our 33 was 30 microns, so that the raycor would filer the big stuff and the Yanmar would filter the small stuff. If you use a 2 micron, you won't need the 10 micron Yanmar.
 
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