Buck, I get mine from West Marine right off the
shelf. And something else I learned last spring about filters. I met a man with the pickup truck and engine that is on my Xmas list. I learned that he is a master mechanic. The rig I want is a Duramax diesel, like his. Well, it seems that modern diesels like the Duramax, are 'quiet' because the fuel pressure at the injectors is in the mid twenty thousand pound range. Yes, THOUSAND! I exclaimed that that kind of pressure is getting close to what's needed to cut steel. He then pulled photos from a file that he had in his truck. The photos were taken with an electron microscope and showed the damage to the injector seats that such pressure caused. (is that radical or what?) His solution was to install a Caterpillar (brand) 2 micron secondary filter. He said the injector life goes from failure at 100,000 miles to beyond 750,000. (projected. nobody really knows and most trucks are dead by then so who cares?) He cleared the modification with his local zone office so his warranty was still valid. The key to this story is '2 microns and asphalt'
I have 450 hrs. or so on the engine with this setup. Prior to that I also ran about 150 gallons of diesel through the first Racor to the stock tank and then burned the fuel with the furnace. So the second filter to the engine has had to do less work. Anyway, because I cleaned both tanks during the rebuild, neither filter has seen any noticeable dirt. And no water is evident in the bowls. The fuel transfer pump is still filling the stock tank as fast as it did when the system was new. The pump is rated at 60 gallons an hour and it transfers about 18 gallons in 20 minutes or so. I'm not complaining. As far as flow rates of various filter elements, I don't have a clue. And Merry Christmas.