Tappin' a fuel tank

[All U Get]

Neither options will get what you want.

If you do a lot of long distance cruising or cruise in the 'remote' places of the planet and NEED an onboard recirc. polisher, we can help with your design ... otherwise I suggest you buy a 'case' of paper towels and a long handled scrub brush. If after tank cleaning the tank quickly (1-2 years) forms a lot of 'sludge', then consider to put on a recirculation polisher.

Rx: Clean the tank (as clean as your mothers dishes), then see how long it takes before you need to clean it again, then make a decision to add an onboard 'recirculation polisher'. Filters cannot 'clean out a tank', they only clean up the oil not the crud thats stuck to the tank walls.

;-)

Thanks Rich, this is really good stuff and puts it in perspective. I'm heading back to the boat to look it over with pictures to be taken.
All U Get

 

[Nelsonhow]

I don't polish my fuel but every season or two I get a few empty 5 gallon fuel cans and remove the fuel line from the Perko filter, put a temporary extension and drain all the fuel from the tank. I bypass the filters so it runs out pretty fast. I then use a Baja filter to strain the fuel and put into the heating oil tank for my house. Diesel is the same as #2 fuel oil that we use for home heating oil here in the NY except that the road fuel has a dye and federal road taxes. My tank holds only about 12 gallons so the additional cost is minimal and I don't have to worry about disposal of the old diesel.

 

[Ken Honeycutt]

I installed this polisher this spring..I run it whenever the engine is shutdown. After reading the posts I'm a little concerned. Is there anything wrong with this setup? (Algae x, I know, but it sounded like a good idea at the time when I bought it a couple years ago).

 

[RichH]

If you run the Walbro while the engine is operating the engine will 'starve' from lack of fuel, the Walbro will 'pull fuel' away from the engines fuel supply.

Attached is a 'little bit different... and BOTH filter systems can be operated 'simultaneously'.

Also note that the "racor" is a 10µM to protect the engine flow ... the most 'damaging' particle for a diesel is ~20µM. The engine 'guard' is a teeny/small filter applied ON the engine and is there only if the Racor, etc. breaks a pleat etc. and 'unloads' its debris to the engine.

A 30µM fuel filter can theoretically easily pass 100µM particles
A 10µM fuel filter ... only captures 95-97%(wt) of particles at 10µM .... has an 'absolute' rating approaching 30+µM ... meaning there is a very small possibility that you will pass even 30µM particles with a 10µM typical fuel filter.

 

[Ken Honeycutt]

Thanks Rich. I was concerned that a 10 micron could possibly starve the engine but it would make sense that the fuel passes through the 10 Micron on the engine so there shouldn't be anymore restriction from the Racor 10 Micron.

 

[MitchM]

hmmm fuel polishing. a great idea and one i ahve been putting off. but since i'm going to install an ESPAR diesel this fall, the idea of t he seaparate 'day tank' is a fine idea. some of the later big yanmars 2004 3JH4E , 4HJH+ have a hand pump on the fuel tank through which the bottom of the fuel tank can be regularly sucked out and drained . the pickup tube on the hand pump is very close to the bottom of the fuel tank. the output tube of the hand pump looks like a sink spigot. its control on/off valve is on top of the spigot. to pump out dirty bottoms, the hand pump valve is set to on. (you then of course have to catch the dirty fuel bottoms you are hand pumping out of the fuel tank..) anyone have thoughts or experience with fitting an electric pump and extra RACOR to that hand pump line, with a clean fuel return to the fuel tank itself? that would be simple to do on my engine...

by the some of the european boat manufacturers like nauticat are using SEPAR primary fuel filters, which filters are back-flushable and said to last 5 x longer than the RACORS.

 

[ancientmariner]

Some great information here!
I have a more basic problem: When I bought my O'Day 28, the engine was a Johnson outboard conversion saildrive, which quickly died. I had a Yanmar 2GM with direct drive installed, but kept the original 15 gal. aluminum fuel tank, which is just underneath the cockpit.

The tank has no access apart from the filler, which is awkwardly positioned with two 90 degree elbows, making for very slow filling, and the fuel line at the bottom of the tank.
When I once had a sludge problem (appearing, of course, at a very awkward time) all I was able to do was to empty the tank by pumping it through using the priming bulb.

Reading this discussion has brought my concerns to the fore again. With budget in mind, my thoughts are running to:
1/ Adding a transparent filter upstream of the Racor 200.
2/ Cutting access ports through the cockpit sole and the top of the tank.

I would be pleased to receive suggestions from some of the wise minds above.