Fuel Polishing- Racor P510

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Symphony

Thanks, Ken. Assuming a nice access port, what's the best method or cleaning tools for fuel tank scrubbing?

Don't know. I had someone else do it when I first got the boat, he used a scrub brush and elbow grease.

[Captjohn4]

I have fitted a Parker FPM-050 system to my volvo 2040D and a 65 gal fuel tank. I have been using this for about 9 years and it works beautifully. Really low battery drain. It is a small pump so it only puts through maybe 50 gals a day so you need to run it for 4 days to effectively to polish 65 gals.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Symphony

Thanks, Ken. Assuming a nice access port, what's the best method or cleaning tools for fuel tank scrubbing?

The stuff that sticks to the side of the tank and the bottom has the consistency of school custard. Therefore I found a 2" wallpaper scraper the ideal tool for removing the gloop from the tank. After this I scrubbed it with a pan scourer and some clean diesel. You will also need lots of rags or paper towels on a roll and some marigold gloves.

This tank was 28 years old when cleaned and not for the first time. Problem caused because the o ring on the tank filler leaked rain water into the tank. The filter was from my home brew fuel polisher which was used to drain the tank down.

Pete

[Sarayu]

No doubt there's a necessity to get right down and dirty with cleaning tanks, as shown in previous threads.
After an Atlantic crossing with then recently fuelled tanks on our cat, we had to hand steer for ten days due to not being able to start the motors. Both tanks took on volumes of water. Ensuing bacteria followed.
I fitted standard racor turbo (2040)10 micron filters to both tanks with a small electric fuel pump.
I turn them on when motoring, refuelling and when the sea is up to stir the fuel in tanks around.
DEFINITELY not as instantaneous as have your fuel polished, but with fuel conditioner and continual monitoring, our fuel is now sparkling. The tanks appear clean on the interior( however against some of the shots above were probably never that bad).
Simple, works well and relatively cheap.

[Kenomac]

This thread reminded me to look into my fuel tank. Yep, still spotless after four years. It's truly amazing the difference that periodic fuel polishing makes... money well-spent. IMHO

[Gos2017]

Hi all

Looking at setting up my own system due to budget constraints (although the Racor looks very nice!). Can anyone recommend the brand/model pump they have used??

Love to get your feedback

Cheers

Gos

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

This thread reminded me to look into my fuel tank. Yep, still spotless after four years. It's truly amazing the difference that periodic fuel polishing makes... money well-spent. IMHO

Perhaps, but preventing the problem in the first place means you don't have to polish the fuel. The problem is I suspect there are an awful lot of contaminated fuel tanks which owners don't know about, as I did until curiosity got the better of me. There were few signs, fuel appeared clean and bright, only an occasional hair like wisp in the water separator. Only crawling into the cockpit locker and unbolting the 20 nuts holding down the inspection hatch revealed the issue. This was after several years of polishing the fuel. Unfortunately the contamination with a thick consistency of custard wasn't stirred up with the polisher.

I would certainly recommend looking inside every couple of years or if that isn't possible then use a camera.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Gos2017

Hi all

Looking at setting up my own system due to budget constraints (although the Racor looks very nice!). Can anyone recommend the brand/model pump they have used?? Love to get your feedback Cheers Gos

Yes, I used a standard Facet fuel pump off e bay with a CAV fuel filter.

Pete

[maxingout]

I was hoping that fuel polishing would clean the tank, but this thread seems to say that tank cleaning and fuel polishing are two separate things.

So I am going to have to pump out my tanks, get the goop out of them, and then put the polished fuel back in.

But how do you get the goop out once you scrape it off the walls of the tank? Do you put rags on a stick and wipe it off a bit at a time? Is there any easy way to suck the goop out.

I guess i will have to bend a big metal putty knife into a goop scoop. This sound like a slow and probably challenging job.

[davil]

I used a system much as described by Pete.
I was in Puerto Vallarta,no WestMarine there,so went to an auto parts,bought a 12 volts fuel pump very cheap,cheaper than the one Pete bought in EBay,paid a few bucks for it,for filter bought a monster like used on huge big trucks,I think the filter was about one foot long,some tubing but the detail was a long coper tube like plumbers or fuel line,bought the length of the tank depth plus and insert it straight to touch/rest on the bottom to insure will be sucking fuel from the bottom,every so often will "just stir the pot"and hit the borders and corners to scrap what I could,when done,just get ride of the cartridge,bag the whole mess for next time.
of course,when cruising never.never fuel directly into the boat tanks,every single drop of fuel will go thru my Baja Filter, even the reserve jugs I carried on deck will go thru this Baja filter again,just in case water by condensation or leak should have filter in,never had a problem during the 4 plus years we cruised,may be luck,may be this pollishing,may be faith?
David

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Perhaps, but preventing the problem in the first place means you don't have to polish the fuel. The problem is I suspect there are an awful lot of contaminated fuel tanks which owners don't know about, as I did until curiosity got the better of me. There were few signs, fuel appeared clean and bright, only an occasional hair like wisp in the water separator. Only crawling into the cockpit locker and unbolting the 20 nuts holding down the inspection hatch revealed the issue. This was after several years of polishing the fuel. Unfortunately the contamination with a thick consistency of custard wasn't stirred up with the polisher.

I would certainly recommend looking inside every couple of years or if that isn't possible then use a camera.

We have a Reverso 145 gph fuel polishing system onboard, so the fuel gets polished once a week. The frequent polishing is what prevents the sludge.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by maxingout

I was hoping that fuel polishing would clean the tank, but this thread seems to say that tank cleaning and fuel polishing are two separate things.

So I am going to have to pump out my tanks, get the goop out of them, and then put the polished fuel back in.

But how do you get the goop out once you scrape it off the walls of the tank? Do you put rags on a stick and wipe it off a bit at a time? Is there any easy way to suck the goop out.

I guess i will have to bend a big metal putty knife into a goop scoop. This sound like a slow and probably challenging job.

I think the first thing to do is have a look and see how bad it is. If its really bad then a polish isn't going to resolve the problem. You will know on looking inside.

I cut half a large empty milk bottle up and put it inside the tank and then scooped the gloop into that. A good scrub of the tank and wiped it clean before refilling with fresh diesel and lots of chemical stuff. The wall paper scraper was both handy and an ideal tool to scrape the tank and then scoop it into the bottle as it was quite thick. Final clean with a pan scourer may or may not have done any good but it cleaned the last bit. Probably took about an hour to do the tank.

[maxingout]

Originally Posted by Pete7

I think the first thing to do is have a look and see how bad it is. If its really bad then a polish isn't going to resolve the problem. You will know on looking inside.

I cut half a large empty milk bottle up and put it inside the tank and then scooped the gloop into that. A good scrub of the tank and wiped it clean before refilling with fresh diesel and lots of chemical stuff. The wall paper scraper was both handy and an ideal tool to scrape the tank and then scoop it into the bottle as it was quite thick. Final clean with a pan scourer may or may not have done any good but it cleaned the last bit. Probably took about an hour to do the tank.

Thanks for the details on how to clean the tank. I hate reinventing the wheel, and now I have a place to start. In a couple of weeks the fun will begin.

[Symphony]

thanks Ken, Pete, and David.
just what I needed to know.
milk carton.
wall paper scraper
CAV filter bolted on a board with a Facet 12V pump.

The Reverso module looks excellent

[Symphony]

Would it be possible to run the intake and output hose of the homemade polisher both in the access panel? one hose to the bow end, the other hose to the stern end. polish fuel right in the tank without disconnecting any existing hoses.

I always hate to disconnect hoses that work fine and are leak proof before I start "improving" things.