Im copying this from another post I made so I don't have to type it again.
This is the fuel polisher I have on my boat. It works awesome. Uses inexpensive filter elements that are industry standard so probably available anywhere. My tanks are spotless after running this for 2 years.
You could adapt the design and get a 220v motor/pump but having it onboard is nice to keep it clean. There are companies that come to your boat with a polisher setup similar to this mounted on a cart and polish on the docks.
I borrowed heavily from this webpage:
Strider Fuel System
The main components are (2) Shelco
stainless steel filter bodies (FOSBN-786), a 12v Carter
fuel pump (P4070)
The rest is just fittings, fuel line, hose clamps, a DPDT rocker switch, a 12v relay etc.
This is the schematic I used:
I custom made 2
parts which aren't really available, 1 is a bracket to hold the filters and the other is an
aluminum tank bung.
Here's what it looks like installed. The
aluminum bracket holds the Shelco filter housings. I bought these because they are US made, very high quality SS housings, I paid $16 each on eBay, that accept industry standard filter cartridges. I buy filters from McMaster Carr for about $5/each in any micron you could want. I use 10 micron filters and a pair easily filtered 100 hours x 72 GPH or 7200 gals of fuel with no apparent reduction in filtering capacity.
In words this is how it works:
I made a new tank bung that that I use for a fuel pickup. You can't use the
engine pickup because it will starve the
engine for fuel as I found out. I made the bung from aluminum. The in tank portion I tapped for a pipe thread. I used a NPT
compression fitting to attach some flexible 3/8" soft copper. I test fit the dip tube until I had found the very bottom forward part of the tank. Once it was bent perfectly and the right length (lots of trial and cutting with pipe cutter) I secured it by tapping the tank for some small SS allen cap screws and black RTV
sealant.
I drilled a hole in the tank using a hole saw. At first I was worried about the small amount of chips in the tank but let me tell you, the polisher works well!! Hoovered up the chips and they were all found in the first filter housing.
So the fuel pickup leads into engine compartment and into the first filter housing (1). The fuel line then exits the first filter (2) and goes to a Carter P4070
fuel pump (3). This a 72 GPH
pump. It works really well. At
anchor the
noise would be annoying but I only run when the engine is running so it's a non issue. After it leaves the pump, it now pushes fuel through the second filter (4). From this point I would typically return the fuel to the tank. I have a sight glass I found in my
parts bin to check fuel (5).
The other bit of functionality I built into the system is the polisher can act as a backup to the main engine
lift pump. By opening (6), closing (7) you've now shut off the
racor and are supplying 10 micron fuel to the engine. I tried this out underway and it works great. Can change out the stock
Racor element, under
power, and prime the Racor back up with fresh clean fuel and then put the Racor back online and go back to polishing fuel.
To power the setup, I run it off a DPDT rocker switch mounted on the port external side of the engine compartment (quarterberth area). In the down position it runs the pump off the 12V system, so it's ON any time the main
battery switch is on. In the UP position, it runs when the engine is running, I tapped power from the
Balmar smart
regulator, fed this to a fused 12v relay. This is how I run it 99% of the time. So when the engine is running I'm polishing the contents of the tank 2x an hour. For spring commissioning I run it for a few hours and make sure I've gotten all the junk at the bottom of the tank.
If I were to do it again I think only one filter is necessary. These filter elements are pretty large. I ran the same pair all season long with maybe 100 hours of engine time. When I took them apart the first filter housing had all the aluminum chips and black sludge. The second filter was spotless. I would normally change a Racor mid season but when I checked it it looked new too. I assume this is because the polisher runs through far more fuel in an hour and caught all the junk before the Racor had a chance too. The turbine bowl also was free of almost any sediment compared to the year before. I ran the 2 filters because I bought 2 on ebay for $16.00/ea and I like overdoing things. If you were to run a
single filter you'd want the filter before the pump to protect it, thus "pulling" fuel through.