Knock off Racor

[rbk]

I thought I had started a thread on this already but can’t seem to find it. Anyway, I recently purchased a knock off racor 500 for a mobile fuel polisher and am posting my findings. The tank is in good shape but has a good amount of suspended soot, no water, very small amount of algae after scraping the sump, no sludge. The housing is near identical to the real thing but the hose connections were not npt and required pipe dope to seal. I started with a true racor 30 micron (tight fit compared to the knock off filter that it came with) it performed as the real thing. Next I installed the provided unmarked filter (as in no idea what the rating is), the paper filter came out almost as clean as it went in. Next another racor 10 micron, came out black. My conclusion is the housing is good and can be a cheap effective alternative to the real thing, BUT I would install it below the level of my tank for fear of inferior plastic in the bowl (shock or wear casing catastrophic failure) and ensuing siphoning of the tank. For a polishing system or backup filter it would fit the bill only if you use genuine racor filters.

[BigBeakie]

Those look like the filters I got with the Scitex knockoff of the Racor here in Oz. Absolute junk. Yes, I tried to save a bit of money too 😢

If you look very closely you will see that the the Racor unit has a different way to seal the filter element that forces the fuel to be directed through the filter. The Racor engineer explained the difference to me, and although subtle, there IS a difference in effectiveness. And of course the filters are different also.

The knockoff allows fuel to pass through the central shaft fitting tolerance , because it doesnt seal, and therefore go straight through unfiltered.

It maybe OK to filter out the big chunks when fuel polishing...maybe. But getting down to 5 or 2 micron. Forget it.

Since I have both the Racor and the knockoff Scitex, I will try and show the difference in filtering capability between them on a video. Like Project Farm does, just love his Youtube channel showing testing. But been too busy lately to get it together.

I need to find some particulate with a known size such as 2 micron, that is visible in suspension. Anyone have any suggestions what material would be suitable?


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[BigBeakie]

Can anyone suggest a suitable pump to use for diesel fuel polishing using the Racor 500 turbine system? The issue seems to be that the max flow and pressure that the Racor 500 filter needs is too low for most pumps. In other words, the pumps are all too strong for the Racor 500 filter.
If anyone has setup fuel polishing using Racor 500, which fuel pump did you find that workes? And what are the flow rate and pressure specs of it, please?


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[ggray]

For polishing fuel, it's my understanding that a depth filter makes more sense. Can hold more contamination, and filters cost less for how long they last.
Mine is a Shelco, IIRC.

[dongiulio]

My experience with a knockoff Racor is that the filter leaked fuel from day one, turned out the water filter cup had a tiny crack in the transparent plastic, near the valve for the water sensor.

Had to replace the whole thing, with an original, this time.

[rbk]

Originally Posted by BigBeakie

Those look like the filters I got with the Scitex knockoff of the Racor here in Oz. Absolute junk. Yes, I tried to save a bit of money too 😢

If you look very closely you will see that the the Racor unit has a different way to seal the filter element that forces the fuel to be directed through the filter. The Racor engineer explained the difference to me, and although subtle, there IS a difference in effectiveness. And of course the filters are different also.

The knockoff allows fuel to pass through the central shaft fitting tolerance , because it doesnt seal, and therefore go straight through unfiltered.

It maybe OK to filter out the big chunks when fuel polishing...maybe. But getting down to 5 or 2 micron. Forget it.

Since I have both the Racor and the knockoff Scitex, I will try and show the difference in filtering capability between them on a video. Like Project Farm does, just love his Youtube channel showing testing. But been too busy lately to get it together.

I need to find some particulate with a known size such as 2 micron, that is visible in suspension. Anyone have any suggestions what material would be suitable?


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All but the top clean one are true Racor filter 30 & 10. They seal very well to the center shaft and I’m certain if I throw a 2 micron in there it will filter it out. My primary for the engine is a genuine racor 500.

[rbk]

Originally Posted by ggray

For polishing fuel, it's my understanding that a depth filter makes more sense. Can hold more contamination, and filters cost less for how long they last.
Mine is a Shelco, IIRC.

Yes but you also need a larger pump.

[rbk]

Originally Posted by BigBeakie

Can anyone suggest a suitable pump to use for diesel fuel polishing using the Racor 500 turbine system? The issue seems to be that the max flow and pressure that the Racor 500 filter needs is too low for most pumps. In other words, the pumps are all too strong for the Racor 500 filter.
If anyone has setup fuel polishing using Racor 500, which fuel pump did you find that workes? And what are the flow rate and pressure specs of it, please?


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Max flow for 500’is 60gph so most any auto fuel pump will do. I went with a solid state from Faucet @32gph $50 and a mid range knock off racor 500 $80 and a will stick with genuine filters. It will take some time to filter the whole tank but in my mind every hour on the makeshift polisher is around 20 hours of motoring (given 20gph from the pump, as I doubt it is putting out 32) and that much less crap getting into my primary or secondary filters. I’ve seen the same setups selling for $600 online.