Air in Fuel System Puzzle

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Congratulations!

Don't forget to look at solar, next time it might not be so easy... less difficult... less aggravating?

No room for solar on this boat!

Next one will have solar built into the pilothouse roof.

Thanks everyone for all the help and encouragement. Like after every technical problem, I'm a bit wiser.. . .

[Tayana42]

Dockhead, good for you tracking the problem down and resolving it. Air leaks can be tough to find. Good sailing for the rest of your cruise.

[kjbiceman]

Fuel systems can be tricky, best thing to do is to set up a direct fuel line from the tank to the primary filter on the engine. if it runs and no problem then you work backward and find the leak were it is sucking in air.

[Bleemus]

Thumbs up! Love it when a mystery is solved!

[Cormorant]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

It was a loose cover plate on the Carter fuel pump. Held on with studs shared with the mounting bracket, so can be unscrewed unnoticeably when removing the pump

I'm curious how you pinpointed the leak. Did you pressurize that segment of the fuel system somehow, or just notice the loose cover plate by visual inspection?

Thank you DH, and all contributors here, for the furtherance of our diesel education.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

No room for solar on this boat!

Next one will have solar built into the pilothouse roof.

Thanks everyone for all the help and encouragement. Like after every technical problem, I'm a bit wiser.. . .

So.... will you be "venturing further afield, like to Iceland and Greenland next year (maybe)" on "this boat!" or the "Next one?"

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

So.... will you be "venturing further afield, like to Iceland and Greenland next year (maybe)" on "this boat!" or the "Next one?"

The next boat is still a pipe dream. Have to earn the money first, then design, then build -- some years away.

No, my present boat would be perfectly fine for this trip. It was actually what I was planning to do four years ago before my first Baltic cruise. I bought all the pilot books and had already done a lot of the planning.

The idea is to sail up the East Coast of the UK, stop off in the Orkneys (Scapa Flow!), Faroes, then circumnavigate Iceland and spend some time there. Then back via the West Coast of Scotland and Irish Sea. Greenland is only 200 miles from the West coast of Iceland, so a short visit there would also be possible in a total of 3 or 4 months of cruising.

This is actually not extreme sailing -- a bit more mileage than my Baltic cruises, but no passages nearly as long as my usual Cowes to Helgoland leg. Would involve a lot of motoring as you get a lot of dead calms in the summer at that latitude. But because of the short passages, there is practically no risk of getting into any of the extreme weather you also get up there.

I know a couple who did the same route doubled handed and without stopping -- some crazy double hand race.

The more extreme sailing, which will definitely have to wait until I have less responsibility at work, would be to sail through the White Sea Canal to the Barents sea, then to Svalbard, then down the Northern Coast of Norway. Wow, I would love to do that. Now for this trip, the new boat would be desirable, but only if she has a lifting keel, as the White Sea Canal is quite shallow.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Cormorant

I'm curious how you pinpointed the leak. Did you pressurize that segment of the fuel system somehow, or just notice the loose cover plate by visual inspection?

Thank you DH, and all contributors here, for the furtherance of our diesel education.

Yes, I just noticed the loose plate as I was removing the fuel pump.

I'd rather be lucky than good!

[TheThunderbird]

My suggestion nr 1 is to change pumps. They are ridiculously tiny objects of little value, and poor make

In following your line of thinking, DH, you tend too soon to exclude some possibilities and jump to some conclusions a bit too early in the investigation process.

You never checked the retention BALL inside filters, nor for clogs at valves, not for the pump outflow along the line, downstream or reverse (how much flow?).

Evil is in the subtle details.

That said, l feel happy each/every time my funky Fisher Panda type8 fires, guess why...

Lessons:
1) a manual diesel pressure pump
2) gravity day tank
3)a by-pass straight hose from tank to engine
4) don't buy griffin, only racor. Griffins have a plastic bowl to float up, it gets clogged. Racor has alu ball sitting down.

Do not use Genny under power, unless systems are totally independent.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by TheThunderbird

. . . In following your line of thinking, DH, you tend too soon to exclude some possibilities and jump to some conclusions a bit too early in the investigation process.. . .

This is actually a fair criticism, applicable to this case, and to some others, too. I am working on my diagnostic procedure.

[TheThunderbird]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

This is actually a fair criticism, applicable to this case, and to some others, too. I am working on my diagnostic procedure.

not indeed, please ! But I noticed you saying, many times..." It was so, therefore.."

Unfortunately, you know that things like electricity, pumps, fuel lines....electronics..are so elusive.
Many times, I find that only by ERASING (tabula rasa) the initial assumptions, you solve a problem.
And many times, there can be many explanations behind an event..

:-)

[Joli]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

BTW: I just reread your post, you can't hook up both your engine and the generator to the same fuel supply, the engine will suck all the fuel out of the generator system and vice versa. Each engine needs to have it's own fuel supply back to the fuel tank and an independent filter system.

Another possibility is the fuel sensor safety switch on the generator.

You can have the generator and propulsion engine on the same fuel supply but you must add a check valve when doing so.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Joli

You can have the generator and propulsion engine on the same fuel supply but you must add a check valve when doing so.

So you recommend adding something else which can go wrong? It's best to use two separate fuel lines KISS.

Just because something can be done, doesn't make it a good idea.

[Dunderbird2]

Just in process of tracking down an air leak in my yacht causing engine to roll back revs until it bled itself and would run again. Tracked it to fuel filter by disconnecting hoses and running engine with hose in a jar of fuel to isolate each part of system. Make sure hoses are diesel rated as gasoline hoses can soften and allow air in. Y fittings to fuel filter were wrong type as well. They should have been tapered. I am swapping clamps for stainless fuel injection line clamps which have more even pull up. "Cobra" style clamps seem to be good too.