Debug device made in NZ

[Uncle Bob]

Hi, has enyone here encountered the NZ made debug device.
My boat came to me with two of these units and so far they have caused blockages in themselves and the fuel line between them and the tank on three ocasions. The only way to clean them is total disassembly of the unit and the fuel line and poke/prod with a stiff wire to remove the black coffee grounds like material which is still in the tank after several attempts to filter the contents.
I have tried to contact the manufacturer with no success, emails to the site on thier webpage are just ignored.
A mechanic has suggested that the device is just bull ****, best removed and carefully placed in the dumpster.
Thaught I would ask if anyone here had encountered these devices and any opinions regarding them would be appreciated.
Cheers.

[Uncle Bob]

Anyone with experience or opinions on this product ??

[colemj]

Well, you are not very specific with your description of the device. If you mean one of those magnetic things like Algae-X, then they are pure BS. If you are talking about a fuel polisher with a filter, then these have value.

Whatever it is, it is not your problem - dirty fuel and/or tank is your problem.

Mark

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by colemj

Well, you are not very specific with your description of the device. If you mean one of those magnetic things like Algae-X, then they are pure BS. If you are talking about a fuel polisher with a filter, then these have value.

Whatever it is, it is not your problem - dirty fuel and/or tank is your problem.

Mark

Sadly Mark dirty fuel is the problem. The tanks are large integral glassfibre tanks with minimal access.
At some stage a previous owner hed these magnetic De-Bug devices fitted apparently to address this problem.
Now all they do is trap any crap in them and the fuel line back to the tank blocking it completely, not allowing anything to make it to the installed raycor filter.
The contents of the tanks have been pumped through a water separator/sediment bowl at high volume a number of times on a number of occasions.
I can only see that the removal of these units and replace them with a sediment bowl is the most practical solution.
Anyone have another view/suggestion ?

[colemj]

They are useless, so getting rid of them is a good idea.

Mark

[DeepFrz]

It will really pay you dividends to cut access holes in each of the tank segments, drain the fuel and scrub the tank. Also clean out all the fuel lines. Filter the fuel back into the tank and you should be good to go.

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Sadly Mark dirty fuel is the problem. The tanks are large integral glassfibre tanks with minimal access.
At some stage a previous owner hed these magnetic De-Bug devices fitted apparently to address this problem.
Now all they do is trap any crap in them and the fuel line back to the tank blocking it completely, not allowing anything to make it to the installed raycor filter.
The contents of the tanks have been pumped through a water separator/sediment bowl at high volume a number of times on a number of occasions.
I can only see that the removal of these units and replace them with a sediment bowl is the most practical solution.
Anyone have another view/suggestion ?

The separation between the magnets on the Debug is pretty significant, so if you are trapping crud between the magnets then you have a pretty major contamination problem. Removing these units are not going to help at all. I've cleaned up a bacteria problem on a sailboat with a similar unit and while there are certainly those who think them useless, my experience is different.

Clean the tanks and ignore the Debug units.

[bobconnie]

If ya mount a Groco sea water filter before the de-bug unit, and have a fine stainless steel filter in that! Ya have a super great fuel filtering system!! Takes out all the real big stuff first then the small stuff in the de-bug ! worked for us !! And I mean real well and we had some fouled tanks !! Real bad fouled !!

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Delfin

The separation between the magnets on the Debug is pretty significant, so if you are trapping crud between the magnets then you have a pretty major contamination problem. Removing these units are not going to help at all. I've cleaned up a bacteria problem on a sailboat with a similar unit and while there are certainly those who think them useless, my experience is different.

Clean the tanks and ignore the Debug units.

Thanks for your experience.
The crud particles are not that large, about the size and colour of used coffee grounds.
The unit seems to trap them on the exit port and they slowly back up through the unit filling it.
The fuel is dosed with with an additive to kill diesel bug/algae and I am definately getting less each time I filter.
I realise that providing good access to each tank and cleaning/scrubbing is the best option, it is a major task requireing deconstructing the quarterberth, surgery on the tank and then reconstruction. I have been hoping thatthere may be a less invasive way.

[mcm]

What you are probably seeing are "asphaltenes" part of the diesel fuel , continuous filtration and polishing will eventually eliminate, except that which has solidified in the bottom of the tank.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

If ya mount a Groco sea water filter before the de-bug unit, and have a fine stainless steel filter in that! Ya have a super great fuel filtering system!! Takes out all the real big stuff first then the small stuff in the de-bug ! worked for us !! And I mean real well and we had some fouled tanks !! Real bad fouled !!

Thanks for that, I hadn't considered that and elegantly simple too.

This is what I love about this site, a great diversity of ideas and experience.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by mcm

What you are probably seeing are "asphaltenes" part of the diesel fuel , continuous filtration and polishing will eventually eliminate, except that which has solidified in the bottom of the tank.

I do hope you are right, it is mainly presenting after a rough journey offshore.