Racor Fuel Polisher

[shorebird]

Polishing fuel, and cleaning the tank aren't the same thing. Polishing fuel is normally done to remove suspended sediment and impurities from the fuel, while often adding fuel enhancers to enhance combustibility which can diminish over time. With the introduction of ultra low sulpher fuels, microbial contamination has skyrocketed, and microbial colonies can cause large amounts of sludge to accumulate in fuel tanks, often clogging filters, and causing highly acidic secretions which can etch through solid steel in static conditions, such as a boat not being used for a period of time. Cleaning a marine fuel tank would be difficult, so preventing accumulations of sludge is important. Using anti-microbial fuel additives and stabilizers, and keeping water out of the tank are the most important things, IMHO.

[sabray]

Any negatives when using treatment and high surface filter at low 2 micron filters. I am using 1000 series racor at 2 micron . single filter.
My tanks are 120 gallons and I use that annually pretty near.so fuel is fresh. Seems like a cheap trade off from having small 500 series filters. Am I missing something?

[sdowney717]

anyone else think that "ultrasonic electrical oscillations", "enormous energy" and temperature of 5000 degrees Kelvin sound a bit scary in a fuel tank?

Does, but no worries. These ultrasonic machines make very tiny microscopic type implosions. We had one in the lab and It did not heat anything up.

Ultrasonic cleaning would pulverize tank debris, crud, bacteria, smash it again and again and put it in liquid suspension as a fine cloud of dust.

It sends shock waves threw out the liquid and would reach everywhere inside the tank. Just like ocean waves can travel thousands of miles, these ultrasonic waves would as well.

Designed for cleaning out extremely tiny crevices and pores in whatever items are being cleaned.

These devices use a piezoelectric crystal to generate sound energy. I imagine one could be developed to fit into a tank opening. It would be desirable to have a small foot print where it could be inserted into the fill spout which means no tank would have to be opened up.

Imagine even a short flexible wire like string of piezoelectric crystals on a flexible wire which go into the tank

[hpeer]

Update on my efforts.

Abandoned Racor pump, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to small for 150 gallon tank.

Used a Whale Gulper 220, which is diesel rated at 80 gallons/hour.

Now THAT seemed to do the trick.

[DeepFrz]

That Racor pump might be okay for a 20 gal. tank. Even then it seems to small.

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Update on my efforts.

Abandoned Racor pump, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to small for 150 gallon tank.

Used a Whale Gulper 220, which is diesel rated at 80 gallons/hour.

Now THAT seemed to do the trick.

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

That Racor pump might be okay for a 20 gal. tank. Even then it seems to small.

It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. The Racor pump is not intended to clean a dirty tank. But, if you buy Parker's theory, a slow moving pump is all that is needed to keep clean fuel clean.

Parker Fuel Polishing Module - Prevent Fuel System Corrosion

[noelex 77]

My DIY system has a small pump like the Raycor system. It takes 10-15 hours to filter the tank volume.
Its quiet and uses little power so its often left on 10 hours a day. The volume of the pump is not enough to agitate the tank contents, but we have plenty of sailing in rough conditions that does that nicely.
Passing the whole tank volume through a filter ever couple of days seems plenty. I have noticed an improvement in the diesel samples I have collected so I am sure its having an effect.

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

My DIY system has a small pump like the Raycor system. It takes 10-15 hours to filter the tank volume.

Why so long? Transferring fuel among my four fuel tanks of 79 gallons each takes a fractions of an hour with this smallish pump.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Why so long? Transferring fuel among my four fuel tanks of 79 gallons each takes a fractions of an hour with this smallish pump.

My tank holds 1000L (250gal)

The pump flow is about a liter a minute.

I could easily put in a bigger pump, but it would use more power and probably start to make some noise, so it would be run less and the net effect would be the same.

I do not think there is much stiring up of any sedement untill you get to a much, much larger pump and even then the outflow needs to be moved around the tank.
Fortunatly a good sail, or even a rolly anchorage, will stir up the tank contents and sedement better than any pump.

[sdowney717]

will stir up the tank contents and sedement better than any pump

Perhaps somewhat it does.
you would think so, but that stuff forms plaques and bacterial cluster matts which stick together to themselves and on the tank.

[DeepFrz]

We will have to wait a few years to know if they really work. I wasn't thinking in my last post about the pump cleaning a dirty tank, I know from experience what you need to do to clean a dirty tank. But with such a low rate of flow through the tank I am doubtful that the fuel will get cleaned and stay cleaned. I guess time will tell.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

We will have to wait a few years to know if they really work. I wasn't thinking in my last post about the pump cleaning a dirty tank, I know from experience what you need to do to clean a dirty tank. But with such a low rate of flow through the tank I am doubtful that the fuel will get cleaned and stay cleaned. I guess time will tell.

That pump Racor was out when I built my new tank and permanently installed recirc system with dedicated pick up and returns.

After consulting with Parker/Racor I made the decision to go high flow vs. low flow. I can turn my tank twice per hour and the fuel is filtered to 2 micron, which is overkill. System was inexpensive, under $350.00 for the 72 GPH pump and Racor 900MA filter, and simple. I could have spent less on a filter housing but I do like the Racors.. It performs amazingly well and the tank walls have remained spotless thus far. I will stick my scope camera in there again this winter and see how it looks..

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

That pump Racor was out when I built my new tank and permanently installed recirc system with dedicated pick up and returns.

After consulting with Parker/Racor I made the decision to go high flow vs. low flow. I can turn my tank twice per hour and the fuel is filtered to 2 micron, which is overkill. System was inexpensive, under $350.00 for the 72 GPH pump and Racor 900MA filter, and simple. I could have spent less on a filter housing but I do like the Racors.. It performs amazingly well and the tank walls have remained spotless thus far. I will stick my scope camera in there again this winter and see how it looks..

I am interested in your set up. I would like to buy a spare pump on my next trip back to Aust. A few questions if I may Maine Sail.

What is the model of the pump?
What is the current draw?
How noisy is it?
Is normal 8mm fuel hose OK for this volume?
Did Raycor (or do you) think a high flow pump is better than a low flow, if the same amount of fuel is filtered ?

Thanks in anticipation.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

I am interested in your set up. I would like to buy a spare pump on my next trip back to Aust. A few questions if I may Maine Sail.

What is the model of the pump?

Can't remember but it is a Carter 12V 72GPH pump

Originally Posted by noelex 77

What is the current draw?

Higher than I would like but the system is designed to run when the motor does and can run independently. I think it draws about 3A but can check today when I go sailing later.

Originally Posted by noelex 77

How noisy is it?

Pretty noisy but with the motor running you can't hear it. The Walbro pumps are quieter but finding one in high flow was proving difficult..

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Is normal 8mm fuel hose OK for this volume?

I used 3/8" hose and measured the flow into a jerry can and can certainly get my 72GPH, easily. 8mm should be fine.

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Did Raycor (or do you) think a high flow pump is better than a low flow, if the same amount of fuel is filtered ?

Different needs for different things. Low flow is great for water removal but water has never been an issue for me. I wanted fuel cleaning and high turnover the Racor engineers I spoke with, both of them, think highly of high turnover for keeping the tank clean, not just the fuel..

I wanted the return to be able to blast up sediment and keep the fuel moving and any particualte in suspension so it gets moved across the filter. The supply tube is also 1/8" off the dead bottom of the lowest point in the tank so that any sediment is captured. I designed the new fuel tank specifically around keeping it clean. Water in my fuel is a non issue. if it is my Racor 500 primary for the engine takes care of the "low flow" side to capture and remove any water.



Pick up and return layout:







After 190 hours of polishing (on engine filter and polishing filter):

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by sabray

Any negatives when using treatment and high surface filter at low 2 micron filters. I am using 1000 series racor at 2 micron . single filter.
My tanks are 120 gallons and I use that annually pretty near.so fuel is fresh. Seems like a cheap trade off from having small 500 series filters. Am I missing something?

Some would say that using 2 microns is unnecessary, but it depends on what you have on the motor itself. The general idea is to step up to finer filtration before you hit the OEM filter so you get the most out of the filters. On my system of 2400 gallons, I polish at 30 micron, move fuel from bulk tanks to the day tank at 10 microns (both 1000 series), then pass it through a 2 micron filter (500 series) before it hits the OEM filter. If you are not clogging up the 2 mic Racor, then it means your fuel is clean so I wouldn't change anything on what you're doing. Given the amount of fuel you are filtering, the 1000 series is overkill, but if you have it, why change?

I hope I understood your question and this is helpful.