Delfin
Grand Vizier
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2010
- Messages
- 3,850
I believe I took on 1,000 gallons of marginal fuel at the commercial dock in Honolulu. By marginal, I mean it appeared to have a whole lot of asphaltene in the 2 - 10 micron range, which started clogging filters at the beginning of the return trip from Hawaii to the PNW. This fuel went into two 'wing tanks' and I didn't start drawing it off until we were about 200 miles north of Kauai. After that, the CAT OEM fuel filter had to be changed, and the replacement began showing clogging after another 300 miles or so. Since in 16 years and over 25,000 miles of cruising I had never had a fuel issue before, this was a new experience for me.
Lesson 1: However clean you think your fuel is, or how good your polishing system, carry a boat load of OEM filters. They're usually in the sub 3 micron range of filtration, and can clog quickly.
Delfin's fuel system is comprised of 7 different tanks - day tank, boiler tank, 2 wing tanks,and forward, bilge and stern tanks, totaling 2,250 gallons. I have redundant Racor 1000's to 'polish' at 30 microns, transfer to day and boiler tanks at 10 microns, and 2 Racor 500 filters before fuel reaches the OEM filter. I believe the contamination was in the 2-10 micron range because the 10 micron Racor 1000 used to transfer fuel did not clog at all, but 2 micron filters in the Racor 500 did, and when I switched to Racor 500 10 micron filters just upstream of the OEM filter, that OEM filter started showing signs of clogging. Since I had only one replacement OEM filter (major screw up - see lesson 1), I was pretty worried I would lose power in the middle of the ocean. To extend the life of the OEM, I changed out the Racor 500 10 micron filter with my remaining 2 micron filter. It ran clean for around 20 hours, then started to clog.
Lesson 2: You can reuse Racor type filters by immersing the filter in diesel and taking a small paint brush to the grooves of the pleats of the filter.
Lesson 3: Since lesson 2 is insane, carry a boat load of primary filters, leaning towards more 2 micron than 10 micron.
Eventually, I couldn't get more than a few hours out of a cleaned 2 micron Racor 500, but as we were within a day of home port, just took it out, and relied on the OEM filter, which went the distance, although showed suction in the deep red, meaning it would have only lasted another couple of days.
Bottom line, in addition to the obvious of not being a moron and carrying an insufficient number of filters, based on my experience you can get fuel that passes the 30 micron clean standard out of the refinery but which is loaded with sub 10 micron particles. So going forward I'll be polishing fuel by passing it through a 10 micron Racor 1000, transfering it to the day tank at 2 microns, then using 2 micron filters in the Racor 500 before the fuel reaches the OEM filter on the motor.
This contradicts most of the advice on filtration I've seen, as most recommend only 10 or 30 micron filters upstream of the OEM filter. That's what I had, and that is what failed in my case.
Lesson 1: However clean you think your fuel is, or how good your polishing system, carry a boat load of OEM filters. They're usually in the sub 3 micron range of filtration, and can clog quickly.
Delfin's fuel system is comprised of 7 different tanks - day tank, boiler tank, 2 wing tanks,and forward, bilge and stern tanks, totaling 2,250 gallons. I have redundant Racor 1000's to 'polish' at 30 microns, transfer to day and boiler tanks at 10 microns, and 2 Racor 500 filters before fuel reaches the OEM filter. I believe the contamination was in the 2-10 micron range because the 10 micron Racor 1000 used to transfer fuel did not clog at all, but 2 micron filters in the Racor 500 did, and when I switched to Racor 500 10 micron filters just upstream of the OEM filter, that OEM filter started showing signs of clogging. Since I had only one replacement OEM filter (major screw up - see lesson 1), I was pretty worried I would lose power in the middle of the ocean. To extend the life of the OEM, I changed out the Racor 500 10 micron filter with my remaining 2 micron filter. It ran clean for around 20 hours, then started to clog.
Lesson 2: You can reuse Racor type filters by immersing the filter in diesel and taking a small paint brush to the grooves of the pleats of the filter.
Lesson 3: Since lesson 2 is insane, carry a boat load of primary filters, leaning towards more 2 micron than 10 micron.
Eventually, I couldn't get more than a few hours out of a cleaned 2 micron Racor 500, but as we were within a day of home port, just took it out, and relied on the OEM filter, which went the distance, although showed suction in the deep red, meaning it would have only lasted another couple of days.
Bottom line, in addition to the obvious of not being a moron and carrying an insufficient number of filters, based on my experience you can get fuel that passes the 30 micron clean standard out of the refinery but which is loaded with sub 10 micron particles. So going forward I'll be polishing fuel by passing it through a 10 micron Racor 1000, transfering it to the day tank at 2 microns, then using 2 micron filters in the Racor 500 before the fuel reaches the OEM filter on the motor.
This contradicts most of the advice on filtration I've seen, as most recommend only 10 or 30 micron filters upstream of the OEM filter. That's what I had, and that is what failed in my case.