Racor Filters

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Just Bob

Just Bob

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2011
Messages
85
Location
USA
Vessel Name
Liberdade
Vessel Make
Ocean Alexander 54
This is my first boat with dual filters, but I understand and appreciate the concept of being able to instantly switch to a new filter if one becomes blocked while underway.

The problem I have is that I'm getting growth in the bowl of the standby filter and no way to remove it without sending it to the engine. Not wanting to do that, I've disassembled the dirty bowl and removed the growth, but this is not practical to do regularly. The other alternative seems to be to periodically alternate filters to keep fresh fuel running through both sides, but this seems to defeat the idea of having a clean standby filter waiting to be used.

How have you all dealt with this?

I have a fuel polishing system on board that is keeping the fuel in the tanks clean but this system is plumbed separately from the fuel delivery system.

Thank you for any suggestions or advice you can offer.

Regards,
Bob
 
Is there a drain? Most Racor filters you just twist the plastic fitting on the bottom to drain...you should do it enough that nothing builds up...and if stuff is building very fast...is it also in your tanks ? (you should be able to see it on the used filters)
 
Never had this problem with our regular or standby Racors (2 micron). It would seem like you must have some sort of "infection" in your tank(s) that is not being addressed adequately by the fuel polisher. If possible, try transferring all fuel to one tank via the polisher, and drain tank completely. Polish the full tank several times, then transfer all fuel back to the empty tank via the polisher after fitting a clean polishing filter. Then drain the empty tank completely before refilling. Even better if it is possible to "wash" the inside of the empty tank(s) with a stream of fuel. Last thought (for what it's worth) -- sometimes bugs grow because there is light (eg in water lines exposed to sunlight) . If your Racor is exposed to light muc of the time, you might try covering it with tin foil to see of this helps.
 
Chrisjs said:
Never had this problem with our regular or standby Racors (2 micron). It would seem like you must have some sort of "infection" in your tank(s) that is not being addressed adequately by the fuel polisher. If possible, try transferring all fuel to one tank via the polisher, and drain tank completely. Polish the full tank several times, then transfer all fuel back to the empty tank via the polisher after fitting a clean polishing filter. Then drain the empty tank completely before refilling. Even better if it is possible to "wash" the inside of the empty tank(s) with a stream of fuel. Last thought (for what it's worth) -- sometimes bugs grow because there is light (eg in water lines exposed to sunlight) . If your Racor is exposed to light muc of the time, you might try covering it with tin foil to see of this helps.
Click to expand...

I don't think bugs/algae grow because of light...because that happens in metal tanks all the time...they grow there because there is enough water to support them if the water separating filter is doing it's job.

Before I did all that you suggest...why not see what the filter element in filter being used looks like...if it's clean then it's probably just a filter bowl issue that can be drained or popped off with 4 screws and wiped clean???:confused:
 
Needed to switch to the second Racor a couple of weeks ago because insufficient fuel was reaching the engine at the higher RPM. Replaced the dirty filter today:

img_102322_0_08b26ab16489f8ff724acee7e48e9e60.jpg


It's definitely handy having two filters with the ability to easily switch from one to the other.

img_102322_1_b36006028cddee81d603c2e515d31e79.jpg
 
Mark what was the vacuum gauge reading befor you switched filers?

Just Bob: what does the growth in the filter bowl look like?
Thanks
Steve W
 
Steve said:
Mark what was the vacuum gauge reading before you switched filers?
Click to expand...

Don't know, Steve. Just lowered throttle to "comfortable/efficient" cruising speed when underway as I wasn't far from home port. Didn't switch filters until the next trip. Possible upgrade to the Coot is to have the gauge in the pilothouse instead of the engine compartment.

img_102337_0_6f255a83fde76592fb21c38abd9b2916.jpg
 
Mark---I'm really curious.... You've got a new boat but your used filter element looks like something out of a farm tractor that hasn't had its filter changed in five years. How is that possible? Is the fuel sold in SFO bay that dirty? We change our Racor 500 2- micron elements every oil change, so every 100-150 hours, and the old elements coming out look just like the new ones going in only the old ones are now dyed red instead of being white.

Do you think the tank manufacturer got a bunch of dirt or something in your tanks as they were being made?
 
The growth is black mold like, it is only on the top of the white centrifugal disk in the bowl.

Yes there is a drain but the growth doesn't come out with the fuel when I drain it.

The fuel in the tanks has been polished several times and is clean.

The fuel going the the filters being used is clean and there is no growth in these. The growth only started to accumulate in the standby filters when I changed and switched sides being used.

I have dual filters on both engines and both gensets and the growth is in all 4 standby filters.

I use 30 micron filters in the Racors and have two filters on the engines, a 10 and than 2 micron.

From seeing what is happening, my suspicion is that if I clean and switch sides the growth will begin again on the "new" standby side.

I am not keeping a biocide in the fuel during the summer because we are using the boat and circulating fuel but maybe I should be.

Thank you all for the feedback!
 
Marin said:
How is that possible?
Click to expand...

The boat was built in China.

We took management of a largish (for a Chinese build) yacht last year and we are still finding defects and outlandish examples of workmanship that should never have been allowed to leave the yard. And this boat was built to class.

Unless the owner has a competent representative at the yard, every day, observing each activity, quality control is effectively non-existent.

The lawyers are still building the case so I can't say much but as soon as it is filed the details will make interesting reading for anyone thinking about buying one of this builder's boats.
 
First to establish perspective, I fly the the stars and strips proudly off the stern of this vessel.

The previous reply is helpful to no one! It is a gross generalization that offers no objective information to help solve a problem.

The inference is that all boats built in China without the watchful eye of a personal QC rep are of questionable quality. Many owners of new Nordhavns, Krogens, Selenes, Flemings or Ocean Alexanders would question this assumption. Besides even if it was true where else can someone find a list of manufacturers comparable to this building anywhere else, I wish there was!

A boat built by a quality yard in China is no more problematic than one built anywhere else. Your story of build problems are of "that boat's" build problems and could be told of many boats built in many yards, from Canada, the UK, Turkey, or the US!
 
You indicate that the "growth" does not come out when you drain. When I replace my Racors I rinse out the bowl several times with the drained diesel. Just repeatedly pour it in the top and drain out the bottom. Sooner or later you get most of the crud that you may not be able to reach with a paper towel. It is not clear from your posting whether you have experienced this "growth" problem more than once or twice?? Like Marin said it is hard to understand why there would be so much crud in your tanks and my experience is that if your using your boat, growth should not be a problem inside the Racor itself. The other comment about water in fuel is relevant. Are you getting any water separation in the Racors??
 
Your practice of flushing the bowl sounds very good and is not something I've ever thought of doing. Thank you for the idea.

Our previous boat had single Racors and small fuel tanks so new fuel was being added regularly. This is a new boat and we are still getting used to doing things a little differently.

I've only changed these Racors once, so I don't have a lot of history to use as comparison.

There has never been any water in the separators.

Thank you again for the ideas and thoughtful questions.
 
Greetings,
As well as the technique described by Mr. Chrisjs, I have, on occasion taken a long cable tie, slid it past the cyclone section and agitated the remaining fuel in the bottom of the Racor to the extent that any crud is "knocked" off or mechanically scoured off the walls of the reservoir enabling me to drain the residual fuel AND the crud. I usually rinse with clean diesel 2X or 3X. As to a biocide, it should not be a detriment to add both summer and winter (just to keep the concentrations up).
 
Marin said:
Mark---I'm really curious.... You've got a new boat but your used filter element looks like something out of a farm tractor that hasn't had its filter changed in five years. How is that possible? ...
Click to expand...

I'm clueless. Some of the fuel was from China. The filter lasted about 1.5 years of use.
 
RT Firefly said:
Greetings,
As well as the technique described by Mr. Chrisjs, I have, on occasion taken a long cable tie, slid it past the cyclone section and agitated the remaining fuel in the bottom of the Racor to the extent that any crud is "knocked" off or mechanically scoured off the walls of the reservoir enabling me to drain the residual fuel AND the crud. I usually rinse with clean diesel 2X or 3X. As to a biocide, it should not be a detriment to add both summer and winter (just to keep the concentrations up).
Click to expand...

This is EXACTLY the procedure I use. Funny that you use a long cable tie too :dance:
 
Rambler said:
Seriously?

I thought the filters had to be changed every so many engine hours (varies per mfg I suspect). Have you not been running your boat?
Click to expand...

They don't have to be...especially with a vacuum gauge to show you the extent of blockage...and you still have a secondary on the engine.
 
psneeld said:
...and you still have a secondary on the engine.
Click to expand...

My JD has two secondaries on the engine - the last level of protection.

img_102447_0_df45c136064cae991c0d854363cb5efa.jpg
 
markpierce said:
My JD has two secondaries on the engine - the last level of protection.
Click to expand...

Looks like the one say "final water separator" on it????? Pretty rare in my experience...we had several JD's in our assistance fleet and never had one of those...:thumb:
 
Lucky me!
 
The fuel in the standby filter is not being used and does not change so any growth is from something that came in with the fuel. To me, that means your fuel (in the tank) is contaminated regardless of any fuel polishing system on board.

For a practical work around that doesn't fix the problem but allows you to have a clean filter ready to switch in when needed, remove the spare filter, dump the fuel, clean the bowl, reinstall the filter (or better yet, install a new one), then fill the filter and bowl with clean fuel from a known good source (a high volume roadside station is a good bet). Reinstall the filter and it is ready for service, but with known clean fuel. You should have no growth.
 
Just Bob said:
The growth is black mold like, it is only on the top of the white centrifugal disk in the bowl.

Yes there is a drain but the growth doesn't come out with the fuel when I drain it.

The fuel in the tanks has been polished several times and is clean.

The fuel going the the filters being used is clean and there is no growth in these. The growth only started to accumulate in the standby filters when I changed and switched sides being used.

I have dual filters on both engines and both gensets and the growth is in all 4 standby filters.

I use 30 micron filters in the Racors and have two filters on the engines, a 10 and than 2 micron.

From seeing what is happening, my suspicion is that if I clean and switch sides the growth will begin again on the "new" standby side.

I am not keeping a biocide in the fuel during the summer because we are using the boat and circulating fuel but maybe I should be.

Thank you all for the feedback!
Click to expand...

Seems like a lot of people might have missed this to say his tanks are contaminated...

I have seen plenty of times where the tank and fuel is pristine and the filters are a mess...while never good to have goopy filter bowls...it's also not a big deal if the filter elements themselves aren't covered in goop...thus assuring good fuel flow when you need it.
 
Thank you all for the additional thoughts and suggestions. My fix was to disassemble the bowls and clean exactly as suggested and re-fill with new (hopefully clean) fuel. The filters on this side had just been changed when I shut these down to go to the other side. I checked them anyway and they were like new.

My fuel may have developed some growth as I was not polishing it regularly. O/A did not put an adequate pump in the polishing system so it was not used much. Last week I installed a larger and better pump and have run all of the fuel once and am doing it again this weekend. We currently have about 1600 gallons on board so it takes about 18 hours to do it all. I will do it a few more times then change the fuel polishing filter and do it a few more. The last 800 gallons I took on in June was from a very high volume marina, so I trust it was good. The previous fill was 1000 gallons in January, but from a good marina.

These are JD's as well and have a 10 and 2 micron on board.

I'm also going to start keeping a biocide in as well

Thank you again all.
 
We have no polishing system on our boat and have never had any water, dirt, growth, etc. in our fuel. None of the people we know and boat with have fuel polishing systems and none of them have had any problems with fuel, either. If a boat needs to have a polishing system run on a regular basis to prevent growth in the fuel I would suspect a problem with the boat's fuel system.
 
Bob Wrote,

"The growth is black mold like, it is only on the top of the white centrifugal disk in the bowl."

I get this build up on the same place on my filters after a while. I do not think it is a growth at all but some thing in the fuel, maybe asphaltanes?, (Google Diesel asphaltanes for information) that settles there after being separated by the "centrifugal" flow of the filter.
Mine won't drain out either, to get it clean I need to pull that portion of the filter and wipe and rise in clean fuel. Right or wrong I don't worry much about it. To me it is an indication the filter is performing. I clean it whenever the filter element is changed.
Steve W.
 
Last edited:
Just Bob said:
The previous reply is helpful to no one!
Click to expand...

It should be very helpful to anyone planning to buy a Chinese built boat from a yard that does not have a solid reputation for quality and a resident representative for the importer. PAE has Nordhavns built in China but oversees the project and supports the boat with an American infrastructure. If you don't have that then you have no idea of what you are going to get and no support once you get it.

Buyer beware is not just a cliche' with respect to Chinese built boats.


First to establish perspective, I fly the the stars and strips proudly off the stern of this vessel.
Click to expand...

Does that have some impact on the quality of build or is it just a bit of gratuitous nationalism? :confused:
 
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