transfer pump for fuel system

There are very few boats I have anything to do with that don't have at least one centrifuge installed in the fuel system plus a substantial filter system.

Changing filters is never the easy solution for an engineer or operator nor does it have to be a dirty job.

A pair of large filters will suffice for 99.999997 percent of the readers of this forum. Stop thinking your boat's fuel system is like that of a compact car that gets fueled at the local self-service so doesn't require any preventive attention, or as if it is a containership that burns heavy fuel oil and requires constant centrifuging to remove gravel, cat fines, and gallons of water. It is somewhere in between, clean your tanks, pay attention to fuel quality and don't scrimp on filter size or quality.

It doesn't matter if someone dumped a sandbag into your fuel tank and flushed it down with a hundred gallons of water, regular tank cleaning, biocide treatment, water removal, and proper filtration before use will eliminate nearly all fuel problems.

The price of even a tiny little plastic centrifuge will buy enough filters to allow the average boat owned by the readers here to circle the globe several times. Besides that, almost anyone can figure out how to change a filter, wanna see something funny and sad, watch someone do an annual or semi-annual cleaning of their centrifuge.

And it's probably easier to find fuel filters in "Pango Pango" than many other places that have pristine fuel going into pristine tanks. Besides, how many readers here are taking their 40' sundeck trawler to Samoa?

Here's the inside of a 350 gallon tank that was cleaned 5 years ago. We never had any water in the Racors and we use a biocide regularly. In 15000 plus miles the engine never failed or stopped because cause of the fuel which gets turned over ~twice per year. Regular tank cleaning, sign me up .

FF said:

Spoken like a fellow whose job it was to clean the filters.

Far better to toss the owners filters in the trash, than get dirty.

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The centrifuge still has to be cleaned - and that can be a dirty job too. The sludge also has to be discarded somewhere...

Anyway - there are many other fuel transfer pumps available - just watch out for the ratings, some of them are only rated for 30 mins while others are rated as medium or heavy duty.

While the patches and "solutions"can be varied in terms of price and work , the simple truth is if the boat had a proper fuel tank , instead of a box of fuel most all the fuel hassles would be solved , before they begin.

A proper tank is a SYSTEM that strains the fuel and has a sump for removing the inevitable water with ease.

Sadly it might cost the builder $100 per tank , so don't look for it in price point boats.

Two things:

Earlier I was complaining about my Walbro pump banging like a jack hammer. I sent an email to customer service asking about it and nearly immediately got a reply suggesting that it is pumping too much fuel and I needed to restrict the flow a bit. I'll try his suggestion this weekend. Outstanding customer service.

Secondly, I understand that under most circumstances fuel polishing is of little value, I was concerned about the possibility of water on the bottom of the tank. Tanks are 25 years old and I figure over all those years there has to be a bit of water on the bottom rusting away. As the pick up is 1-2 inches off the bottom, that water is never going to come out without my bottom sucking pump. Having said that, there was a bit of water down there but just a bit.

How about the Groco, 3G/min, good reputation, gear pump, cheaper than the Reverso GP312.
Here is a link: GROCO 3gpm Reversing Gear Pump - 3/8" at West Marine

What no one has discussed so far is pre-filtering the fuel , before it is dumped in the fuel box.

Sure a Baja filter is grand , but far too slow for a big tank , and a couple of hundred gal per side fill.

Perhaps a Raycor 1000 with hose clamps for the fill nozzle would work , IF one could do it with out spilling a drop , and having the Sheen Police chopper in.