First Fuel Filter Change

[catalinajack]

Pura Vida, if I were to update my filter system, your design is exactly what I would use. I am not a fan of Racors. Just yesterday I changed my filters. I opened the bottom drain of my Davcos for the first time since they were last changed. No water, no debris. Clear sight bowls are way over-rated in these days of well-filtered ULSD fuel that is delivered today. I have no water cuz my tanks are bottom feeders.

I agree with progressive filtration:I have a three filter system first a Bulk Fuel Filter Fleetguard FS 1218 1st Pass20 mic / 2nd Pass: 10 mic, my second filter is a Racor 5 mic, the third is the on engine Fuel filter FF5488 Fleetguard “Last chance” 5 mic / 2 mic

 

[mickand]

Changing CAV type secondary filters are a pain. I installed 4 x WIX Spin On Conversion Kits bought on eBay.
I have the original 38 year old steel fuel tanks and run 2 micron in the primary 500 series Racors and 2 micron also in the secondary spin ons.
2 reasons - it's very easy to replace the primary filters and more expensive to change the secondary filters at $18 a pop - if it was ever necessary.
Over 30,000 miles later, I change the primaries around 500 hours (still relatively clean) and the secondary ones on an annual basis - about 900hours.
The secondary filters would probably go a lot longer but I just replace them as part of the maintenance regime.

 

[mickand]

Forgot to attach a photo of the Secondary Filters.

 

[syjos]

Changing CAV type secondary filters are a pain. I installed 4 x WIX Spin On Conversion Kits bought on eBay.
I have the original 38 year old steel fuel tanks and run 2 micron in the primary 500 series Racors and 2 micron also in the secondary spin ons.
2 reasons - it's very easy to replace the primary filters and more expensive to change the secondary filters at $18 a pop - if it was ever necessary.
Over 30,000 miles later, I change the primaries around 500 hours (still relatively clean) and the secondary ones on an annual basis - about 900hours.
The secondary filters would probably go a lot longer but I just replace them as part of the maintenance regime.

As I stated in post #15, the secondary filters on my FL 120 went 20 years/3500 hours without replacement. I don't think annual replacement is necessary.

 

[Hoppys GB]

WIX no longer sells the spin on adaptor kit to replace the CAV filters. I found out through WIX customer service the part# for there conversion kit is DP1000 and is still available, just not through them.

 

[Mike Negley]

How filters work

First of all, there are two Micron ratings. One is Abolute and the other is Standard. Most ratings are standard, but Cat does use absolute. Standard rating uses an averaging formula meaning some particles larger then the rating do pass thru the filter. This is because of the "caking" effect. The particles that pass thru become imbedded in the following filter and add to that filter's efficiency. If you start with a 2 Micron filter as the first one, there is verry little left to cake the next filter from the caking process which can actually deminish the final filtering.

 

[Comodave]

I replaced the secondaries on my engines 5 years ago when I bought the boat. I have 10 micron elements in my Racors. So far I have not had to change the secondaries. All the Racor elements come out clean so far so I think the secondaries are ok. But I am putting in new Racors to go to MAs and am putting in the Racor priming pump when I change from the FG Racors to the MAs. Love the priming pump.

 

[Mike Negley]

Replacing Racor Filters

Racor recommends replacing the filters after 500 hours. Their concern is that the filter will begin to disintegrate at some point.

 

[catalinajack]

Nominal Micron Rating*means that the filter can capture a given percentage of particles of the stated size.* For example, a nominal micron rating of 10 microns at 95% means that the filter media retains 95% of the particles that are 10 microns and larger.

Absolute Micron Rating*means that the filter is tested using a single pass of contaminants through a filter media and any particles that pass through are measured.* You could end up with a 96.7% retention of that micron number.

Multipass Beta Ratio Testing*is the most accurate method of rating filters. Measured samples of the fluid are then taken at timed intervals from both the*downstream*and the*upstream*of the filter simultaneously, particles are measured and counted by electronic means using automatic particles counters.* From these measurements a*Beta ratio*(b) is formulated by dividing the number of particles of a particular size in the upstream flow by the number of particles of the same size in the downstream flow, and is an indicator of how well a filter stops a particulate. For example, if one out of every two particles in the fluid pass through the filter, the beta ratio is 2, if one out of every 200 of the particles pass through the filter the beta ratio is 200. Therefore, filters with a higher beta ratio retain more particles and have higher efficiency.

First of all, there are two Micron ratings. One is Abolute and the other is Standard. Most ratings are standard, but Cat does use absolute. Standard rating uses an averaging formula meaning some particles larger then the rating do pass thru the filter. This is because of the "caking" effect. The particles that pass thru become imbedded in the following filter and add to that filter's efficiency. If you start with a 2 Micron filter as the first one, there is verry little left to cake the next filter from the caking process which can actually deminish the final filtering.

 

[smitty477]

Racor recommends replacing the filters after 500 hours. Their concern is that the filter will begin to disintegrate at some point.

Yes - Racor also recommends the micron size to be used in their filters dependent upon their location in the filter system. Similar to maufacturers and many of the most quoted diesel experts their sugestions all agree on these recommendations.

 

[firehoser75]

I contacted Racor (Parker) support with a question (a few years ago). They said that leaving a Racor filter full of clean diesel (ie. the second or spare (not currently being used) filter in my duo filter setup) for a reasonable period of time would not cause the filter to deteriorate. The time frame asked about was 3 years. I did not ask, and they did not volunteer, a "do not exceed" timeframe.
While it seemed to work for Syjos, personally I would not leave a filter for 20 years and 3500 hours. Seems excessive and they are not that expensive.

 

[jgwinks]

Almost none. I took Bob Smith’s last Lehman seminar in Oct 2016. He said there is almost no fuel returned. He said you could probably go all day and use a quart bottle to catch the return fuel in. He may have been exaggerating a bit but was very clear that it returns almost none compared to other diesels. You could disconnect the return line and put it in a bottle and run it for a while and see how much is returned. It would be interesting to know exactly.

Don't try that with a newer common rail or Detroit Diesel. They return way more than they burn but they're completely different injection systems than a Lehman or Perkins.