My take on DIY fuel polishing system (15 Gal per min)

[Waterant]

Thanks. If I see a problem with the flow, it would not be a very complex replacement. I just replace 2 barb fittings from 3/4 npt to 1/2 barb and get 40' of 1/2 hose - 25 to one tank and 15 to another tank. That hose will not be cheap so i will do a flow test first to see if there is really a need for that upgrade.

If someone will be building a similar system, that's a good point - use the largest fittings and hoses you can to reduce the friction loses and back pressure.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Does it mean it will not pump the fluid high?
All 3/8" fittings are on the same level +/- a couple of inches.

It helps to understand that while vertical head is important too, a couple inches of vertical head equals a couple inches of friction head and you've got way more than a couple inches of friction head. The ⅜ hose is not the whole problem, it's trying to push 15 gpm through that ⅜ hose. The hose capacity (usually in diameter) has to work with the desired flow rate. They don't match up well in your application and that means something has to go.

 

[catalinajack]

I would not call a contraption with a pump, gauge, and a few fittings "complicated" and at ~$300 it's hardly expensive in the boat terms. I'm pretty sure a single call to a polishing service would cost me more than this in Washington, DC area. Plus, it allows me to move the fuel between the tanks. And it's a fun winter project which can be done away from the boat and installed quickly.



but i do see your point and if such a service is readily available in the area for a couple of hundred $, it may be a good "do and forget" option.







it says 30 minutes of continuous run with 30 minutes of rest after. In 30 minutes, it can potentially move 450 Gallons of fuel, so this is long enough for me. They probably have "continues duty" fuel pumps of the same flow rate, but they would cost 10x compared to this pump.

What is pictured in Post #1 sure looks a LOT more expensive than $300. That is what I was responding to. That double filter head alone looks to be way more expensive than $300. Then a gauge, valves, hoses, fittings, brackets - gotta be at least $1K. And, an ABYC-compliant Racor housing would cost at least $1K. But, it is a nice system.

 

[Waterant]

Then a gauge, valves, hoses, fittings, brackets - gotta be at least $1K. And, an ABYC-compliant Racor housing would cost at least $1K. But, it is a nice system.

Probably, if you buy everything at West marine.

Those are GOLDENROD filters and housings (used a lot on the farms and in the shops for the fuel and oil transfers) which are ~$40 each, fuel pump with metal impeller which was $105. gauge was ~$15 and fittings $3-12 each. I did buy lots of other fittings when I experimented with the configuration but I returned the extras.

 

[Irish Rambler]

K.I.S.S
1, Why make life unecessary complicated ?
2, Buy clean diesel,
3, Fit a tank drain and drain the crud once every couple of weeks.

 

[koliver]

K.I.S.S
1, Why make life unecessary complicated ?
2, Buy clean diesel,
3, Fit a tank drain and drain the crud once every couple of weeks.

Kiss is good
But what, actually, are you going to accomplish when you are in North America, where your fuel is delivered to you as ULSD, which, in order to comply with current DEA or Canadian rules, will have filtered out all of the crud and all but 15 PPM of the sulphur? Look in your clear filter bowls. There will be nothing there to clean.
My filters need changing less than once every 4 years. Why would I spend anything on further filtration?

 

[O C Diver]

Kiss is good
But what, actually, are you going to accomplish when you are in North America, where your fuel is delivered to you as ULSD, which, in order to comply with current DEA or Canadian rules, will have filtered out all of the crud and all but 15 PPM of the sulphur? Look in your clear filter bowls. There will be nothing there to clean.
My filters need changing less than once every 4 years. Why would I spend anything on further filtration?

There is far more regulation on food. So are you going to next tell me that no tainted food makes it to the supermarket or restaurant tables? In most cases fuel contamination probably occurs at the distributor, retailer, or consumer (think broken oring on deck fill pipe cap). In 40 years of chartering and running my trawler, I've probably gotten bad fuel maybe 6 to 10 times. I would guess most were from contaminated storage tanks at the retailer.

Ted

 

[Waterant]

K.I.S.S
1, Why make life unecessary complicated ?
2, Buy clean diesel,
3, Fit a tank drain and drain the crud once every couple of weeks.

If I wanted life to be simple, I would buy a paddleboard instead of this boat.

By your logic, me installing a 50' raising TV was unnecessary and a waste of time and money because my boat already has windows!? I did watch that TV twice in the last 10 months...

Magic...

 

[MOJO]

On MOJO I installed a paper towel Gulf Coast filter system with a pump that runs about 2 gpm. Two 500 gal tanks and two 250 gal tanks. Polish each tank for 24 hrs once or twice a year with a paper towel filter change each time. Diesel is always clear and red.

 

[Waterant]

On MOJO I installed a paper towel Gulf Coast filter system with a pump that runs about 2 gpm. Two 500 gal tanks and two 250 gal tanks. Polish each tank for 24 hrs once or twice a year with a paper towel filter change each time. Diesel is always clear and red.

That Gulf Coast filter was my initial plan, but i could not find where to buy that bloody thing or even how much it cost. Their website is a cruel joke from 90s: Model F-1
and I could not find anyone who sells them.

And at 36LB, 22" high, and only 2GPM flow rate, those would be hard to fit in the small space I have available.

but they sound like a solid option with a very low running cost of 1 paper towel per year.

Ultimately, I went with GOLDENROD filters because they are well-known in the industry, reasonably priced, have a very high flow rate, and are readily available in North America.

 

[koliver]

There is far more regulation on food. So are you going to next tell me that no tainted food makes it to the supermarket or restaurant tables? In most cases fuel contamination probably occurs at the distributor, retailer, or consumer (think broken oring on deck fill pipe cap). In 40 years of chartering and running my trawler, I've probably gotten bad fuel maybe 6 to 10 times. I would guess most were from contaminated storage tanks at the retailer.

Ted

You make a good point. Or two.
As to food, are you going to put in a system to correct food contamination on your own boat, to guard against the rare occasion of getting tainted food on your own boat?
As to bad fuel in 40 years, that is where things have changed dramatically. I used to need to change filters twice a year, then, less than 20 yrs ago, the regs removed all but 500 PPM so changing wasn't required as often, then regs made it mandatory that only 15 PPM Sulphur was allowed and filtering on your own boat isn't a worry at all. Now you can discard those memories of contaminated fuel from 40 yrs ago and reset so as to get current rates of contamination.
Also, if you always buy your fuel in a high volume outlet, as I do, things are not uncertain. In your case, buying fuel in a multitude of lower volume outlets, you will need to guard against contamination with a much higher level of diligence.

 

[O C Diver]

You make a good point. Or two.
As to food, are you going to put in a system to correct food contamination on your own boat, to guard against the rare occasion of getting tainted food on your own boat?

Yes, I did.

I replaced my Nevercold (Norcold) refrigerator with a constant temperature model. As most refrigerated food continues to deteriorate over time and more quickly when stored at warmer than ideal temperatures, I added a system that reduces the likelihood of food that is deteriorating, from affecting me.

As to bad fuel in 40 years, that is where things have changed dramatically. I used to need to change filters twice a year, then, less than 20 yrs ago, the regs removed all but 500 PPM so changing wasn't required as often, then regs made it mandatory that only 15 PPM Sulphur was allowed and filtering on your own boat isn't a worry at all. Now you can discard those memories of contaminated fuel from 40 yrs ago and reset so as to get current rates of contamination.
Also, if you always buy your fuel in a high volume outlet, as I do, things are not uncertain. In your case, buying fuel in a multitude of lower volume outlets, you will need to guard against contamination with a much higher level of diligence.

Unfortunately, the high volume retailers also tend to store more fuel. As a result, it seems to be more common that they have accumulations of asphaltene in the bottom of their storage tanks. The trick is not to show up after the tractor trailer has dumped a full load, stirring up the accumulations in the bottom of the storage tank.

All my fuel stops last year were at 5 different high volume retailers. Inspite of my best efforts, I have about 2 or 3 ounces of liquid (probably water) in the polisher and an ounce or 2 of crud on the bowl above the water. Not bad for around 1,800 gallons, but certainly not to the standard of tier 2 fuel.

Ted

 

[Caballero II]

Heater Day Tank?

When i got that pump, i ran it for a couple of seconds to make sure it worked, and it was as noisy. maybe because it's made in china or maybe all metal impeller pumps are noisy.

but you are right, 25' of 3/8" hose will probably reduce the flow rate even with increased pressure. my tank fittings for return hoses are 3/8", I do not see any way around that.

the only way i can measure the flow is by how fast the day tank for the heater is being filled. It takes under 11 seconds to fill a 2.6 Gal tank via 3/8" ID hose ~4' long, and this is 15GPM as per pump specs.

Just a question: why a heater day tank? Why not plumb it directly from your fuel tank (which is polished regularly it sounds like) and avoid the added complexity. Please illuminate me if I'm missing something.

BTW, I love my new diesel heater (forced air as simple as I could make it) I just installed in my GB 36. What a joy to have a warm cabin when the anchor is down and we're settling in for the night.

 

[Caballero II]

Just a question: why a heater day tank? Why not plumb it directly from your fuel tank (which is polished regularly it sounds like) and avoid the added complexity. Please illuminate me if I'm missing something.

BTW, I love my new diesel heater (forced air as simple as I could make it) I just installed in my GB 36. What a joy to have a warm cabin when the anchor is down and we're settling in for the night.

For clarity, I draw diesel fuel from a dipstick plumbed into one of the two tanks, so not even a bottom draw. It was put on the port side tank in this case, mostly to keep my runs short, because that is also the side of the boat where the heater exhaust goes out.

 

[Waterant]

BTW, I love my new diesel heater (forced air as simple as I could make it) I just installed in my GB 36. What a joy to have a warm cabin when the anchor is down and we're settling in for the night.

yes, it elevates the comfort level, and the air it blows is nicely dry.

Just a question: why a heater day tank? Why not plumb it directly from your fuel tank

Here are a few reasons for my situation:

• The engines use my closest tank pickups on both sides, and I do not want to share them with anything else.
  
• I was not sure if this small pump would be able to get the fuel from the standard pickup tube, which is much larger than the fuel hose going to the pump (I think it's 1/8"). The pump is too small to create enough suction in a larger hose. There are tank pickup kits sold for those heaters, but they seem to be for smaller car tanks. My tank is 4' high and will require drilling a hole at the top to install that new pickup. I did not look into this in too much detail yet.
  
• If the long supply hose is empty, there is a good chance the pump will burn out before the fuel will get to it - those pumps rely on diesel for lubrication. I saw some reviews that mentioned this issue even in RV and van installations where supply hoses are much shorter.
  
• The tank and all the fittings were already included with this heater, so it was not an extra expense, and I had a place for it beside the heater.
  
• I want an easy way to run a few litters of kerosene thru the heater once per year to clean it up. Kerosene burns much cleaner than diesel in those heaters, but they can not constantly run on it because there is no lubrication for the pump, and kerosene is much more expensive.

Using a small tank was an easier option for me, but plumbing the heater directly to the big fuel tank does make a lot of sense, and I may do this in the future. it's just 3 screws to remove the tank, or I'll keep the small tank and add another line with a 3-way valve to choose where to get the fuel.

 

[Caballero II]

yes, it elevates the comfort level, and the air it blows is nicely dry.




Here are a few reasons for my situation:

• The engines use my closest tank pickups on both sides, and I do not want to share them with anything else.
  
  Of course not, and you shouldn't. The fuel draws should be entirely independent if at all possible.
  
• I was not sure if this small pump would be able to get the fuel from the standard pickup tube, which is much larger than the fuel hose going to the pump (I think it's 1/8"). The pump is too small to create enough suction in a larger hose. There are tank pickup kits sold for those heaters, but they seem to be for smaller car tanks. My tank is 4' high and will require drilling a hole at the top to install that new pickup. I did not look into this in too much detail yet.
  
  I'm confused and don't understand this paragraph. Which small pump, the heater pump or the fuel polishing pump? The pickup tube for my heater was appropriate for my tanks, at about 36" high. I just used a top of the tank access nipple to install the heater fuel draw.
  
• If the long supply hose is empty, there is a good chance the pump will burn out before the fuel will get to it - those pumps rely on diesel for lubrication. I saw some reviews that mentioned this issue even in RV and van installations where supply hoses are much shorter.
  
  Again, to which pump are you referring?
  
• The tank and all the fittings were already included with this heater, so it was not an extra expense, and I had a place for it beside the heater.
  
  ???
  
• I want an easy way to run a few litters of kerosene thru the heater once per year to clean it up. Kerosene burns much cleaner than diesel in those heaters, but they can not constantly run on it because there is no lubrication for the pump, and kerosene is much more expensive.

I did not know this. If that is correct, I did not find any mention of that in the maintenance instructions. As a matter of fact, maintenance instructions were quite sparse.

Using a small tank was an easier option for me, but plumbing the heater directly to the big fuel tank does make a lot of sense, and I may do this in the future. it's just 3 screws to remove the tank, or I'll keep the small tank and add another line with a 3-way valve to choose where to get the fuel.

Confusing

 

[Waterant]

I was talking about the pump which came with the heater. It's very small in my kit but could be a different pump in yours.

 

[catalinajack]

Yes, I did.



I replaced my Nevercold (Norcold) refrigerator with a constant temperature model. As most refrigerated food continues to deteriorate over time and more quickly when stored at warmer than ideal temperatures, I added a system that reduces the likelihood of food that is deteriorating, from affecting me.







Unfortunately, the high volume retailers also tend to store more fuel. As a result, it seems to be more common that they have accumulations of asphaltene in the bottom of their storage tanks. The trick is not to show up after the tractor trailer has dumped a full load, stirring up the accumulations in the bottom of the storage tank.



All my fuel stops last year were at 5 different high volume retailers. Inspite of my best efforts, I have about 2 or 3 ounces of liquid (probably water) in the polisher and an ounce or 2 of crud on the bowl above the water. Not bad for around 1,800 gallons, but certainly not to the standard of tier 2 fuel.



Ted

Just wondering, why is it that marine fuel suppliers supply dirty fuel while filling stations do not. They all get their fuel from the same rack and store the fuel, wait for it, in storage tanks. There is absolutely ZERO reason to suspect that marine vs. land filling stations supply fuel to the consumer with different fuel quality. And, yes, on land, some filling stations are high volume, some are not.

 

[Jeff F]

Just wondering, why is it that marine fuel suppliers supply dirty fuel while filling stations do not. They all get their fuel from the same rack and store the fuel, wait for it, in storage tanks. There is absolutely ZERO reason to suspect that marine vs. land filling stations supply fuel to the consumer with different fuel quality. And, yes, on land, some filling stations are high volume, some are not.

I'm sure it varies by jurisdiction, but I think the weak link is the retailer. I've seen a lot of marinas where there is very little knowledge on fuel storage and handling.

I'm not overly concerned with fuel quality, but there are lots of marine places I'd avoid if possible.

 

[luna]

Post #1 solicits comments on inherent problems. Not to be taken as overly negative, here are mine. Remember, they are worth no more than what you paid for them.

The Pump: The pump body itself is said to be cast iron, which is brittle. The wall thickness remaining at the 1" ports (if you look at the pictures in the Amazon reviews) is alarmingly small. In your installation you are hanging about 4 lbs. of fittings, valves and hoses about 6" off of the pump outlet port. Cheap/all gear pumps rattle, (that is why they are noisy) this rattling along with the cantilevered fitting load, which is vibrating as well, may in the long term make the pump body fail. If unattended at a running failure, a big mess ensues. The solution is to remove the fitting load, which granted is hard to do given your space constraints.

The pump is said to have a "built in return valve" (think pressure relief valve) "to avoid the waste caused by oil spillage." PR valves are somewhat common on gear pumps as without them if the outlet gets blocked (in a typical use case, a loaded filter) the pump's pressure takes the seals out. One has to wonder what is the PR valve's setting and for the $100 total cost, how good are the seals?

The Filters. These Goldenrod filters are typically used to filter fuel when dispensed into your farm/construction equipment. They are designed to be installed on the pressure side of the tank mounted pump. There they have an opportunity to catch whatever is delivered by or shed from the cheap fuel dispensing gear pump. Why are yours on the vacuum side? What stops pump parts from getting into your fuel tank?
The solution here is to reconfigure to put the filters where they are designed to be, on the pressure side.

With the implementation of high pressure common rail fuel systems filter design has had to vastly improve. 98 or 99% of 4 micron or less particle removal is common today. I see no such test results for these Goldenrod filters, only a numeric micron size for the element. Perhaps farmers/construction guys don't care. You should.

The filter media itself (to be highly effective) is different for a vacuum side filter versus a pressure side filter. A look at the Fleetguard, Donaldson or Wix website should help you discover the differences.
Yes, I know Parker will allow the use of your Racor 900's on either the vacuum or pressure side, but the pressure side is limited to 15 psi and the vacuum side is the only one that is "recommended".


The Plumbing: The mini ball valves used have an actual orifice size of about 50% of the listed ball valve size. A 3/4" mini ball valve has an opening of about 3/8" ID.
On the pressure side this is likely somewhat of a good thing (other than the increased load on the pump) as it will tend to reduce the fuel's flow rate and pressure, which in turn will reduce hose erosion.

On the vacuum side this reduced flow could result in pump cavitation which may quickly destroy the pump and again put pump parts in your fuel tank.

Is the 3/4" hairpin bent hose fuel rated as type A1? Fuel sits in it 24/7, right? Is the bend radius of 3"(?) allowable?

Fuel filtering is best done slowly, with low pressure and low flow as this tends to not force the contaminates through the filter media. This is the reason that your onboard filters are rated at about 3 times the actual fuel delivery rate to your engine. In my case the fuel pump on my Cat 3408 can deliver about 60 gph, at WOT it consumes 40 gph, and my racor 1000 along with the 2 engine mounted secondary filters are rated at 180 gph. This seems to work quite well.
Your original onboard filters are likely proportionally similar.



Bottom line, it's your boat. You can do as you like. All I know is that if I was to build a fuel polishing contraption, this would not be it.

Good luck with the rebuild on the Yanmar. If it was me, I'm old school, I'd at least lap the valves.

 

[greatpapabear]

Two points to bear in mind:

1) Your engine returns more diesel to the tank than the engine can burn. This fuel will have been through Primary and Fine filters. Hence, you already have an inbuilt 'polishing system'.

2) The main point of fuel polishing is to remove anything which has fallen to the bottom of the tanks, such as water, dead diesel bug and general debris.

To achieve this, you need a powerful pump to suck fuel from, say, part way up the tank, through separate filters, with its output aimed at the base of the tank to stir up any debris. In turn, this will be sucked, filtered and returned, gradually ensuring the whole tank contents have been 'polished'.

It also removes your fear of blocked fuel lines when in emotional seas at the time you most need the engines.

 

[mvweebles]

In my opinion, the OP has assembled a decent, economical filtration system. The Goldenrod filters have indeed been around for a long time and are widely used in ag and industrial applications. Unlike Racor style filters, they are pressure side filters. McMaster carries them including filter elements and can have them delivered to a US address overnight (usually).

Also in my opinion, most marine fuel issues are self inflicted, not taking on a bad load (though it can certainly happen). A casual survey of boats for sale with engine hours listed suggests vast majority of boats in our class get used much fewer than 100 hrs/yr. Fuel often gets stored for a long time. Deck fills are common and generally a bad idea. 30+ years of lousy fuel management takes its toll.

The limit on the OPs system is outside his control: size and placement of ports on tanks. Steve D has a decent article somewhere that suggests encouraging turbidity by using a hi-volume pump drawing from lowest part of one end of the tank and returning to the lowest part of the other end. Very few tanks are designed with that in mind.

Peter

 

[Waterant]

Thanks for the suggestions. If Goldenrod filters have to be on the pressure side, on my next revision, I'll leave one filter housing with the mesh on the suction side to protect the pump and move the 15micron filter after the pump to be on the pressure side.

I will also add a bracket to hold the filter and the fittings after the pump the same way I hold them before the pump.

And I'll try to find a pump with a smaller flow to address the limitation of 3/8 return hose. From what I could find, it has to be 4-8GPH pump.

 

[CharlieO.]

I used the same filter set up to clean the fuel I removed from my tanks before refilling my new tanks. I put them on the pressure side with the sediment filter first followed by the water block filter. No issues using that fuel up.

 

[TJM]

Manifold systems are awesome and efficient. I have 2 diesel tanks, 2 main FL engines, NL generator and a diesel fireplace. I have Reverso priming pumps on my fuel filters. I definitely will be looking into this on my Trawler. Thanks.
Good tips on velocity coming out of the pumps being important to agitate.

 

[SailorCraig]

I’m looking at a trawler that has been used very little for several years so I’m going to assume the diesel tanks have sludge build up. Will continuously polishing over time clean this built up sludge or am I into cutting ports to get inside to scrub?

 

[O C Diver]

Don't assume. Asphaltene build up is a function of how much fuel is in the tank. If you have a Racor with a clear bowl, make sure it's clean and put in a new filter element. Then monitor the bowl and element for accumulations.

To give you some perspective, I did a refit on my boat. The fuel in the tanks was 2 years old with almost no asphaltene and no water. Do some local boating to determine if you have a problem before you solve it.

Ted

 

[Delfin]

Thanks for the suggestions. If Goldenrod filters have to be on the pressure side, on my next revision, I'll leave one filter housing with the mesh on the suction side to protect the pump and move the 15micron filter after the pump to be on the pressure side.

I will also add a bracket to hold the filter and the fittings after the pump the same way I hold them before the pump.

And I'll try to find a pump with a smaller flow to address the limitation of 3/8 return hose. From what I could find, it has to be 4-8GPH pump.

Bit late for me to respond, but if you get this, perhaps check out Procon pumps. Mine pull fuel through Racor filters at 3gpm using a 1/3 hp 120 vac continuous duty motor. With 2200 gallons of fuel, I usually polish when a tank has <100 gallons in it, preferably when in a seaway. 7 tanks total, managed through a manifold I made up out of aluminum. Here's the pump I use.


https://www.proconpumps.com/product/13302

 

[O C Diver]

Bit late for me to respond, but if you get this, perhaps check out Procon pumps. Mine pull fuel through Racor filters at 3gpm using a 1/3 hp 120 vac continuous duty motor. With 2200 gallons of fuel, I usually polish when a tank has <100 gallons in it, preferably when in a seaway. 7 tanks total, managed through a manifold I made up out of aluminum. Here's the pump I use.


https://www.proconpumps.com/product/13302

I use a Procon pump also.

Ted

 

[Irish Rambler]

Sailorcraig. As you can see there are many fans of fuel filtering systems and they are entitled to their opinion.
First fuel tanks need to have both a drain and a fuel pickup from the very bottom of the tank. You never see a truck stuck on the side of the road with diesel bug problems because every truck takes it's diesel from the bottom of the tank the same as your car/pickup.
If you have recently filled with fuel, if possible allow it to sit for 24hrs, then take a small glass and 'crack' (slightly open) the valve at the bottom of your tank and allow a trickle of fuel into a glass jar. If you see water then very slowly continue to drain until its pure diesel.
Where does the water come from ? The most likely culprit is condensation on the inside of your fuel tank !
The ideal is to have a fitted bolted hatch on the top of your tank where you can drain off your fuel and wash out the tank with parrafin before returning clean filtered diesel. By drawing fuel from the very bottom of the tank any microscopic particles will be drawn into your primary filter as the engine designs are mean to. These filters are changed as part of your regular servicing schedule.
A simple Caterpillar primary filter with an integral centrifugal water separator is perfect for the job, a quick visual check in the glass bowl at the bottom of the filter will see if there's any water, simply open the drain tap on the bottom of the filter, drain the water off and the jobs done.
I've nothing against Raccor but they are expensive, uneccesary and each connection is a possible point of air induction.