Racor 1000 filter change interval?

Xsbank said:

You guys are way over-thinking this filter thing....

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Re: "ANY reading not zero and it’s time to change."

No...it's not that simple. In a Racor 900/1000, you have three filter choices, 2 micron, 10 micron and 30 micron. Noting first that you MUST be running under load before even looking at the vacuum gauge, a brand new 2 micron filter will show about 2" when running at 2-3gph. As you might expect, the 10 micron will show less than that and the 30 micron will show the least.

Re: "you can see the level of crud in a Racor in the bowl."

No, because the bowl is on the supply-side (pre-filter), so it can't tell you anything about the condition of the filter media. The bowl is there to capture (and show you) if there is water in the fuel. If you see crud in the bowl, something is very wrong, and has probably been wrong for a long time.

Re: "If the engine slows uncommanded under load, flip the lever."

This is great if you have one of the (totally awesome) dual-Racors. I bought one for our Mainship. Most us (including OP), have the single Racor and there is no lever to flip...

dhays said:

...I’ve never seen any water in the bowls of my Racors...

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Don't think that "no water in the bowls" means no water in the fuel-tanks! This is a dangerous misconception. The fuel pickup tubes in your tanks will be at least 1-2" up off the bottoms of the tanks. Depending on the size of your tanks, you'd need to have gallons of water sitting at the bottom of your tanks before it would be drawn up the pickups. Liquid water in the tanks happens when the fuel is saturated and can not absorb any more water that is getting in via wet air entering the fuel vents or other (less common) sources. This is when microbes start growing. It only takes a few ounces of liquid water in your tanks to feed a huge microbial infestation, but this water will never make it up the tubes and into your bowl.

Like the vacuum gauge, the fuel bowl has limits in what it can tell you.

Riverguy said:

Don't think that "no water in the bowls" means no water in the fuel-tanks! This is a dangerous misconception. The fuel pickup tubes in your tanks will be at least 1-2" up off the bottoms of the tanks. Depending on the size of your tanks, you'd need to have gallons of water sitting at the bottom of your tanks before it would be drawn up the pickups. Liquid water in the tanks happens when the fuel is saturated and can not absorb any more water that is getting in via wet air entering the fuel vents or other (less common) sources. This is when microbes start growing. It only takes a few ounces of liquid water in your tanks to feed a huge microbial infestation, but this water will never make it up the tubes and into your bowl.

Like the vacuum gauge, the fuel bowl has limits in what it can tell you.

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FWIW - your fuel tubes in the Bayliner are a bit less than 1" above the bottom. Whenever you get in rougher sea conditions the tanks will churn and if water is present it will get puled up during operation.

smitty477 said:

FWIW - your fuel tubes in the Bayliner are a bit less than 1" above the bottom. Whenever you get in rougher sea conditions the tanks will churn and if water is present it will get puled up during operation.

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I read somewhere, some fuel tanks have a small metallic bowl on the bottom with a small drain valve. I can see the advantage for something like this. Of course, I can see the insurance companies objecting to this too.

smitty477 said:

FWIW - your fuel tubes in the Bayliner are a bit less than 1" above the bottom. Whenever you get in rougher sea conditions the tanks will churn and if water is present it will get puled up during operation.

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Agreed, but my point is that no water in the bowl does not mean no water in the tanks. There will (must be) water in your tanks before it shows up in the bowl (if it ever does).

Riverguy said:

Agreed, but my point is that no water in the bowl does not mean no water in the tanks. There will (must be) water in your tanks before it shows up in the bowl (if it ever does).

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Assuming your fuel tanks are sort of aft, next time you put the boat in the yard, have them raise the bow a bit 6 -12 inches, let the boat settle for a day or two then, try to pump 5 gallons to see if you have any water in the fuel tanks.
I guess if you have a fuel polishing system that would be a bit redundant depending on the placement of the engine supply line. SHRUG

smitty477 said:

FWIW - your fuel tubes in the Bayliner are a bit less than 1" above the bottom. Whenever you get in rougher sea conditions the tanks will churn and if water is present it will get puled up during operation.

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True dat. Seems that some have a very vague idea of how these filters work. Fuel is pulled first though the turbulator and circles round and round before being pulled upwards through the media filter. Water, being denser that diesel will show up in the bowl if precipitated water is in the picked up fuel. So yes, if there is water at the bottom of the tank, and the pickups are at the bottom of the tank, water will show up in the bowl. Emulsified moisture, no. Water, yes.

Riverguy said:

Don't think that "no water in the bowls" means no water in the fuel-tanks! This is a dangerous misconception. The fuel pickup tubes in your tanks will be at least 1-2" up off the bottoms of the tanks. Depending on the size of your tanks, you'd need to have gallons of water sitting at the bottom of your tanks before it would be drawn up the pickups. Liquid water in the tanks happens when the fuel is saturated and can not absorb any more water that is getting in via wet air entering the fuel vents or other (less common) sources. This is when microbes start growing. It only takes a few ounces of liquid water in your tanks to feed a huge microbial infestation, but this water will never make it up the tubes and into your bowl.

Like the vacuum gauge, the fuel bowl has limits in what it can tell you.

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I agree, my pickup is not at the very bottom of the tank. However, I’ve never seen any water in any of my bowls on any of my boats with Diesel engines. That is 4 boats over 30+ years, 3 of them sailboats that would get filled with fuel maybe once or twice a year.

However, I also used biocide the fuel. That helped control any growth but wouldn’t have removed any water.

This topic is like anchors or multi grade oil in a Lehman or bow thrusters or twins vs singles.

Believe what you want, whether your father or your grandfather or your Rabbi told you to change your filters every 100 hours, just do it, whatever makes you happy. I’ve said all I can. Bye.

Xsbank said:

This topic is like anchors or multi grade oil in a Lehman or bow thrusters or twins vs singles.

Believe what you want, whether your father or your grandfather or your Rabbi told you to change your filters every 100 hours, just do it, whatever makes you happy. I’ve said all I can. Bye.

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CQR, don't care, no, twins.
Father only ever had sail, GF no boat, No Rabbi, so I change when I see too much crud in the bowl, or for secondaries, every 12 years or so.
Never seen water in the crud bowl in over 40 years. Last time I changed my filters, I had 12 years on the secondaries, 4 on the primaries. Crud bowls showed a little crud, but had a ways to go.
See you Ken.

koliver said:

CQR, don't care, no, twins.
Father only ever had sail, GF no boat, No Rabbi, so I change when I see too much crud in the bowl, or for secondaries, every 12 years or so.
Never seen water in the crud bowl in over 40 years. Last time I changed my filters, I had 12 years on the secondaries, 4 on the primaries. Crud bowls showed a little crud, but had a ways to go.
See you Ken.

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Nothing like clean living and good clean BC fuel to douse a bunch of TF quarterbacks.

sunchaser said:

Nothing like clean living and good clean BC fuel to douse a bunch of TF quarterbacks.

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I haven't brushed my teeth for 13 years. Saves a lot on toothpaste cost.

Delfin said:

I haven't brushed my teeth for 13 years. Saves a lot on toothpaste cost.

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Just soak them in a jar over night?

OldDan1943 said:

Just soak them in a jar over night?

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No, I just wait until the crud build up begins to make it hard for me to close my mouth. Quick once over with a paint scraper and I'm good to go for another 5 years.

BrianSmith said:

Lots of discussion about the fuel filter system, but I don't find any discussions about the filter change frequency. I have a vacuum gauge on my Racor 1000 with the "telltale", and since my last filter change 13 months and 422 hours ago, it has never gone above 2 in. Hg. But when I changed it just now, the filter was BLACK!

I had intended to wait until the vaccuum gauge started reaching at least 5 inches when running, but 13 months seemed long enough, and I'm glad I changed it - the look of that filter scares me.

How many hours of engine time (or calendar time?) do you use as your fuel filter change interval?

FYI, I always polish new fuel through a 2 micron Racor 1000 into my "day tank", and the 10 micron filter I just changed pulls from the day tank and provides fuel to the on-engine filter.

(I'd prefer to stay away from a discussion of my choice of filters, please.)

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You may have algae growing in your day tank.

koliver said:

CQR, don't care, no, twins.
Father only ever had sail, GF no boat, No Rabbi, so I change when I see too much crud in the bowl, or for secondaries, every 12 years or so.
Never seen water in the crud bowl in over 40 years. Last time I changed my filters, I had 12 years on the secondaries, 4 on the primaries. Crud bowls showed a little crud, but had a ways to go.
See you Ken.

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One has to wonder if and on what schedule you change your engine oil, or do you just wait for the engine to knock?

Ted

Hours of engine run time or months in service are of virtually no consequence where fuel filter replacements are concerned. Vacuum and gallons of fuel burned, on the other hand are the real arbiter.

Generally speaking, if the vacuum exceeds about 5 in Hg you should change the filter. If this occurs before you've burned 1,000 gallons of fuel, it's usually an indicator that your tank(s) need to be cleaned.

For more on vacuum gauges see https://www.proboat.com/2012/04/the-vacuum-gauge-tool/

Several years ago I had a customer express concern, based on dockside lore, that a Racor filter element would deteriorate if left in a filter, in fuel, for too long. In my conversations with Racor while visiting their plant in Modesto (here's the article https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Racor-Very-Fine-Filtration.pdf ) I posed this question, they were understandably non-committal but off the record said they've known of filters that weren't changed for a decade and showed no deterioration. Can you imagine what would happen to the reputation of a filter manufacture if their filters deteriorate when exposed to fuel, regardless of the duration? Shortly after that visit and discussion I placed a Racor 500 element in a mason jar full of fuel and left it in my shop, that was 9 years ago, so far no signs of deterioration.

Finally, I have seen vacuum gauges malfunction. You can test yours by slowly closing the fuel supply valve to the engine while it's idling, before fully closing it you should see the gauge begin to register a vacuum. This is not an accuracy test, it merely confirms the gauge is not frozen.

Steve DAntonio said:

Shortly after that visit and discussion I placed a Racor 500 element in a mason jar full of fuel and left it in my shop, that was 9 years ago, so far no signs of deterioration.

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Just curious how the diesel fuel has changed (deteriorated) in 9 years? Maybe post a picture.

Ted

Guys change your filters ! Cheaper to do that than an engine ! Stop tripping over dollars to pick up a Penney.
I run a pair of 12V71's DD best fuel polishers in the business, send just as much fuel back to the tanks as they burn. LoL,
The longer you listen to a pair of Jimmies the quieter they get.

I am surprised at the state of your Racor filters. They suggest you are picking up very, very dirty fuel. Not being able to see if there's any muddy residue I can't say if you have issues with diesel bug.

I'd recommend two actions. First, change fuel suppliers. Second, dose your tanks with a biocide just in case. If this doesn't start to have an effect, have the tanks (steam?) cleaned.

Riverguy said:

.

My main point is that everyone who is storing more fuel than they are burning in a month (and I think that's all of us at some point) needs to add a biocide agent, because there WILL be water in that fuel, and the bugs WILL find it.

.

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That has not been our experience

Our boat had 1/2 tanks of discoloured ten year old diesel in her when we got her.
Previous owner did not use biocide.
Crud sumps with drain taps showed no water or googlies.
Several months after we got her, having stirred the tanks up we changed the old filters and they were clean.

2 years later filters are still clean, crud sump still runs clean, zero biocide has been used.
We still store more fuel than we burn in a year, let alone 1 month.

Simi 60 said:

Bollocks.
Our boat had 1/2 tanks of discoloured ten year old diesel in her when we got her.
Previous owner did not use biocide.
Crud sumps with drain taps showed no water or googlies.
Several months after we got her, stirred the tanks up we changed the old filters and they were clean.

3 years later filters are still clean, crud sump still runs clean, zero biocide has been used.
We still store more fuel than we burn in a year, let alone 1 month.

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In comparison to boats in Europe, your appears to be the exception. I'm astonished.

OldDan1943 said:

I read somewhere, some fuel tanks have a small metallic bowl on the bottom with a small drain valve.

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We have a sump in each about 6 inch dia. and 8 inch deep.
Fuel pickup is a few inches above this.
We drain this sump every couple of months, fuel is always spotless.

I can see the advantage for something like this. Of course, I can see the insurance companies objecting to this too

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.
Why?
Its an obvious safety feature and could very well lessen claims.

O C Diver said:

One has to wonder if and on what schedule you change your engine oil, or do you just wait for the engine to knock?

Ted

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Ted,

If you follow condition-based maintenance, you change oil just before it's worn out, and you make that determination using oil analysis. If the engine is otherwise functioning properly, the "worn out" part is determined by its total base number or TBN, which is the oil additive package's ability to neutralize acids. It starts between 8 and 12, when it reaches 2 the oil should be changed. Most recreational users never reach this point, as they change seasonally, which is conservative and a safe approach.

Having conducted hundreds of oil analyses, and read many hundreds of reports, I'm convinced we throw away a lot of good oil. Still, it's better than the alternative, oil changes still aren't very costly if you do them yourself.

As far as fuel filters are concerned, I'll reiterate the value of a good vacuum gauge, it's the best means of determining filter condition, and it's an excellent troubleshooting tool as well, every primary filter should have one.

Fuel filters work best after they have captured some dirt, it increases the efficiency of the filter, enabling it to more effectively capture more dirt. Every time the filter is replaced, that process must start over again. Therefore, there's an argument to be made for not changing fuel filters unnecessarily. I tell my clients to watch the vacuum gauge (you must read it at cruising speed if it doesn't have a drag needle), if it stays in the green then change at the 2 year mark.

This article covers some of the details of primary filters Primary fuel filtration - Ocean Navigator - Ocean Voyager 2018

RickyD said:

You may have algae growing in your day tank.

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The biological growth found in fuel tanks is bacteria-based, rather than algae. Algae is a plant, it needs sunlight for photosynthesis, and there aint much of that inside a diesel tank;-) If there is you have bigger problems.

Steve DAntonio said:

Several years ago I had a customer express concern, based on dockside lore, that a Racor filter element would deteriorate if left in a filter, in fuel, for too long. In my conversations with Racor while visiting their plant in Modesto (here's the article https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Racor-Very-Fine-Filtration.pdf ) I posed this question, they were understandably non-committal but off the record said they've known of filters that weren't changed for a decade and showed no deterioration. Can you imagine what would happen to the reputation of a filter manufacture if their filters deteriorate when exposed to fuel, regardless of the duration? .

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Thanks for that.
The only reason we changed ours was the "dockside lore" story.
Good to know that we now have a lifetime supply of filters in the cupboard.

"We have a sump in each about 6 inch dia. and 8 inch deep.
Fuel pickup is a few inches above this.
We drain this sump every couple of months, fuel is always spotless."

You sir have an actual fuel tank !! Not just a box for fuel.

As you are assured of clean fuel , or the ability to clean contaminated fuel , any extra the boat cost would seem a fine investment.

I wonder how much boat builders save by installing fuel boxes , instead of genuine fuel tanks?

When I built my rig I put the tank pickups all the way to the bottom, and cut several v-notches in the edge so it would not block flow.

I don't like the idea of pickups an inch or more above tank bottom. This allows crud and water to accumulate. Then it gets picked up when in rough conditions, exactly when you don't want a clogged filter.

Another tidbit: When servicing my filters (Racor 900 single, Cummins spin on secondary), I change the racor and fill the bowl. Then run the engine a bit to suck any crud disturbed from racor change into secondary. Then change secondary. Usually do this when doing an oil change, so engine start and stops are part of that process.

I don't know if the crud is algae, bacteria or asphaltenes. I just call it "crud". Seen it in all flavors. Black and not stringy, black and stringy, brown and stringy, brown and not stringy. Sources and explanations could be multiple, but it still is crud.

As others have posted that keeping water out of tanks is primary. Proper sumps are awesome, but very rare. If I would do anything different when setting up my tanks, it would be adding sumps. But the pickups at the bottom get me pretty close to having a real sump.

O C Diver said:

Just curious how the diesel fuel has changed (deteriorated) in 9 years? Maybe post a picture.

Ted

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Will do. I'm in the midst of a renovation project and most of my shop gear is in storage, including the jar, I should be done in mid June, will photograph and post then.

Simi 60 said:

That has not been our experience

Our boat had 1/2 tanks of discoloured ten year old diesel in her when we got her.
Previous owner did not use biocide.
Crud sumps with drain taps showed no water or googlies.
Several months after we got her, having stirred the tanks up we changed the old filters and they were clean.

2 years later filters are still clean, crud sump still runs clean, zero biocide has been used.
We still store more fuel than we burn in a year, let alone 1 month.

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Ditto that. We refuel annually, and sometimes some tanks may be 18 months old by the time the diesel is used. Never added biocide, never seen water, polishing filters would likely go for years, but I change them more or less annually. On launch after refit the fuel was 4 years old. No problem with that either, although the filters were a bit darker than they get now a year later.