What is this crap in my RACOR fuel filter ?

[captlloyd]

Actually looks like beach sand and fine Gravel to me.

[xxhat]

I use powerservice clear diesel fuel and tank cleaner. its called petrofresh stabilizer.


Going to remove filter and see what this crud is.


Then replace filter.


See if it comes back.If so will look into polishing tank.


I have a boroscope.



Would it be a fire hazard if I lowered the boroscope into the full fuel tank ?


Thanks


jim

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Aluminum corrosion that I have seen is usually white or grey in color, and extremely “gritty” aluminum oxide is I believe what a lot of sandpaper is made from.

I love how Brit’s pronounce aluminum.
It was early 70’s and I was listening to a Brit salesperson explaining why JBL speakers were superior to the competition, it took him several times telling me about the aluminum frame for it to click that he was saying aluminum

Actually it is the Brits that pronounce it correctly and spell it correctly. An American advertiser miss spelled it and it was too hard to correct the error so it became aluminum here.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by xxhat

I use powerservice clear diesel fuel and tank cleaner. its called petrofresh stabilizer.


Going to remove filter and see what this crud is.


Then replace filter.


See if it comes back.If so will look into polishing tank.


I have a boroscope.



Would it be a fire hazard if I lowered the boroscope into the full fuel tank ?


Thanks


jim

No, but STAND BACK !!
{sarcasm}

[El Pinguino]

I see 'red' diesel..... best you don't go to Belgium.....

[delmarrey]

You can put a match out in #2 Diesel fuel. The flash point (vapors) is > 40° C (105°F). So, unless it's a really log hot day it will not catch fire. It has to be at 225°C (437°F) to burn in a liquid form.
Not to worry.

And Windex is a good cleaner while it's still wet. Once it dries, the residue has to be scraped off.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by xxhat

I use powerservice clear diesel fuel and tank cleaner. its called petrofresh stabilizer....
jim

Power Service is NOT an effective aluminum corrosion inhibitor in a marine environment. OK for trucks. I'd switch right now.

I'd try either StarTron Diesel for aluminum protection + Biobor JF for bugs, or Valvtect +6 for both bug and aluminum corrosion protection.

I would also check to make sure NO seawater is getting in the tank. Seawater is very tough on aluminum in a tank bottom (no air) environment.

[Maka]

Agree that it is a good policy to filter fuel as it is being delivered to your boat.
Issues like this become internal problems and not introduced problems.
It is quite possible that what you are seeing was delivered to you during your last fuel fill.
You will have a better handle on that once you identify the crud.

[Grattaway]

Hi

I think Capt Tom is correct - corrosion from an aluminium tank aided and abetted by old fuel and moisture in the tank.

I have an ali cat fishing boat with aluminium under floor tanks - and I was getting similar crud in my filters. Has the look and feel of hard gritty varnish Pulled tanks out and opened up and yes the same crud was on the bottom inside - probably been building up over the 20 year life of the tank

No more build up in filters since I cleaned the tanks 2 years ago but I keep them full now and use fuel stabilisers to reduce fuel breakdown

Rgds Wayne

[rbk]

Not to hijack the thread but on the Racor 500 filters (of which I have a true Racor 500 on my supply to my engine) I just purchased a knockoff version that uses the same Racor filters for a portable polishing system. It was a third the price of a true Racor. I probably wouldn't rely on it for my primary, but to polish my tank I'm willing to give it a go for under $80usd with all fittings and an included filter, from Parts4engines. I did find other knockoffs on Amazon for under $50 which I may add to my polisher filtering capacity in the future. If the the knock off works in my polisher I may add it to my actual fuel supply as a primary with 10 or 30 micron but still keep the Racor with 2mircon pre engine. Hope to know after this weekend.

[stnick]

Looks like you got fuel from a old marinia with old steel tanks !
When I put fuel in my Morgan it always goes in 5 gal jerry cans 4 of them .
Than when i have cleared the fuel dock. I get out the electric fuel pump and Bahia fuel filter. Than i pump from the jerry can thru the bahia filter into my tank. Than I know for certain none of the new fuel has water or rust in it .
I would go to the fuel tank remove the top 2 inch plate empty it and make a large swab ( stick and rag) and swab the tank bottom. Next replace the fuel lines with new fuel rubber hose. than change the raycore fuel filter. now your clean .! just keep the enzime additive in your tank.... Good luck , Fair winds

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by stnick

Looks like you got fuel from a old marinia with old steel tanks ! ....

...Except for the fact that, by law, diesel must be filtered 40 micron at the pump. So we are accusing the marina of removing the filters, piping around them, and breaking the law. There is a strong push, BTW, to improve this to 10 microns because of the prevalence of common rail injectors.

Since pumps are inspected regularly by weights and measures, including the presence of filters, unless he was somewhere 3rd world, this is very, very unlikely.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

I see 'red' diesel..... best you don't go to Belgium.....

There is an uneasy truce at the moment whilst the HM Revenue and Customs consider the latest running by the EU courts. However, they are kind of busy on another matter at the moment

https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/news...esel-use-67761

[h20man]

Originally Posted by stormalong

Actually it is the Brits that pronounce it correctly and spell it correctly. An American advertiser miss spelled it and it was too hard to correct the error so it became aluminum here.

Interestingly enough I have heard of a different version of events:

quote from:

( https://www.thoughtco.com/aluminum-or-aluminium-3980635 )

Aluminum or Aluminium?

by
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Updated September 10, 2018

Aluminum and aluminium are two names for element 13 on the periodic table. In both cases, the element symbol is Al, although Americans and Canadians spell and pronounce the name aluminum, while the British (and most of the rest of the world) use the spelling and pronunciation of aluminium.


Origin of Two Names
The origin of the two names may be attributable to element's discoverer, Sir Humphry Davy, Webster's Dictionary, or the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).


In 1808, Sir Humphry Davy identified the existence of the metal in alum, which he at first named "alumium" and later "aluminum." Davy proposed the name aluminum when referring to the element in his 1812 book Elements of Chemical Philosophy, despite his previous use of "alumium." The official name "aluminium" was adopted to conform with the -ium names of most other elements. The 1828 Webster's Dictionary used the "aluminum" spelling, which it maintained in later editions. In 1925, the American Chemical Society (ACS) decided to go from aluminium back to the original aluminum, putting the United States in the "aluminum" group. In recent years, the IUPAC had identified "aluminium" as the proper spelling, but it didn't catch on in North America, since the ACS used aluminum. The IUPAC periodic table presently lists both spellings and says both words are perfectly acceptable.

even more here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Spelling

Spelling
The -ium suffix followed the precedent set in other newly discovered elements of the time: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy isolated himself). Nevertheless, element names ending in -um were known at the time; for example, platinum (known to Europeans since the 16th century), molybdenum (discovered in 1778), and tantalum (discovered in 1802). The -um suffix is consistent with the universal spelling alumina for the oxide (as opposed to aluminia); compare to lanthana, the oxide of lanthanum, and magnesia, ceria, and thoria, the oxides of magnesium, cerium, and thorium, respectively.

In 1812, British scientist Thomas Young[90] wrote an anonymous review of Davy's book, in which he objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium: "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound."[91] This name did catch on: while the -um spelling was occasionally used in Britain, the American scientific language used -ium from the start.[92] Most scientists used -ium throughout the world in the 19th century;[93] it still remains the standard in most other languages.[89] In 1828, American lexicographer Noah Webster used exclusively the aluminum spelling in his American Dictionary of the English Language.[94] In the 1830s, the -um spelling started to gain usage in the United States; by the 1860s, it had become the more common spelling there outside science.[92] In 1892, Hall used the -um spelling in his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents he filed between 1886 and 1903. It was subsequently suggested this was a typo rather than intended.[89] By 1890, both spellings had been common in the U.S. overall, the -ium spelling being slightly more common; by 1895, the situation had reversed; by 1900, aluminum had been twice as common as aluminium; during the following decade, the -um spelling dominated American usage.[95] In 1925, the American Chemical Society adopted this spelling.[95]

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990.[96] In 1993, they recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant;[96] the same is true for the most recent 2005 edition of the IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry.[97] IUPAC official publications use the -ium spelling as primary but list both where appropriate.[e]

[Cheechako]

Looks like rust. Are you sure your tanks arent "aluminized" rather than aluminum? They used to sell tanks with that name, but they were really steel, but looked aluminum silver from the outside.
Not wood, wood would float right?
Some of it does look like biological stuff, but not all.
I'd remove the bowl and get it all out, then watch and see if it comes back. How long did it take to build up?