primary filters in parallel

[Cpt Mark]

jmschmidt makes a great point about switching filters if you have experienced issues in the past, expect to have problems or if your gauges say it's getting plugged or if powering up the engine lags or doesn't develop full power.

I used to be religious about fuel polishing. Now I look at the access to the fuel tank. Mine is buried in fiberglass so having someone come and polish it would be a total waste of money as I can turn on the electric pump and run it through a 2 micron filter as easily as they could. If you have great access, ie you can get to all the sides and top, then you or someone can go in and brush the sides/top/bottom and get all the particulates into your racor filter and change as needed.

[Siberian Sea]

Of course the best solution would be to clean the tanks.

[billknny]

Originally Posted by Siberian Sea

Of course the best solution would be to clean the tanks.

Like he said!

Your filters will not clean your tanks for you. No, not even if you pump the fuel around in a circle

Clean the tank, the problem goes away. Put only clean fuel in, and problem stays away.

Your filters should never clog. If they do, something is very wrong. If you change the filter you have fixed the symptom—not the problem. FIX THE PROBLEM.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by billknny

Like he said!

Your filters will not clean your tanks for you. No, not even if you pump the fuel around in a circle

Clean the tank, the problem goes away. Put only clean fuel in, and problem stays away.

Your filters should never clog. If they do, something is very wrong. If you change the filter you have fixed the symptom—not the problem. FIX THE PROBLEM.

So true, except when the problem is asphaltenes, that is when regular polishing comes into it's own.

[sailah]

I've been successfully using Shelco filter housings in addition to my primary Racor 500 for a few years now. They are extremely well built, 316SS, and benefit from inexpensive ($5), large filter cartridges.

I use 2, with a 72 GPH pump in between, to act as both a polisher and to feed 5 micron filtered fuel to my engine in case of pump failure on my engine.

I also have a vacuum gauge I built for my Racor. The factory Racor gauge I had died so I built one with a high quality SPAN gauge.

I've found running my polisher 100% of the time my engine is running, that I never even get a dirty Racor 10 micron filter. I still change it every fall but it looks new.

Paid $14/ea for the Shelcos on eBay. Just an option if you're more of a DIY vs the expensive Racor dual unit.

[gma4]

I wouldn't be so quick to put a 2 micron filter into your primary Racors (or other brand) filters. It really depends on the engine specifications. It's OK on some engines, but other engine makers do not want a 2 micron filter used as a primary, because of the issue of fuel starvation and potential engine damage.

The only way to know exactly what you should use is to read the owner's manual for the engine or to call the manufacturer directly.

By the way, I've run into a number of boat owners who pull fuel off BOTH tandem filters at the same time. Their argument: two are better than one. Wrong. If you are using both, and both become clogged, your engine is no longer running. As the prior posters have recognized, you should only use one filter at a time, which allows you to switch over to the clean one if the single filter becomes clogged.

Greg Allard
M/V Meander

[David B]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Yes, In fact that's how I did my boat rather than series. Small 3 way valves make it easy to go to/from either filter. I had no fuel/tank issues but you never know when you may get some bad fuel in the third world...

Or just ON/OFF valves on each filter inlet and outlet with a 'Y' or 'T' before and after the pair.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by David B

Or just ON/OFF valves on each filter inlet and outlet with a 'Y' or 'T' before and after the pair.

You only need two T’s one before and one after, and only need two valves either before or after. But you don’t need both before and after.
Whichever valve is on of course means that is the filter being used, and if you desire, turn them both on.
I believe I would put the valves on the intake side, may prevent drain back when you open one up to change it.
I realized this after buying the double Racor set up, you can duplicate it for far less money.

[David B]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

You only need two T’s one before and one after, and only need two valves either before or after. But you don’t need both before and after.
Whichever valve is on of course means that is the filter being used, and if you desire, turn them both on.
I believe I would put the valves on the intake side, may prevent drain back when you open one up to change it.
I realized this after buying the double Racor set up, you can duplicate it for far less money.

Yes, just a T or Y before and after, but I prefer to have an isolating valve on the inlet and outlet of each filter. The valves on ours screw straight into the body of the filters, and effectively replace the hose tails that would have to be there anyway.

[a64pilot]

If I had realized that it was that simple, I would have likely saved $500 or so.
However I was working then so time was more important than money.

[Cpt Mark]

Originally Posted by Siberian Sea

Of course the best solution would be to clean the tanks.

If you have no access to clean the tanks which is true for most boats then you are left with little option on how to polish the tanks. Most, if not all of the reason you have junk in your tank is algae. You deal with algae by killing it with a biocide. I use Biobor and it seems to work fine. If you kill the live algae in your tank then now you have dead algae in your tank which when it breaks loose you will also plug your filters. Go out and smash into the waves and break the stuff loose. If you have a 2 filter setup it's easy to monitor when one is getting full and switch to the other filter before the engine dies, swap out the filter and your ready for a repeat. Biocide every time you fill up and you'll never have that problem again.

[pskudlarski]

Hello,

I wonder if the following would be a good solution to add redundancy to my system?

I have to racor filters one for the engine na one for the generator located close to each other. Wouldit make sense to add Y-valve in the output of the generator Racor filter and another Y valve below the engine racor, so that I can redirect flow to the engine to come from the generator racor filter when the engine racor is plugged and need replacement?

[Cheechako]

Sure, I did that with two Racors (T valves) I had no generator just two Racors. You could operate both, or either one.

[Cpt Mark]

That would work as long as you are not running the engine and the gen set at the same time.

[NYSail]

Maybe what you should do is clean your fuel tank..... sounds like a mess. One of the problems with biocide is that is leaves a lot of debris in the tank. The duel filters are nice though and great insurance..... I will eventually add a second to my current racor 500f.

Good luck!
Greg