algae on diesel tanks...to filter or to polish?
 

ok so here is an old question that I have not seen discussed recently.

My mechanic says not to polish, will be better off by installing two
(twin engines) of the redundant big racors, I'm sure that's the best
way to go, but at $1,200 each I'm looking at spending aprox. $4,000
when you include instalation.
I was thinking to buy a couple of the large single Racors, one per
engine and leave the old small units for redundancy, if I can make this
work I can probably get it done for under a thousand bucks and still
have a redundant system for each engine.....
And of course there is the question of professional polishing...
thoughts out there??

algae on diesel tanks...to filter or to polish?
 

"map" wrote in message
oups.com...
ok so here is an old question that I have not seen discussed recently.

My mechanic says not to polish, will be better off by installing two
(twin engines) of the redundant big racors, I'm sure that's the best
way to go, but at $1,200 each I'm looking at spending aprox. $4,000
when you include instalation.
I was thinking to buy a couple of the large single Racors, one per
engine and leave the old small units for redundancy, if I can make this
work I can probably get it done for under a thousand bucks and still
have a redundant system for each engine.....
And of course there is the question of professional polishing...
thoughts out there??


Commercial fishing boats use a day tank. Smaller tank that the engines run
from and the smaller tank is fed by the larger tank through a filter. So if
a filter plugs, you do not stop the engine from lack of fuel.

algae on diesel tanks...to filter or to polish?
 

"map" wrote in message
oups.com...
ok so here is an old question that I have not seen discussed recently.

My mechanic says not to polish, will be better off by installing two
(twin engines) of the redundant big racors, I'm sure that's the best
way to go, but at $1,200 each I'm looking at spending aprox. $4,000
when you include instalation.
I was thinking to buy a couple of the large single Racors, one per
engine and leave the old small units for redundancy, if I can make this
work I can probably get it done for under a thousand bucks and still
have a redundant system for each engine.....
And of course there is the question of professional polishing...
thoughts out there??


My personal opinion is that polishing is only necessary if the boat has not
been used for many months and is stored in an area subject to hot, humid
weather. Adding a diesel algaecide when the fuel was fresh helps reduce the
growth of the little creatures that can clog up your filters quickly.
Adding algaecide too late can compound the problem. I also discovered that
some marinas add algaecide to their diesel storage tanks anyway.

Redundant Racors, valved such that you can isolate either one is a great
setup. Nothing worse than having an engine die of fuel starvation while
underway and having to replace a filter in 6 - 8 footers. The filters need
to be of the proper size for the fuel flow however. Too small will restrict
flow, too big will not filter properly.

I have a boat that spent over a year tied up at a slip in Florida without
being run enough to refuel.
Knowing it was going to sit for a while, I added the recommended amount of
fuel conditioner that included algaecide at the last refueling. When I
finally prepared the boat for a return trip from Florida to MA, I had the
fuel (500 gallons total) professionally polished as a precaution. Turns out
it really wasn't bad ... I could have easily made the trip with out fuel
problems.

Eisboch

algae on diesel tanks...to filter or to polish?
 

Why do you think your fuel needs polishing? Are your filters clogging
up? When I first bought my boat, I shocked it with Soltron, had the
fuel polished, and kept using Soltron and am very happy with the
results. The dual Racors are a good idea... you can accomplish the same
thing with plumbing as replacing current singles with duals. You just
have to be able to switch over from one to the other with a 3-way
valve.

If you decide you need to polish, and may need to do so in the future,
you can build your own polishing system for what it costs to have it
done once. I built one like this and use it as a preventative measure,
since I carry 700 gallons, which can be a year or two worth of fuel for
me. See:
http://www.gulfcoastfilters.com/fuel_polishing.htm

The heart of the system is the GCF filter... you can use a continuous
duty Walbro pump to pump the fuel through there.

algae on diesel tanks...to filter or to polish?
 

Engine Size?
Hours per year?
Longest trip?
Symptoms of the current issue?
\
These would help answer it.

Assuming your boat has been working OK with current filters, you could
go in series with a racor 900 30 micron in front of your current
filter. 30 u will pick up most of the crud and the filters are only
$10 to replace (Keep 4 per engine minumum on the boat) it will also pick
up the water.

This will not allow you to change filters underway but unless you are
making really long trips or can't get to them underway then you can
probably do without.

BTW... this is NOT redundancy unless you put them in parallel... I
prefer serial. BTW... spend the extra couple bucks and buy the guage
for the top. It will help prevent you from filling them up with gook
and not knowing.






map wrote:
ok so here is an old question that I have not seen discussed recently.

My mechanic says not to polish, will be better off by installing two
(twin engines) of the redundant big racors, I'm sure that's the best
way to go, but at $1,200 each I'm looking at spending aprox. $4,000
when you include instalation.
I was thinking to buy a couple of the large single Racors, one per
engine and leave the old small units for redundancy, if I can make this
work I can probably get it done for under a thousand bucks and still
have a redundant system for each engine.....
And of course there is the question of professional polishing...
thoughts out there??

algae on diesel tanks...to filter or to polish?
 

map wrote:
ok so here is an old question that I have not seen discussed recently.

My mechanic says not to polish, will be better off by installing two
(twin engines) of the redundant big racors, I'm sure that's the best
way to go, but at $1,200 each I'm looking at spending aprox. $4,000
when you include instalation.
I was thinking to buy a couple of the large single Racors, one per
engine and leave the old small units for redundancy, if I can make this
work I can probably get it done for under a thousand bucks and still
have a redundant system for each engine.....
And of course there is the question of professional polishing...
thoughts out there??

What size and type of engines do you have. You only need the big Racors
if you have very large engines. The redundant units really aren't
redundant, your only using one filter at a time, you select the other
filter when the first is clogged. Racor filters are very easy to
change, it only takes a few minutes, so the single units really are
just fime (I've only seen the dual units on very expensive boats). The
units are also easy to install, you just need a hose supplier nearby to
get the hoses from. Just install shut off valves on the inputs and
install the units so that you can get the filters out of the housings
as easily as possible. Your price of 4K sounds like a lot of money, but
I do agree with your mechanic, a good set of filters makes a lot more
sense than "polishing" (I've never heard of a knowledgable boater
(their are lots of people that think their knowledgable) falling for
"fuel polishing" which is nothing more than running your fuel through
filters and putting it back into your tank).

algae on diesel tanks...to filter or to polish?
 

thanks John.
i have twin cats 3216 (300hp). Agree with you. ref. redundancy, what I
really meant was the avility to change the filter element while
underway without having to shut down the engine....have you or anybody
there heard of a product call: Marine Cal-5 ? it is made by a company
called Fuel Tek and they claim to be very efficient to "clean" fuel.
Capt John wrote:
map wrote:
ok so here is an old question that I have not seen discussed recently.

My mechanic says not to polish, will be better off by installing two
(twin engines) of the redundant big racors, I'm sure that's the best
way to go, but at $1,200 each I'm looking at spending aprox. $4,000
when you include instalation.
I was thinking to buy a couple of the large single Racors, one per
engine and leave the old small units for redundancy, if I can make this
work I can probably get it done for under a thousand bucks and still
have a redundant system for each engine.....
And of course there is the question of professional polishing...
thoughts out there??

What size and type of engines do you have. You only need the big Racors
if you have very large engines. The redundant units really aren't
redundant, your only using one filter at a time, you select the other
filter when the first is clogged. Racor filters are very easy to
change, it only takes a few minutes, so the single units really are
just fime (I've only seen the dual units on very expensive boats). The
units are also easy to install, you just need a hose supplier nearby to
get the hoses from. Just install shut off valves on the inputs and
install the units so that you can get the filters out of the housings
as easily as possible. Your price of 4K sounds like a lot of money, but
I do agree with your mechanic, a good set of filters makes a lot more
sense than "polishing" (I've never heard of a knowledgable boater
(their are lots of people that think their knowledgable) falling for
"fuel polishing" which is nothing more than running your fuel through
filters and putting it back into your tank).