Hello to interested Cape Dorians!
I got an email response from Racor (Parker/Hannifin)about a question I posed to them concerning change frequency on the 220 Series Spin-on filter (fuel/water separator)...since I hadn't changed mine in about two years (!), I thought I'd find out what the recommended service life of a 24D (30 micron) filter was. The specs say it can handle up to 30 gal/hr...but this will never be required from a 1GM10! The Rep. quoted the following guidelines : 10,000 gallons, 500 hours, every other oil change, annually, or after a noticeable drop in engine power. Additionally, he stated that the filters lose their water separating effectiveness after 1 year of inactivity or storage (?)...go figure. I was wondering what others do in terms of change frequency...I don't have a current problem but there's no need to introduce possible air in the system if there's no reason to change the filter...Torresen Marine's position (www.marinedieseldirect.com) is to change the filter when it get's dirty...OK, when is that? !!!
Thanks in advance for comments...
Lou Ostendorff
CD25D Karma
Hailing Port "Oriental, NC" ('cause I like the name)
louosten@ipass.net
Racor fuel filter change frequency
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Lou Ostendorff
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Larry DeMers
Re: Racor fuel filter change frequency
Lou,
I must have missed the previous stuff about this..or it fell into that increasingly large folder of 'forgotten but used to know about it' stuff.
I have two filters external to the engine..a 10 micron Racor 500 water sep/filter and a Fram Black Beauty 1 micron water sep/filter. I have a vacuum gauge on the output of the last filter..the Fram. This allows me to monitor how hard the lift pump is pulling on the filter. As the filter gets plugged up, the lift pump will work harder to gett he same fuel flow as before,so the vacuum level will increase in a direct relationship to this clogging. I watch the gauge and change when any increase in effort is noted, as compared to the fresh filter vacuum level, which is very small (my brain is just not cooperating in remembering the values right now).
I used to change regardless, every spring, and I still think this is the best practice. But the last two years, I have left the filters go, monitoring the vacuum gauge (this tells how clogged the filter media is..not how well it removes water, so that function may have stopped long ago, and the gauge will not indicate anything about it). So I got two years out of them this year. They will be changed this year for certain.
Cheers,
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
demers@sgi.com
I must have missed the previous stuff about this..or it fell into that increasingly large folder of 'forgotten but used to know about it' stuff.
I have two filters external to the engine..a 10 micron Racor 500 water sep/filter and a Fram Black Beauty 1 micron water sep/filter. I have a vacuum gauge on the output of the last filter..the Fram. This allows me to monitor how hard the lift pump is pulling on the filter. As the filter gets plugged up, the lift pump will work harder to gett he same fuel flow as before,so the vacuum level will increase in a direct relationship to this clogging. I watch the gauge and change when any increase in effort is noted, as compared to the fresh filter vacuum level, which is very small (my brain is just not cooperating in remembering the values right now).
I used to change regardless, every spring, and I still think this is the best practice. But the last two years, I have left the filters go, monitoring the vacuum gauge (this tells how clogged the filter media is..not how well it removes water, so that function may have stopped long ago, and the gauge will not indicate anything about it). So I got two years out of them this year. They will be changed this year for certain.
Cheers,
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
Lou Ostendorff wrote: Hello to interested Cape Dorians!
I got an email response from Racor (Parker/Hannifin)about a question I posed to them concerning change frequency on the 220 Series Spin-on filter (fuel/water separator)...since I hadn't changed mine in about two years (!), I thought I'd find out what the recommended service life of a 24D (30 micron) filter was. The specs say it can handle up to 30 gal/hr...but this will never be required from a 1GM10! The Rep. quoted the following guidelines : 10,000 gallons, 500 hours, every other oil change, annually, or after a noticeable drop in engine power. Additionally, he stated that the filters lose their water separating effectiveness after 1 year of inactivity or storage (?)...go figure. I was wondering what others do in terms of change frequency...I don't have a current problem but there's no need to introduce possible air in the system if there's no reason to change the filter...Torresen Marine's position (www.marinedieseldirect.com) is to change the filter when it get's dirty...OK, when is that? !!!
Thanks in advance for comments...
Lou Ostendorff
CD25D Karma
Hailing Port "Oriental, NC" ('cause I like the name)
demers@sgi.com