SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

How much water in the fuel filters is Ok?

3K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  pdqaltair 
#1 ·
I just changed both fuel filters on my Universal 5424 (the first is an aftermarket Fram). I got a couple of ml of water amongst the fuel I drained, you can see it at the bottom of the fuel. This is over about 100 hours of use. I'm thinking this is OK but wanted to check with the experts...
 
#2 ·
Do you have a water separation filter, like a Racor, in your system? It should remove water from the fuel BEFORE it gets to the fuel filter. I would suggest that water in the fuel filter is problematic. The Racor will likely have a glass bulb in which you can see water at the bottom. A valve at the bottom permits the water to be drained.

 
#3 · (Edited)
I don't have a dedicated separator, just the aftermarket Fram, which is just a filter. Better put a Racor separator on my shopping list, then?

Actually, I'm not sure of the capabilities of the Fram. It does have a drain screw, but the bowl is not transparent. It takes a C1110PL cartridge. Does anyone know if it separates water?
 
#4 ·
I don't have a dedicated separator, just the aftermarket Fram, which is just a filter. Better put a Racor separator on my shopping list, then?
Absolutely.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I do tend to keep the tank pretty fuel, topping it off about once a month. At this point it will normally take about 5 gallons, which leaves about 15 gallons in the tank.

I will try to keep it at a lower average level - say half full? That would be more than adequate for my needs.

I buy all the fuel in a 5 gallon container from the gas station I fill my (diesel) car at.

Good point about the O ring...it's probably as old as the boat!
 
#11 ·
Oh my Jesus! No no no!! Why are you saying this? Have i gone mad? What data? What data?!

This is from BP, a fuel manufacture.

http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_int...ts/downloads_pdfs/f/Long_Term_Storage_ADF.pdf

This is from John Deere, engine manufacturer:

Service Miscellaneous

I will even include a link to a letter from some guy who works for a legitimate company, not because he is knowledgable but because some people like official letters.

http://marine.cat.com/cda/files/949224/7/Fuel for Thought.pdf

A storage tank manufacture:

Diesel | Information On Petrodiesel & Diesel Fuel
 
#12 ·
If you are using the same fuel in your car, check the filters in it. It could be that you are getting wet fuel. Are you getting it from a high volume diesel supplier? Some stations don't turn there stock over very quickly and can get a lot of water in there tanks. So stick to truck stops and stations you see a lot of movement at the stinky pump. Marine diesels will drink pretty bad fuel without much complaint as they are relatively robust, but cars are not. For instance VW high pressure pumps can be destroyed by very little moisture and will set you back many thousands of dollars. This is the reason the only way I would buy a VW TDI is if it was new or owned by someone I know and the last new car I bought was in 1990 so I don't like new cars.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Conventional wisdom seems to go with keeping your fuel tanks topped off. That has always been my practice and it is not often that I ever get more than about two ml of water out of the glass bowl in about every 10 hours of running.
I have only ever had a bad dose of water in the fuel once in more than 30 years of running diesels in boats. This occurred last year when filling from a dockside pump which had a long, black hose running from the shore-side bowser out about 50 metres to the deep end of the jetty. The hose probably held at least five gallons on its own, and being black, I imagine that it got hot and humid inside. So when I filled, that first five gallons of old diesel in the hose between the pump and the nozzle probably had half a gallon of condensation mixed with it.
Although the glass bowl on the low pressure filter was nearly full of water before I caught it, no water found its way to the high pressure filter on the engine. However, after clearing the water from the tank I did change both the low pressure and high pressure filters just to be safe.
So....some water in the low pressure filter is probably unavoidable and nothing to worry about provided that you have a program to drain it off at regular intervals.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top