DIY fuel polisher

Taken from the thread posted.....

It's been that way for the last 30+ years.

Well that will mean I will be almost 90 by then and the fuel pipework I removed was in excess of 35 years old and still sound.

Latestarter.... it's 10mm pipe and will withstand in excess of 100psi which the system is nowhere near. all pipes are clipped to prevent vibration although the photo was taken before completion of said task. the fuel pump is not a Walbro as I'm sure you know thay are American, it is a Red dot available in the UK and capable of continous running. rated at 40g/hr.

This system is designed to clear particles during continous use not for a one off cleaning of the tanks, as such the filter is within a size that will accomplish that with ease. Unless the tanks are full of cra# An update to this system is a couple of vacumme gauges to see if the filters are blocking.

How did I know I was going to be told that I done it wrong

[image] walks away shaking head..... again[/image]

It works and it works well........ up to now. :)

Tom
 
Last edited:
vyv_cox said:
Not sure about that, mine certainly doesn't. Problem with a fuel polishing system in copper is that the fuel gets considerable exposure to it.
Click to expand...

As an observation my boat's fuel lines from twin tanks to a twin filter system, return lines and supply to a diesel; heater were all copper with compression fittings. It was over 30 years old. Leaked like a sieve and any chance of nipping up a fitting to effect a seal was long gone.

It has all been replaced with modern, braided fuel hose, although one section is copper covered with plastic.

I may be wrong here but I think there is a greater fire risk with copper pipe. Perhaps because it is malleable, relatively easy to wear and the unions subject to leak if not properly supported. I once got slated by Refuler for stating that compression fittings are a poor method of terminating a fuel line (he advised that I tell Mercedes). I still think that compression fittings are a poor method of terminating.
 
LittleShip said:
Taken from the thread posted.....

It's been that way for the last 30+ years.

Well that will mean I will be almost 90 by then and the fuel pipework I removed was in excess of 35 years old and still sound.

Latestarter.... it's 10mm pipe and will withstand in excess of 100psi which the system is nowhere near. all pipes are clipped to prevent vibration although the photo was taken before completion of said task. the fuel pump is not a Walbro as I'm sure you know thay are American, it is a Red dot available in the UK and capable of continous running. rated at 40g/hr.

This system is designed to clear particles during continous use not for a one off cleaning of the tanks, as such the filter is within a size that will accomplish that with ease. Unless the tanks are full of cra# An update to this system is a couple of vacumme gauges to see if the filters are blocking.

How did I know I was going to be told that I done it wrong

[image] walks away shaking head..... again[/image]

It works and it works well........ up to now. :)

Tom
Click to expand...

Tom I was trying to put a positive spin on your efforts.

#1 I was saying GOOD things about the pump regardless of make.

#2 Not sure what your filter is, certainly not a CAV head. The key to successful fuel polishing is to eliminate the water the component that leads on to all other ills. We have no clue as to the coalescing properties of the filter element and it still appears small for the job in hand, if you mention what it is I can give you an indication of the Beta ratio. Donaldson have a nice range of coalescing filters with a simple twist and drain on the bottom. A timer to control circulation when not aboard is useful. I believe that this thread is all about continuous polishing

#3 Grand Banks fitted nicely engineered USCG approved 3/8 and 5/8 THICK WALL soft copper fuel lines. All certification authorities approve thick wall tubing for fuel lines with a twenty year requirement for replacement due to corrosive effect of distillate fuels. What I see is household thin wall copper tube which is totally inappropriate for a marine installation.

I addition the use of Yorkshire fittings is plain and simple wrong. The corrosive effect of the flux is contained within the joint and will eventually lead to loss of joint integrity. In addition soldered joints are banned on household oil fired boiler installations as well the British Waterways standards.. Quote"All fixed fuel feeds and pipes permanently charged with fuel, including balance pipes, must be made of fire resistant and impact resistant material: softened copper, stainless steel, aluminium alloy or (for diesel installations only) mild steel of suitable size ... To reduce the risk of fuel connections leaking, any connection which permanently carries fuel must be made with efficient screwed, compression, cone brazed or flanged joints. Soft soldered and push-on joints will quickly fail if exposed to excess heat, potentially adding more fuel to a fire. They must not be used."
 
Ok I cant remember which filter it is as the info is at the boat, that said........

It is about 6" long has a water drain at the bottom and filters down to 5-7 microns. I will try and remember to get the part number next time I'm there, so I can quote numbers too. :)

This system is set up seperate from the fuel system to the engine so that it can be used whilst at the dock if necessary, although I never leave the boat with fuel turned on. The fuel system to the engine has a simalar primary filter, but also has the twin CAV filters fitted to the engine. I am always concerned about fuel so check on a regular basis. Since fitting this system the polishing system catches a little debris, that being dirt, water or whatever from the tanks but the main system, which takes fuel from a slightly higher point provides no indication of contaminates from the drain point. If it needs anymore than that for filteration I will take up sailing dingies again.

Fluxes in pipes............ all pipes were fitted, removed and flushed with hot water to remove any acids that may have remined, then refitted. I'll take a chance on my workmanship re the copper pipe and fittings as I did for some 25 years in a past life..

Many thanks for the guidance.

Tom with a cheap (£150) and very sucessful polishing system.
 
Tim a pal of mine from Florida does a super range of restriction gauges, all Swiss or US manufacture at sensible prices. The bulkhead mount http://www.designatedengineer.com/DragPointerLookDown.html would look totally period on a GB.

This guy visits UK to see me as he is trying to appoint a UK agent. Tim's Racor restriction gauges are head and shoulders better quality than Racor stuff and not expensive.
 
LittleShip said:
Tom with a cheap (£150) and very sucessful polishing system.
Click to expand...

Hi Tom,
Can you give us an update on your system? Is there anything that you would do differently?

I'm wondering if dockside fuel polishing might be a worthy maintenance item at the start, and midseason. A low cost system like you built might be the key to others actually doing it.
 
Littleships arrangement looks great to me! My only observation is that the polishing unit is all in line with the supply to the engine so introducing more equipment to 'go wrong' in the normal engine supply.
Would it not be better to have a system completly independant of the engine supply?
 
My fuel gets "polished" whilst the engine is running, through a separ filter and two main engine filters, on each engine, seperate fuelk tanks, the fuel system on my Mermaids (fords) pumps the entire contents of the fuel tanks, through the filters and system then returns it to the tanks as I go along, dont know how fast this happens, but it certainly cleans any crud out of my tanks, as I can witness to, having had to change the separ filter elements, when I got some dirty fuel. However I have not had any problems with crud plugging the engine filters, so seems to work, the separ filter elements are not cheap though, no filters are! The twin bypass system would be even better at fuel polishing, may have to consider that before an atlantic crossing, but easy peasy to build.

I do however have to fit selective return lines, if I want to run both engines from one tank, another job, when the saloon floor comes up for the new genny. Again just pipework, valves, so no worries
 
Copper piping

Oh dear, the boat has copper fuel pipes &, when I replaced the Eber. the dealer made a point of the need to replace existing plastic with new copper piping - or it looked like copper to me.

Should I add fuel pipe replacement to the everlengthening list for next spring?

John G
 
pcatterall said:
My only observation is that the polishing unit is all in line with the supply to the engine so introducing more equipment to 'go wrong' in the normal engine supply.
Would it not be better to have a system completly independant of the engine supply?
Click to expand...

Taken from my post above.

This system is set up seperate from the fuel system to the engine so that it can be used whilst at the dock if necessary, although I never leave the boat with fuel turned on. The fuel system to the engine has a simalar primary filter, but also has the twin CAV filters fitted to the engine.

Tom
 
Jegs said:
Oh dear, the boat has copper fuel pipes &, when I replaced the Eber. the dealer made a point of the need to replace existing plastic with new copper piping - or it looked like copper to me.

Should I add fuel pipe replacement to the everlengthening list for next spring?

John G
Click to expand...

I suspect that very many boats have copper fuel supply pipes, without any problems. The situation I mentioned early in this thread refers to prolonged exposure of hydrocarbons to copper, such as engine internal pipework and fuel polishing. This is a known cause of foaming, although it is most often seen on equipment that runs for far more hours than most boat engines.
 
farmer.leo said:
Hi Tom,
Can you give us an update on your system? Is there anything that you would do differently?
Click to expand...

The system is now in it's second year and is working fine. It was designed so that it would remove small amounts of contaminates from the tanks before they could become a problem and polish the fuel down to approx 5 microns it is not designed to clean contaminated tanks.

I run it all the time the engine is running and sometimes at the dock for an hour or so. Havent had any problems with fuel since I fitted this sysem.

This year I went on my travels (over 1400miles) and changed filters twice, both times the filters seemed to be clean (ish) Filters cost about £5.00 each, I feel that is a small price to pay for what I consider a safety appliance.

Would I change anything.........not really it seems to work as I expected and I'm very happy with what I have.

Tom.
 
Taken from my post above.

"This system is set up seperate from the fuel system to the engine so that it can be used whilst at the dock if necessary, although I never leave the boat with fuel turned on. The fuel system to the engine has a simalar primary filter, but also has the twin CAV filters fitted to the engine."

Sorry Tom, I did read the above but must have misread your diagram, it looked to me that the fuel had to go to the engine via your new filter and pump. I'll have to clean my specs!!
 
sarabande said:
we have about 6 25l cans of agridiesel which went very cloudy last winter and blocked the tractor fuel filters. OK it could have been a waxing problem,
Click to expand...

In which case it will happen again in cold weather. If it does, add a few % kerosene (e.g. heating oil) - worked for our farm tractor in 197(7?).

Andy
 
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