iS IT WORTH CHANGING THE FUEL FILTER HOUSING

Yes. I fitted same one, bigger bowl in last boat, amount of water collected was most satisfying. Have heard some talk though, that glass bowl is bad thing in fire, odd, with all the rubber fuel hoses around it.
 
Ardenfour said:
Yes. I fitted same one, bigger bowl in last boat, amount of water collected was most satisfying. Have heard some talk though, that glass bowl is bad thing in fire, odd, with all the rubber fuel hoses around it.
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I dismantled and serviced my Racor a few weeks ago (see different thread) and found two problems caused by incorrect assembly by the previous owner. To my surprise the bowl is not glass but is plastic, presumably polycarbonate. As you say, in an engine compartment full of other "plastics", I can see no issue.

Richard
 
superheat6k said:
Or this Racor copy at half the price ...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Racor-typ...CommercialVehicleParts_SM&hash=item19e54be355

IMHO as good as the original (NB not my ebay entry). I have the 900 versions on my boat, no issues at all.
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I wouldn't recomend them. I bought a pair and the engineering and copy elements sent with them were very crude. The element relies on o rings to seal it on the inlet tube and I have my doubts that the separator device would spin as it was a tight fit, misshapen and still had casting spall on. I decided to send them back when I tried a proper racor element and it was a loose fit on the inlet tube. I now have Racor 500's.
 
Sneaky Pete said:
If I change my current fuel filter housing which has a metal bowl as shown in first picture for one with a glass bowl will it allow me to see any water separation from the diesel which could then be drained off?

Hi Pete

More food for thought!

I have similar Delphi filters but 'with glass bowl' and at the end of the day its just as easy to open the drain now and then, but to reseal them I personally have found a pain in the ar--- as you don't know they leak until you have refilled them, then you have to do it all over again!

I also like the water trap so have decided following another forum recommendations to go for the Delphi SFA11 filter, it does not have a see through bowl but does have a water drain BUT the best thing is the filter 'spins on'.

Downside at present is I can not get one , ASAP don't have any and don't know if they can get any, SSL Diesel don't have any but do have some coming in mid Feb, most other sites just do not have any, the Racor is fine but almost double the price and at the end of the day its a fuel filter and I need two !
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Also depends if you race and what type of racing. I seem to recall the IRC 'regs' require a solid filter as the glass may break. Racing aficionados would know more if its relevant.
 
IIRC ISAF Offshore Special Regulations are not concerned with either type of fuel filter bowl or where it (and any stop cocks) might be located.

I also changed to the Racor 120AT just as Nigel Mercier has done and it is great being able to quickly and easily see what is in the bowl...
 
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It is just to drain off any water that accumulates in the bowl it would be nice to see what is there. The Racor 120AT does look the part and would be a quick replacement for what I have, but also a glass bowl with a drain off tap would do the job just as easily. Difficult when you have choices.
 
I changed a 10 year old Purflux filter fitted originally by Jeanneau for a CAV Delphi 296 assembly with glass bowl. The Purflux didn't have a clear bowl so it was impossible to see if there was any water inside it and it also had a very small washable filter. I think it was actually a sedimenter rather than a filter which relied heavily on the engine filter doing it's job. The filter and assembly had no renewable parts so I was worried that the rubber seals would fail soon and cause a leak. If for any reason the filter blocked while underway then it would mean stripping it off and washing it in clean fuel rather than fitting a new replacement filter element!

I contemplated the Racor as I had good service from the Racor filter in my previous boat but they were all to big for the space I have to fit the filter into.

Fitting the CAV filter was easy and the fuel line run to the engine is fairly short so priming using the engine lift pump worked fine. I find it a lot better being able to see the fuel inside the bowl rather than having to drain off regularly just to check whether there is any water present.

Once the CAV filter was fitted I put a clean ice cream container below it with some kitchen towel inside it. A few weeks later there was a small amount of diesel in the ice cream container. I checked all the hose tails were ok and that the seals for the main filter body were all dry. The following week there was nothing in the ice cream container so I assumed that the new seals had now swollen and any drips had stopped. I kept the ice cream container in place and a month or so down the line it had a small amount of fuel in it again. I was about to remove the filter and refit the Purflux when I decided to have one last check. I could just see a small drip developing by the feed pipe where it joins the hose tail. I ordered the assembly and tails from SSL and the tails they supplied just had the one ridge on the end which proved to be quite a loose fit to start with. I picked up some replacement hose tails from Force 4 which have multiple ridges to grip and seal the fuel hose. Since fitting these in the autumn the filter has been 100% dry all Winter. - http://www.force4.co.uk/force-4-fitting-kit-for-8mm-hose.html#.VMu_Ii5mXEs

It may not be as easy to change in an emergency as the Racor is but with the limited space i'm confident that it's superior to the unit fitted previously which had very minimal filtration and couldn't be checked for water.

When fitting the CAV make sure you follow the arrows on the top correctly. Initially I thought that the fuel should go down the centre into the bowl and should then be drawn out from the top pulling the fuel up through the paper filter. In fact this is incorrect and according to the CAV manual the fuel should be fed into the assembly from the top and then flow down through the paper filter and be sucked up the centre pipe to the engine from the bowl.
 
Sneaky Pete said:
It is just to drain off any water that accumulates in the bowl it would be nice to see what is there. The Racor 120AT does look the part and would be a quick replacement for what I have, but also a glass bowl with a drain off tap would do the job just as easily. Difficult when you have choices.
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The glass bowl and filter stem are about a tenner. If you're happy to change the Delphi 296 filters, why pay more? I've never found filter changing to be a problem, but some people seem to find it especially challenging.
 
I have replaced the original CAV filter head with the equivalent head(withUNF threads) for a Delphi screw on filter. There is no glass bowl but there is a drain tap for water draining. Should be MUCH easier to change the filter in the future. The original CAV filter is a pita.......
 
After a filter blockage at a very awkward time, I replaced my filter with a pair of spin-on filters from a car breaker plumbed in parallel, with isolating valves. I can switch from one to the other in seconds and change an element while the engine's running. The whole job cost me about £60. Of course, since then, I've never (grabbing a large piece of tree) had another blockage!
 
I had to change to a metal base following an insurance inspection that required the glass bowl to be replaced. If the filter is away from the engine it is not a problem to have a glass or plastic filter base.
 
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