Racor bleed screws

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prv

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Buggrit!

Managed to drop the bleed screw from one of my Racor fuel filters into the bilge today :mad:. I think the hole in it was blocked, so I was undoing and undoing waiting to see bubbles, when it came right off and then fell out of my spanner and disappeared. Didn't see where it went, but best guess is into the bilge. My bilge is at least four feet deep, through an awkwardly placed hatch, and has various obstacles in the form of bilge pump pipes, strum boxes, the propshaft, etc.

I spent an hour or two (until it got dark) dangling magnets around and poking about with my park-keeper's litter grabber (only way to reach things down there) without success.

Any thoughts on a) can a genuine replacement be obtained? b) is it a sensible thread that I can fit a substitute bolt into (bearing in mind the in and out ports are American National Pipe Thread) and c) a cunning way to search an inaccessible bilge?

Pete
 
Get a big magnet and put it in a stocking or pair of tights. Lower into bilge and drag or by some other means move it around. You never know it may collect the bolt, assuming that it is magnetic in the first place.

Alternative is to buy a replacement bolt or filter from http://www.asap-supplies.com/

Buy the way, I don't have a spare stocking for you.
 
prv said:
Any thoughts on a) can a genuine replacement be obtained? b) is it a sensible thread that I can fit a substitute bolt into (bearing in mind the in and out ports are American National Pipe Thread) and c) a cunning way to search an inaccessible bilge?

Pete
Click to expand...

As the ports are NPT, it's a good chance UNF will be your best bet. Is there anything special about the bolt?
 
colhel said:
As the ports are NPT, it's a good chance UNF will be your best bet. Is there anything special about the bolt?
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with the Racor but the CAV/Delphi filter has a UNC thread bleed screw - better into cast alloy than UNF.
You can just grind a groove down the thread rather than drilling and cross drilling.
 
MartynG said:
Is it not possible to obtain a new bleed screw from a Racor retailer? They seem to sell quite a few components seperately.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the lead - looked quite promising, but they seem to sell just about every part except the one you're most likely to lose :(

Pete
 
prv said:
Thanks for the lead - looked quite promising, but they seem to sell just about every part except the one you're most likely to lose :(
Click to expand...

Actually, scratch that, they do seem to have it. Part number RK 10110. Excellent! Now I just need to find someone in the UK that stocks it - most hits to do with Racor filters seem to be in the US.

Cheers,

Pete
 
It may not help in your case, but a small digital camera will often find things.
You can get it places under and around things and the flash lights up the dark recesses.

Take lots of photos. Then look for the offending item in the photos. Once you have found it in a photo you can work out where it is from the surroundings.
 
OK, so noone in the UK will admit online that they sell bleed screws. Going to phone ASAP and Hyphose tomorrow to see if they have or can get them.

Apparently the thread is 3/8" SAE (and I believe SAE is the same thing as UNF). Hopefully not too exotic, but I doubt I have one in the shed (not a big range of nuts and bolts). I could obtain one and drill it, but I'd also have to find the little O ring that fits over it, and file the groove that the O ring goes in.

Going to go to the boat and have another look for the original now.

Pete
 
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