Racor fuel filters

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Spuddy

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The old filter is getting tired and emotional, I'd say (keeps weeping) so I'm considering replacing it with a Racor spin -on for my Yanmar 1GM. The ASAP site lists a few which I've narrowed down to a 30 micron filter and a flow capacity of about 50 litres/hour - two of them, both approx £50. Before I splash out I'd appreciate a second opinion about suitability; what have others used on similar engines?
 
Have a look at the 500 series.
The bigger filter area means its going to clog less quickly if you get a bug problem, which seems to becoming more common. Its also got better water separation.
More expensive, but the filter elements are cheaper.
 
I was recommended these the other day:
http://www.ssldieselparts.co.uk/filter-assemblies-single-c-8.html

Situated in the frozen north, but very good service apparently, and I will be getting a filter assembly from them myself sometime.

Just about any smallish filter assembly will be fine for a 1gm10 as the fuel delivery it needs is so low, plus it has another filter on the engine, so I would go for something that just filters out the big stuff and has a water separator bowl.
 
I have found Racor to be everything they are cracked up to be. No weeping, quick and easy to change etc. Mind you, I seem to be blessed with very clean fuel despite occasional bad practice.
 
racor, vs separs..

had 30 micron racors with clear bowl on old boat. found that with an old tank, a lot of asphaltene bottom sediments was sucking into racors. not the fault of the racors, i ended up changing out the 25 year old fuel tank.

newer boat now has a separ filter -made by separ--that came on the new boat. i found separs to be great as you can back flush them unlike the racors. . i like separs better, though the filters are 2x as expensive.
 
Thanks chaps. I'm now anticipating that the old pipes won't match the new holes in filter. It never seems to be straightforward does it.
 
Use some fuel hose to join the pipe to the filter. Older installations used copper pipe, new boats use fuel hose. I am sure cost is a factor, but there have been some problems with copper pipe failing, and some people consider modern flexible hose to be as good .
It also provides some expansion / contraction and vibration resistance. So on joints a short length of flexible hose is a good idea.
 
noelex said:
Have a look at the 500 series.
The bigger filter area means its going to clog less quickly if you get a bug problem, which seems to becoming more common. Its also got better water separation.
More expensive, but the filter elements are cheaper.
Click to expand...

Fitting the Racor 500 series was the best thing I ever did (well not quite!). Water separator, plus you can change the filter in 2 minutes and not spill a drop of fuel - not like the old CAVs.....

If you are getting blocked filters then just changing the filter is only one of the answers.. You need to clean the tank or all the sludge especially if the boat is over 10 years old. I can't get into my tank except through the filler, so use a 15mm coper pipe to the bottom of the tank and a pump on the end of a drill to suck out at least 10 ltrs every year into water bottles, or as much as you need to draw clear fuel. If you do this every year you will eventually get no sediment at all. Also leaving water in the bottom of the tank is the cause of rusting and thus a replacement tank in time.
 
Chris_Robb said:
Fitting the Racor 500 series was the best thing I ever did (well not quite!). Water separator, plus you can change the filter in 2 minutes and not spill a drop of fuel - not like the old CAVs.....

If you are getting blocked filters then just changing the filter is only one of the answers.. You need to clean the tank or all the sludge especially if the boat is over 10 years old. I can't get into my tank except through the filler, so use a 15mm coper pipe to the bottom of the tank and a pump on the end of a drill to suck out at least 10 ltrs every year into water bottles, or as much as you need to draw clear fuel. If you do this every year you will eventually get no sediment at all. Also leaving water in the bottom of the tank is the cause of rusting and thus a replacement tank in time.
Click to expand...
If you get a bug problem you need to take steps to fix it. Unfortunately the first time you realize there is a problem is often when the tank is stir up sailing in rough conditions.

This is where a larger filter area helps.

On my larger engine I fitted a Raycor 900 series, larger than it needs but it gives a much longer time before the filter becomes plugged up.
53g of solids will result in a 2psi increase in pressure for the 500 series, but the 900 with its larger surface area can have 225g.

With Bug problems a new filter can clog in a short as 15 mins of running. The larger filter would give over an hour at the same contamination level.
 
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