particles in fuel water seperator

H20Rat

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Re: particles in fuel water seperator

I read the fine print and they don't recommend it for inboards.... Maybe it can shatter in general(I suppose) or high temps. If that's the case, I would be abandoning ship before that happened.....

No glass, plastic, or primer bulbs allowed in gasoline inboard fuel systems! Primer bulbs leak, and glass or plastic can easily be damaged and leak. Problem is that you wouldn't have time to abandon ship, you wouldn't know it was leaking until it launches you into orbit!
 

dingbat

Supreme Mariner
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Re: particles in fuel water seperator

Your seperation should be 10 um. Makes no sense to put an in-line "stick and rock" collector before or after the separator since nothing beyond 10 um can pass to begin with
 

robeward

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Re: particles in fuel water seperator

Your seperation should be 10 um. Makes no sense to put an in-line "stick and rock" collector before or after the separator since nothing beyond 10 um can pass to begin with

Well I agree with this. We assumed something got past the filter to clog carbs? So was going to add one until things cleaned up. Got word today that carb guy saw nothing unusual when cleaned carb. Doesn't mean there wasn't something he couldn't see though.

Hope to put her on tomorrow and fire up and see what happens.
 

robeward

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Re: particles in fuel water seperator

and the moment we have all been waiting for...problem solved.

I will try and keep brief.

Built a fuel polishing system as seen in the pic. forgot to use a fuse so for future readers don't forget the safety!! Ran it for a couple hours at least. the second pic shows more trash that i removed while polishing. that stuff is not coming from my aluminum tank as aluminum will not turn into to stuff like that. it had to come from gas station, period. the previous boat owner was very methodical about ensuring tank was ok and he said he has never seen anything like that from his trips on the boat. and yes he checked every filter but dumping and cutting open.

we did add an inline filter and for reasons later you will see it is needed for the time being.

put the carb on and she fired up.

took to ramp, adjusted idle jets and throttle to get her to about 950 rpms, took her for a ride and all is good.

now for the interesting part. hope you haven't quit reading yet. my intention was to show up with an empty tank in my truck. pump fuel from boat through fuel/water separator (brand new) and into my truck. well that little pump is extremely slow so i probably only got about three gallons in my truck before i gave up on that method. with that three gallons, i pulled boat to and from ramp with no issues. after unhooking i parked in front of apartment and loaded up my stuff. when i cranked my truck, it almost died. spit, sputtered, missed, knocked, you name it. cut it off. grabbed some sta bil, and when i cranked it back up it must have blown through whatever was there. filled her up with 93 octane and everything seems to be fine.

so i got my confirmation that the gas we bought was bad. terrible actually. i also got my confirmation that those fuel/water separators are not the end all be all. they do let stuff through, period. next time i will do whatever is necessary to remove every last drop of gas if i think it is bad, period. take no chances when you are trying to fish 50+ miles offshore.

pic 1
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2078428/IMG_20140510_191426_718.jpg

pic 2
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2078428/IMG_20140511_110720_176.jpg
 
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robeward

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Re: particles in fuel water seperator

well can't get pics to load now. i assume it is because they are too big but so was the original pic and it didn't complain then. how to resize?
 

dingbat

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Re: particles in fuel water seperator

Well I agree with this. We assumed something got past the filter to clog carbs? So was going to add one until things cleaned up. Got word today that carb guy saw nothing unusual when cleaned carb. Doesn't mean there wasn't something he couldn't see though.
Anything getting thru a 10 um filter (you can't see) is not going to cause problems. You're using a 10 um filter,...right?
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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Re: particles in fuel water seperator

I would find a different place to get fuel. I would also inform the station you were buying your fuel from that they have a tank issue.
 

robeward

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Re: particles in fuel water seperator

Anything getting thru a 10 um filter (you can't see) is not going to cause problems. You're using a 10 um filter,...right?

yes using a 10 um filter. Sierra 18-7866. the issue with my truck proves to me that those filters are not perfect. they claim 90% for particles as small as 10 um and 99% for water. I think i found the 10% and 1% they were missing.
 

dingbat

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Re: particles in fuel water seperator

yes using a 10 um filter. Sierra 18-7866. the issue with my truck proves to me that those filters are not perfect. they claim 90% for particles as small as 10 um and 99% for water. I think i found the 10% and 1% they were missing.
Sounds like you need to go to Racor. 99% of both water and particles to 10 um. If your still worded about it, go with 2 um filter recommend by Yamaha for injector systems.

If dumping a additive into your truck worked, it's not particle contamination causing your problem....
 

robeward

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Messages
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Re: particles in fuel water seperator

Sounds like you need to go to Racor. 99% of both water and particles to 10 um. If your still worded about it, go with 2 um filter recommend by Yamaha for injector systems.

If dumping a additive into your truck worked, it's not particle contamination causing your problem....

10 um should be plenty as edlebrock only requires 40 um. The stabil did nothing for my truck to fix issue. Just thought was a good idea since it was obvious something wrong with gas. If I didn't have 8 or 9 sierras I would switch. Once er go through those we may.
 

robeward

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No Title

just an update. put little over 100hrs on the boat. fished probably 10 trips burning 60-70 gallons each trip. pics show what we got out of the filter last time we changed it. that is from a few trips. still got some stuff but it got a lot better. i am still concerned it aluminum oxide from the tank but cant really do anything about it.

first photo is particles. second is after i take my finger and rub over it. most of it turns to powder.
 
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dingbat

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i am still concerned it aluminum oxide from the tank but cant really do anything about it.

first photo is particles. second is after i take my finger and rub over it. most of it turns to powder.
It's not aluminum oxide. Aluminum oxide is an extremely hard substance. Common uses include abrasives (sand paper) and cutting tools. You an not grind it to a powder by hand. ;)
 

robeward

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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hope not. i just use a sniff test and visual every time before i go out.
 
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