Fuel polishing

[Iggy]

Is there an easy less expensive way to polish your fuel. Both my aft tanks are almost full of diesel which i know needs to be filtered at the very least. I've always used the mid tank like the owner before me and the marina filled the aft tanks last year by mistake which had about 100 gallons Of very old fuel each in them so I don't want to dump it all. I tried using it and the boat ran fine but I can see heavy sediment in the filters. I did put startron and an other diesel additive in. I was thinking about going to home depot and getting those large water sediment filters and a circulator pump and go back and forth with it.
I'm at stony point NY and the marina doesn't know any polishing companies around and polishing equipment is very expensive. Also I'm running 3 micron fuel filters just as a precaution. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

[MikeP]

Ae the engines DD's? If so, Just run the fuel; it'll be fine. I ran 9 year old diesel in our 8V71TIs with no issues whatsoever.

Also, if DD's, you don't need a 3 micron filter and you are just creating the need to change it more frequently. 30 micron on the primary and 10 on the secondary is more than adequate.

[Iggy]

I was worried about clogging the injectors.

[MikeP]

5 years ago I replaced the Racors with the Fleetguard fuel filter system and 30/10 filters which is a commonly recommended setup for DDs. 10 micron is the lowest micron rating that DD ever specified. The DD injectors are far more tolerant re fuel filtering than modern 4 stroke diesel injectors. But do whatever makes you most comfortable! Certainly, more (finer) filtering is not a bad thing but it's not necessary for these engines.

I look at it as similar to putting premium gas in a car designed to run on regular - it's just more expense and no benefit. In this case, the finer filters have to be replaced more often and the engine doesn't care anyway.

[Iggy]

I try to change those secondary filters if I can help it, there such a pain. I do believe they only come in 10s.

[saltshaker]

Just run em with the 30 micron elements and check often. Watch for water. Run off them for a while in the slip and if all is well, run off the aft tanks for short or close to home runs until you have it under control.You really should get in the habit of using all 3 tanks. I would run down the center tank then switch to the aft tanks until they got to 1/4 then refuel. Boat sits bow down if the aft tanks are low, the mid tank is full and the water tank is full.

[Mahalo]

I purchased a fuel transfer pump and Racor filter from the marine store. I ran the pump for several days, pulling the fuel out of the access plate and into the fuel fill. I went through a couple of filter elements.

After that, I took the boat out and ran it. Since I had dual racor filters, I could check one filter while the engine was using the other. I ended up going through about 10 filters for the first two tanks of fuel.

Tom
Mahalo
1980 Hatteras 50 C

[Glory]

If 2 cycle DDs run it out, even if you changed the racors every 20 gallons. $4 a gallon you do the math.

My boat had 10 plusyears oul, 10 for sure, after the firest 2 hours I changed the racors, not as bad as I expected, then five hours, then I jest went back the checking the vacumme. Fuel was less than $2 then.

If the conditions are bad you might want to check the gauges more often.

[yachtsmanbill]

You need to run the 3rd tank as low as reasonable, or transfer some to the aft tanks. CLEAN the center tank and polish whatever fuel is left. Transfer the aft fuel while being filtered to fill the center tank. When a back tank is close to empty get in there and wash that.
Aside from that, before you start, run a pick up tube to the bottom and suck up water until you get raw fuel. I got 10 gallons outa each of mine. I also replace the OEM cartiges with spin ons from DD and use the old stuff for polishing... ws

[humdinger]

Iggy,

I have a crew working in the NorthEast over the next few weeks. Give me a call (888) 620-6807 ext 702. You can check my company out at drewfuelservices.com.

Jon

[Vincentc]

Fuel Scrubbing

Polishing is probably a poor description for what I did with our 25' Wellcraft's 100 gallon gasoline tank in the bilge. It had water and was causing repeated problems. I put the boat on a trailer and tilted the boat by raising the tongue. I then attached a length of copper tubing to a hose connected to an electric fuel pump. The boat tank had a small access hole near the aft end, and I inserted the copper tubing through it and could bend the tube and move the end of the tube to either aft corner of the tank and in between.

Using the electric pump, I pumped gas from the tank into 5 gallon cans, and as one was filled I would pour it back into the tank through a Racor filter funnel, using the 5 gallon cans as decanters allowing water and sediment to remain in the bottom of the can. The filter funnel caught what the decanting missed.

Drawing gasoline from the very bottom of the tilted tank and having the returning gas run aft from the forward filler on the tank flush the bottom of the tank was very effective. We were able to remove some impressive looking black stuff.

Transferring that experience to the 43 Hatteras, I am thinking of drilling a 1/2" or so access hole, capped with a base plate and plug, into the top of the aft port corner of the aft tank and using the same process with copper tube and pump. I cannot put the big boat on a trailer, but I can ballast it with a few big ice chests filled with water. Seems like this would be more effective than using the engine primary filters.

Since the engine fuel pickup does not extend to the bottom of the tank, "polishing" fuel with the engine does not reach the problem of water in the bottom of the tank which feeds the alge.

Seems to me, "polishing" is an odd description of what needs to be done. If you have mud on your hunting boots you don't polish them before walking in the house, you scrub and dry them off. Likewise, washing the fine silver is more important than polishing it, or is this a "Vintage Hatteras" thing. I will retire to the Salon, and ponder this question.
Regards,

[yachtsmanbill]

Vincent... If you have fuel gages or sending units, pull those out... they are 1-1/2" pipe and are placed right where you need them to be... The drawings are for the 58TC with centerline tanks, but are typical of the hatteras installations.... ws

http://i56.tinypic.com/24268uf.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/vd0234.jpg

http://i51.tinypic.com/etcspj.jpg

[Vincentc]

Bill,
Thanks.
I do have a gauge sending unit in that area and since I have a Tank Tender the sending unit has no significant purpose.

[Iggy]

I just purchased 4 racors on eBay. 2 of them are already set up with a fuel pump and a timer. I'm going to run the fuel through them for a few days and hope for the best. I have to run the boat to it's new summer slip in the forked river NJ from Stony point NY. What I'll do is fill the mid tank, which is the one the boat was usually run on and run that out than if I need more fuel I'll switch to the aft tanks. But I think I'll make it on the mid tank alone it's probably only 100 to 120 miles. Can someone remind me what all three tanks hold? I also need to find a good site to replace the in tank gauges with electric remote ones Im not sure if they all work anyway. Thanks