How often do you change Racor Filters

[psneeld]

So, a boat used just 50 hours in a year must change filters? Just wondering, how often do you see water in your filter bowls.

I don't see water, maybe because..... even as little income as I have, I change my filters annually before my snowbird runs, and managed 20,000 miles without filter/fuel issues over the last decade. Plus thousands of hours running commercial vessels with VERY questionable fuel sources.

Don't change your filters, I don't care. Just passing on my experience and what I have researched.

 

[Kayenne]

Cleaning Racor 900

I changed my fuel filters (see photos below), and decided to give the Racor unit a clean too - for no particular reason.

Have owned the boat for about 7 months now and put maybe 60 hours on the engines. 48 of those hours were non-stop from San Francisco to San Diego (480 nautical miles).

It is surprising to me that despite the frightful condition of the Racor 900's, the engines (Ford Lehman 225 turbos) with the filthy Racors did not give any problems what so ever.

I would venture a guess that possibly the primary & secondary filters may have been changed along the way, and that may have saved the injectors?

But the Racor had not been cleaned. Maybe ever! The boat is a 1986.

Some notes about the filter changes for the curious:
1. Its not hard, but it is time consuming - about 5 hrs for me.
2. Make sure to have fresh diesel available to fill the Racor after you replace the filter. Thereby topping off the diesel in the Racor and not leaving any air in there.
3. I used degreaser liquid and a toothbrush when cleaning the Racor, and rinsed the parts in fresh diesel afterwards to remove any degreaser remnants (don't know if this is a best practice or not - but its what I did).
4. I shut off the fuel supply, just in case gravity would move fuel through the lines while the Racor was open.
5. The 'can' style secondary fuel filters were messy and not fun to replace; due to unavoidable diesel spillage.
6. I primed the secondary fuel filters, but not the Racor, nor at the injectors. The Ford sputtered a bit at first, but pushed out all of the air on its own - no issues.

(There is one other inconvenient truth that I am choosing to ignore at this time: there must be goops of sludge in the fuel tanks! That's a thought for another day).

Here are the photos:

 

[OldDan1943]

Observations and suggestions:
Do all this before refueling.
How old is the fuel?
Did you check the bowl before your trip?
You do have twin Racors if not….. consider it. You can change to a new filter while under way. Also, get a vacuum gauge with a tattle tail.
You just did a crossing and it no doubt stirred up the sediment in the tank.
Hmmm, a good reason to have the tanks opened and inspected cleaned and the fuel professional cleaned.
Consider installing a fuel polishing system. Some/many folks will say, ‘The fuel is polished via the returning fuel.’ My thoughts, clean it before the Racor.
Oh, if you dont clean out the tanks and polish the fuel, you can expect this again.
You did change the secondary filter at the same time?
That should cover everything except for the “how often”. That depends on the bowl indication and vacuum gauge. Some folks change all filters annually. Filters are cheap.

 

[O C Diver]

Couple of points:

It looks like the Racor element you pulled had a black top which should be the newer style filter media with the water block membrane. If that's the case, that element is probably less than 5 years old. The element could have been changed with nobody ever having cleaned the lower section.

Did you happen to notice the micron rating on the Racor element? While that element did a good job for you, the 2 filters on the Lehman will both probably have a lower micron rating. So debris that could make it through the Racor will get trapped in the lower micron rating filters on the engine. Always a good idea to change all the filters at the same time.

Last point, certain cleaning solutions will attack, the material of the bowl. Best to only use diesel fuel and a rag to clean the inside and outside of the bowl.

Ted

 

[rgano]

Kayenne, do yourself a favor and add an electric fuel pump with a bypass valve into your system before the first filter for use in filter filling and air expulsion. I cannot tell you how much times mine saved over the years, especially if my FL120s somehow got a bit of air in the Simms injector pumps. Just crack the bleed screw at the injector pump and flip on the power to the pump while closing the normally open bypass valve to pressurize the fuel to through the filters and into the injector pump - fill Racors too, especially when the tank level is below the Racor (no need to carry a container with fuel for that purpose).

Get rid of the can filters. The Racor and the engine-mounted filters are more than adequate. The system in my GB42 was just like your when I bought it in 1986, and I yanked those four useless cans out never looking back for the next 29 years.

Do yourself another favor and tee into your fuel hose between the Racor and the engine to allow a vacuum line between that point and a vacuum gauge at the helm. Change Racor filter elements at 5 inches Hg on the gauge. Drain the Racor bowl at least quarterly.

Here's a look at my fuel vacuum panel visible from the lower helm.

 

[PM]

I change mine at the end of every season of average use. If i have had a slight use year I sometimes skip a year.

pete

 

[SteveK]

Just yesterday I changed one racor as port engine was not getting enough fuel. The often checked bowl showed no signs of concern. No idea how many hours since last change (new to me), but I do suspect the added sloshing in the past few days may have stirred the tank.
If it aint broke fix it until it is.

 

[catalinajack]

I change these filters when the drag needle approaches the red zone. It takes five minutes each. There is a bleeder on the filter head. Take Rich Gano's advice; install an electric fuel pump. I went one step further and eliminated the mechanical pump.