Racor lookalikes

[dhays]

If you believe Tony Athens, you are NEVER supposed to prefill the filter.

I bought a "Rapid Primer" from dieselfiltersonline.com before my last Racor change. It worked quite well. I found it worked quite well. Yeah, it is too expensive, but it does the job in a nice low-tech way. I don't like keeping containers of diesel full on the boat, so this is an easy way to fill the filter without having to keep diesel bottles on board.

 

[mvweebles]

Some interesting takeaways from the SBMAR (Tony Athens) article

First. It's a very old article - probably 20+ years old as it references the "new" Tier 2 requirements. Nothing wrong with that, just surprised at its age.

Second, he has no beef with Racor, just doesn't see the benefit of a clear bowl and believes the flow rate on Racors is greatly surpassed by Fleetguard. This is especially important to high horsepower engines in commercial use burning many thousands of gallons per year that tend to obscure a clear bowl.

Third, he's a huge proponent of sequential / staged filtration. For example, 30-micron, then 10-micron, then 2-micron.

Finally, a follow-on to staged filtration (#3 previous), he's not keen on just running 2-micron without bulk filtration ahead of it. Risk of clogging prematurely, which makes sense.

Personally, I like the visible bowl of a Racor. Works fine for my application where I don't burn much fuel even when cruising.

Peter

 

[psneeld]

I guess I thought the Lehman 120 was easy to bleed because in about 1 second after my first filter change.... I decided the stock primary filters on a Leman were an engineering nightmare in several ways and to replace them with a simple modern spin on.

So for the next 8 years and thankfully during my snowbirding, bleeding the fuel system was never an issue or even a concern.

So I had forgotten about the "original" setup....sorry.

 

[mvweebles]

I bought a "Rapid Primer" from dieselfiltersonline.com before my last Racor change. It worked quite well. I found it worked quite well. Yeah, it is too expensive, but it does the job in a nice low-tech way. I don't like keeping containers of diesel full on the boat, so this is an easy way to fill the filter without having to keep diesel bottles on board.
View attachment 159506

Question - did you consider adding a small Walbro fuel pump tee-d (with bypass for normal operation) into the diesel supply line? Bleeding any part of the system is easy and fast even on my ancient Perkins. As a side benefit, if filters do clog, using a bit of pump pressure will buy a bit of time.

Thoughts?

Peter

 

[ranger58sb]

Second, he has no beef with Racor, just doesn't see the benefit of a clear bowl and believes the flow rate on Racors is greatly surpassed by Fleetguard. This is especially important to high horsepower engines in commercial use burning many thousands of gallons per year that tend to obscure a clear bowl.

I'm kinda surprised Tony suggests filter changes with the Fleetguards would be less messy than with Racors.

Granted we've changed the drains on our primary Racors to the brass valve...

But even so, draining a Racor with spin-off drain plug looks no different than draining a Fleetguard with spin-off drain plug.

-Chris

 

[DDW]

Dhays - with your QSB, you should be able to fill the filter just by using the lift pump. When you turn the key on, it runs the pump for 1 minute. You may have to cycle the key switch off and on again a couple of times, but it will purge the air.

I find the Fleetguard changes a lot messier than the Racor. Having staged filtration isn't magic, just spreads out the detritus between several filters, perhaps delaying a shutdown due to a dirty tank.

OC Diver - was the bad load of diesel you got from a usually reliable source? or some dodgy backwater or foreign port? For awhile I'd filter the incoming fuel using a filter funnel. But I never saw anything in it, so I don't unless the source looks questionable.

 

[SteveK]

From Parker website

Parker is a global company, with manufacturing locations around the world producing genuine Racor replacement filters. The majority of our filters are designed, tested and manufactured in the USA.

From Made in China website

Sourcing Guide for Racor Fuel Filter:​

If China is making filters for Parker, then they already have the specs to make a copy. So is it really a knockoff.

 

[DDW]

China doesn't need specs to make a knockoff. There remains the question of the quality of the knockoff. Chinese made goods range from really, really good to really really awful. Generally speaking the really, really good stuff costs about the same as really, really good stuff made in the USA, Germany, or elsewhere.

 

[SteveK]

DDW, are you saying Parker makes the Racor in California? I think they assemble the racor made in China, that is the point, that the knockoff is sold direct.

 

[O C Diver]

OC Diver - was the bad load of diesel you got from a usually reliable source? or some dodgy backwater or foreign port? For awhile I'd filter the incoming fuel using a filter funnel. But I never saw anything in it, so I don't unless the source looks ququestionable.

I use to take my boat to Hatteras NC in June for 3 weeks. The marina (Best marina there 20 years ago) was finishing a tournament when I left. Most likely the fuel tanks were near empty when the fuel truck dumped their load, stirring up the bottom of the tank. I fueled and then left the next day.

To their credit, the marina replaced the storage tanks that winter and put external huge filters where the hoses are connected to fuel pumps.

Ted

 

[DDW]

How was it that the dirt bypassed their filters? A reputable dock has filters on the pump which will clog before letting through really dirty fuel. When you are buying fuel in the 3rd world pumped out of a 50 gallon drum sitting on panga you figure it could be bad.

 

[Barking Sands]

DDW, are you saying Parker makes the Racor in California? I think they assemble the racor made in China, that is the point, that the knockoff is sold direct.

Just FYI...I have two of the 500 knock offs. I also have my old real Racor 500. The two knock off (from 2 separate sources) are different from each other, and both knock off are different from the Racors. The size of the opening for fittings are different and some of the internals are different. So they are knock off, but they aren't knock offs from the same factory to the same specs. There may be one out there that is identical, but its going to be hard to find if it exists.

BTW I didn't see anything in the knock off that were deal breakers to me. But in the end I found a good deal on a dual Racor 900 set up that I love. So I did not use the knock offs. I still have them and plan to make a new polisher. (my old one bit the dust by being flooded in Helene in the dock box..lol)

 

[Barking Sands]

As to the comments regarding the "turbine" effect and oversizing the filter vs flow rate having an effect on this aspect....I dont find the "turbine" effect to be a major factor. My boat had some serious contamination n the port tank that was on going. During this time I ran the engines and watched the 500 filter for long periods. Water and debris would just barely dribble out and fall to the bottom of the bowl. When I hooked up the large external pump and bypassed the engine for polishing and pumped probably 40-50 times faster GPH rate through the 500s and back into the tank I noticed no discernable difference in the "turbine" effect.

When I went to the dual 900s and did the same, again I never saw anything visually that to me would indicated the "turbine" effect was anything more than a slight swirl, probably to help coalesce water as it falls. Similar to taking a fuel sample and swirling it in the mason jar to coalesce water for inspection.

I do think that the increased filter surface area is far more important and just chose to go with larger filters with a ready back up at the flip of the handle.

Unfortunately I had to cut holes in the tanks to clean them manually to really fix the issue. No more fuel issues since.

 

[O C Diver]

How was it that the dirt bypassed their filters? A reputable dock has filters on the pump which will clog before letting through really dirty fuel. When you are buying fuel in the 3rd world pumped out of a 50 gallon drum sitting on panga you figure it could be bad.

The old setup didn't have filters at the fuel pump, this was 20 years ago. The system was probably built in the 80s. Still see large commercial docks where shimpers and clammers are taking on 10,000 gallons with high volume pumps. Pretty sure they're unfiltered. Can't ever remember seeing a fuel truck dropping diesel to a boat, that had a filter.

Ted

 

[dhays]

Question - did you consider adding a small Walbro fuel pump tee-d (with bypass for normal operation) into the diesel supply line? Bleeding any part of the system is easy and fast even on my ancient Perkins. As a side benefit, if filters do clog, using a bit of pump pressure will buy a bit of time.

Thoughts?

Peter

I had always thought I would just add a squeeze bulb as Tony Athens has suggested. I never did it simply because I really hate messing with diesel fuel lines. This rapid primer allowed me to avoid that.

Dhays - with your QSB, you should be able to fill the filter just by using the lift pump. When you turn the key on, it runs the pump for 1 minute. You may have to cycle the key switch off and on again a couple of times, but it will purge the air.

I tried it, but it didn’t seem to work for me. I will try again though.

 

[DDW]

To fill a whole big Racor, you will need to cycle the key a few times, maybe 5 or 10. It should eventually work though.

 

[kapnd]

I'm kinda surprised Tony suggests filter changes with the Fleetguards would be less messy than with Racors.

Granted we've changed the drains on our primary Racors to the brass valve...

But even so, draining a Racor with spin-off drain plug looks no different than draining a Fleetguard with spin-off drain plug.

-Chris

You just remove the spin on Fleetgard and throw it away, where a dirty Racor requires a labor intensive cleaning of the housing and bowl.

 

[O C Diver]

You just remove the spin on Fleetgard and throw it away, where a dirty Racor requires a labor intensive cleaning of the housing and bowl.

A dirty Racor takes less than 5 minutes to clean with a 2" square of sponge on the end of a flexible rod.

The difference between a Fleetguard and a Racor is that you know the fuel is dirty before the engine quits. This assumes that you shine the light in the bowl each morning when doing your oil level checks.

Ted

 

[ranger58sb]

You just remove the spin on Fleetgard and throw it away, where a dirty Racor requires a labor intensive cleaning of the housing and bowl.

Ignore the drain fitting at the lower end of the filter?

I've changed full Fleetguard oil filjters, can't say as that's always been perfectly clean. Plus one of them had to be tilted to remove. Used the plastic bag technique, etc... but the process was always tricky. Would assume similar for diesel filters?

Haven't usually had to clean a Racor bowl. Once, I think... Otherwise, just drain, replace element, fill, done.

-Chris

 

[DDW]

Usually don't clean the Racor bowl. When I pull the filter out it is just a small filter, not a big metal can filled with diesel, spilling all over the place. That's kinda the reason in Germany can filters are more or less illegal - too much toxic waste.

 

[Comodave]

A dirty Racor takes less than 5 minutes to clean with a 2" square of sponge on the end of a flexible rod.

The difference between a Fleetguard and a Racor is that you know the fuel is dirty before the engine quits. This assumes that you shine the light in the bowl each morning when doing your oil level checks.

Ted

I put an LED light behind the Racors on our last boat. Makes it simple to see if anything is in the bowl. I wire the Racor lights on the switch with the engine room lights so they come on whenever I am in the engine room. No flashlight needed. Putting them on our current boat is on my winter to do list this year,

 

[Lepke]

In more than 60 years of owning and running marine diesels, I have used Racor filters from their start. I almost always ran Detroit Diesels for their reliability. But they have mechanical injectors with lots of internal parts. Those parts wear faster with dirty fuel. So I run a 2 micron and almost never have to replace a injector. Friends say my injectors are so old they have individual names. I also use a fuel conditioner every time I fuel. My conditioner helps remove water and has a lubricity additive along with other features. I didn't always use a conditioner. In the old days we had fuel formulated for stability and burnability.
The Chinese make copies, but don't copy anything exactly. I suspect they don't remove water as well in the turbine series. I hear they do take Racor filter media. Flow rate is important in turbine function.

 

[La Sirena]

I had a Nordic Tug 32 with dual Racor 500 filters. I changed them out to Tony's spin on Fleetguard filter package. Big improvement. Racors work for sure, but they can be messy to change. The spin on filters were much less messy and quicker to change. I also agree with Tony that the staged filtration is better at filtering out debris without clogging your filters.

If I was the OP, I'd look into Tony's filter package instead of a Racor style filter.

 

[GB36_OuttaHere]

I built a portable fuel scrubber out of one off amazon. Good quality, solid. Would use again......