Quote:
Originally Posted by ndutton
Second five gallons of fuel removed yesterday. Clear bottle inspection showed no water. Two gallons left to remove but that will wait until I replace the deck fill plate.
Which brings me to a decision to make: does this episode point to a fuel system modification? It's a simple fact that my cartridge style water separating fuel filter passed water right through. The previous picture showed two or more quarts of water at the bottom of five gallons of fuel that had been extracted through the filter. I hafta say, I'm not too impressed with its water separating performance. However, maybe I'm expecting more than I should. A little research found that my filter is designed to separate water emulsified in the fuel. Mine was not emulsified, it was stratified. And what is a one pint filter supposed to do with two quarts of pure water? For that matter, what is any small volume filter supposed to do with two or more quarts of pure water? Time for a rethink.
I've settled on leaving the filtration as-is because: - This is the first fuel contamination shut down since I've owned the boat, over 14 years. Whatever filtration is in place and whatever I've been doing has been reliable for a long time.
- We know with certainty where this water came from and it has been stopped. I much prefer stopping the contamination at its source than managing it after it's in the tank.
- What can be expected with a new, different style of filter? Under the same circumstances (2 quarts of water), will a new filter do any better? Probably not so what's the point?
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I don't think a filter that can deal with water and ethanol-gas exists. My experience is they do one of two things:
1. Refuse to pass anything at all when confronted with such a mix.
2. Pass it right on through, water and all.
Racor is in the pass-it-through camp, one of my off brand filters did the opposite. I talked to a Racor engineer on the phone and he said their water separating filters were not designed for and could not deal with water and ethanol.
BTW - IMHO the entire tank is ruined, there is no saving the gas. There is water and ethanol in suspension and more that separated out.