410DA Racors

I'll try...............

The following sketches are all I could find and I'm afraid the printing isn't legible.

The upper drawing shows normal pipe threads, NPT, which is what we usually work with. There is a clearance or void at the top of the thread where the V is a little truncated so the sides of the thread makes contact first. This leaves a little spiral track for leaks. A thread sealer must be used to fill this void and prevent leaking.

The lower drawing shows fuel fitting threads, NPTF. The threads are shaped so they do not have a void at the top, but the top of the thread makes the first contact. As the threads are tightened, they crush until the sides of the thread makes contact and seals the thread from leaking. NPTF threads do not have the leakage path built in by design that the NPT thread does, but there can be leakage due to machining imperfections.

In both cases a thread sealer-lubricant should be used to facilitate tightening without galling, friction welding, or breaking off thread particals.

You should not use Teflon tape because it only acts as a lubricant and will not seal machining imperfections. Teflon is solid and won't compress, so as a fitting is turned the Teflon shreds and is extruded out of the thread which may cause fuel comtamination. Teflon adds to the mass in the thread as it tightens and may cause a fitting to leak or worse, crack.

Granted, this is a technical fine point, but as long as we are doing it, we should do it right. However, if you have Teflon tape on fuel fittings and have not had leaks or fuel contamination, I wouldn't lose sleep over it nor would I take it apart and change it.
 
Last edited:
Tahnks for the clarification, Frank. No leaks here, so I think I'll leave well enough alone.
 
MMhhh....

I bought my 360DA in November 2006 and I am going very relaxed through the maintenance schedule this winter......

I already noticed that my racor 900 bowls looked dirty.
Here you see the dirt laying on the Turbine Centrifuge / Conical Baffle.
DSC02429nr2.jpg


But when I drained the diesel and dismounted them I could really see the dirt.
DSC02438nr2.jpg


They did the job....
DSC02436nr2-1.jpg


I use the 10 micron racor filters....
Racor advises to never use the 2 micron as a primary filtering.

I like to know how and with what I can clean my racors?
Any maybe there are more tips?


Peter
 
Peter-

If you take the four screws out of the housing near the top of the plastic sight bowl, the bowl will separate from the housing, making it very easy to clean everything up with a shop rag. The slime and debris should wipe right out without the aid of any cleaner or solvent.

I'm not sure why Racor would advise against using two micron filtration, then turn around and sell 2 micron filters. I would be curious to see where Racor advises against it and what the rationale is.

It also appears from the pictures that your fittings were installed (from the factory, I presume) with Teflon tape. Hmmm.
 
I am concerned about the amount of accumulation you have in the filter bowl. Either you got a bad load of fuel or there is a bunch of water in your tanks.

Now that you know you have more accumulation than normal, you may want to add checking the filter bowl to your check list and make it a practice to drain it more frequently.

You should also be using a biocide and a moisture dispersing fuel additive until you get this cleaned up.

Racor does recommend either a 10 or 30 micron element for the first filter as long as there is a final filter afterwards that is supplied by the engine manufacturer or is 2 microns. Racor makes and sells 2 micron elements because there are some boat builders who do not use the engine makers filter but use Racors for both promary and secondary filtration. There are other engine makers who do not offer remote filters so the boat builders use 2 micron Racors when the factory filter is impossible to access because it is on the back side of the engine.

On the Teflon tape....who knows why Sea ray does what it does, but a good guess is that some production manager with no mechanical engineering experience made that decision based on cost.
 
tc410 said:
Peter-

If you take the four screws out of the housing near the top of the plastic sight bowl, the bowl will separate from the housing, making it very easy to clean everything up with a shop rag. The slime and debris should wipe right out without the aid of any cleaner or solvent.

I'm not sure why Racor would advise against using two micron filtration, then turn around and sell 2 micron filters. I would be curious to see where Racor advises against it and what the rationale is.

It also appears from the pictures that your fittings were installed (from the factory, I presume) with Teflon tape. Hmmm.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reaktions...

Jeff,

I already dismantled the racor and cleaned them.
See second page from Racor.. http://www.parker.com/racor/engineroom/engrm2.pdf
Yes that's what I noticed also, this was original from the factory.
I saw this also on a Searay from a friend of mine.

Frank,

I bought my 360 in November '06 this boat comes from Spain.
I don't know the history from bad fuel etc. but I already put Biocide and moisture dispersing fuel additive in the diesel.
I cleaned the Racor's and will watch what the amount of accumulation going to be.
But it's winter so I can't make many hours on her.

Peter
 
Peter:

Thanks for the link to the Racor publication. I took time to look at all 10 issues. What I read is that I should check with my engine manufacturer on te proper filter. My local tech is the one that originally told me 2 micron filtration (primary and secondary) was the safest for my engine due to injector size.

In one of the issues of the Racor publication, it cited 95% efficiency with the 2,10, and 30 micron filters. I'm getting 95% of particles over 2 micron with the Racor primary, and 98% of the 5% that made it through the primary with my secondary. That makes me comfortable.

Glad that your bowls and turbines cleaned up well for you. Take Franks advice and get to the botom of that dirty fuel problem.

Jeff
 
Peter,

If you ran the boat some after treating the fuel, that may explain the condition of your filters.

A "shock" quantity of a biocide will kill the microorganisms and cause them to break away from the tank walls and float suspended in the fuel where they get sucked up by the fuel pick up and trapped by your Racor. A moisture dispersant will allow the water to come out of emulsion in the fuel, form droplets where the resin coated media in the Racor element will catch it whereit then accumulates in the filter bowl. The end result is what you have.

Keep treating the fuel and check/change your Racor more frequently until you get it cleaned up. I would also carry several spare Racors on the boat ..........
 
tc410 said:
Peter:

Thanks for the link to the Racor publication. I took time to look at all 10 issues. What I read is that I should check with my engine manufacturer on te proper filter. My local tech is the one that originally told me 2 micron filtration (primary and secondary) was the safest for my engine due to injector size.

In one of the issues of the Racor publication, it cited 95% efficiency with the 2,10, and 30 micron filters. I'm getting 95% of particles over 2 micron with the Racor primary, and 98% of the 5% that made it through the primary with my secondary. That makes me comfortable.

Glad that your bowls and turbines cleaned up well for you. Take Franks advice and get to the botom of that dirty fuel problem.

Jeff
Click to expand...

Thanks Jeff,

I had post some interesting post (I think) about diesel filtering..

The main statement is:

Filtering to 2 mic BEFORE the fuel gets to the engine may become a maintenance nightmare unless you have extremely large capacity in both unrestricted flow and element size.

So I hope you take the time and read these posts.


http://www.byowneryachts.com/forums/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1245&highlight=primary+secondary+filter

http://www.byowneryachts.com/forums/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1246&highlight=primary+secondary+filter

http://www.byowneryachts.com/forums/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1244&highlight=primary+secondary+filter

Succes Peter.
 
fwebster said:
Peter,

If you ran the boat some after treating the fuel, that may explain the condition of your filters.

A "shock" quantity of a biocide will kill the microorganisms and cause them to break away from the tank walls and float suspended in the fuel where they get sucked up by the fuel pick up and trapped by your Racor. A moisture dispersant will allow the water to come out of emulsion in the fuel, form droplets where the resin coated media in the Racor element will catch it whereit then accumulates in the filter bowl. The end result is what you have.

Keep treating the fuel and check/change your Racor more frequently until you get it cleaned up. I would also carry several spare Racors on the boat ..........
Click to expand...

Frank thanks for your input,

I did "shock" the fuel and putted in moisture dispersant....
On the recommendations from Wynn's, the company I bought it from, I put an electrical pump with small hoses in my tanks and circulated the diesel...
They say when I circulate it gets mixed and warm up the fuel; this does the “cleaning†job...

But I didn't drive my boat.

What I think is that the former owner never cleaned the racor's and that he had some bad fuel.

I am going to change my filters when I put hours on the boat.

Thanks Peter.
 
Hi Peter, Question-you are throwing your racors filters away and replacing with new ones and not just cleaning them ,right?

I would start the season off with fresh racor filters.



Dave
 
Peter,
Our circumstances may be similar. When I sea trialed my 420, the Cummins Technician pulled the racors and they were badly fouled. Black strings of dead bugs were trailing from the bottom of the starboard racor element. My boat had been sitting for 9 months with 1/4 tank of fuel on either side, crating an ideal climate for condensation, which lead to water in the fuel, which created an ideal condition for bugs to grow. The dealer replaced the racor elements prior to delivery (I use 30 micron elements in the racors, and 2 micron filtration on the engine mounted filters). As an aside, the dealer repalced the racor elements, but failed to refill the canisters with fresh diesel..so the engines would not start when I arrived to take her across the Marina to the lift for bottom paint. I had read one of Frank's posts on the subject, so I jumped into the engine spaces and manually pumped both engines until I had fuel pressure..then they fired right up. I digress. Back to the filters. As I was preparing for my cruise home (7 hours down the Chesapeake Bay and up the Potomac) I filled the tanks, and did a shock treatment of biocide and Power Service Diesel Fuel conditioner. The boat ran fine. 30 hours of engine use later, my port racor was clogged so badly that the port engine was exhibiting RPM fluctuation at 2100 RPMs or more...the engine was starving for fuel. I replaced the fouled racors and have had no problems since....the shock and maintenace doses of biocide did the trick, killed the bugs, and the racors trapped 'em.
Subsequent racor element swaps at 40 hour intervals were, in hindsight, unnecessary, as the elements came out clean and the engines have run flawlessly. My key lessons learned, thanks to Frank: 1. Buy fuel from a reputable source with high turnover through their tanks. 2. Keep the tanks full. 3. Use a mainteinance dose of biocide at every fill up. 4. Stay on top of your racors; though a pain to change, it is very doable for the DIY captain like me. I found a source online for racor elements, at at under 8 dollars per filter. That is cheap insurance.

I also ordered and read the Cummins Fuel Bulletin. Cummins is rather agnostic as regards fuel additives; "Cummins neither approves or disapproves the use of fuel additives, blah, blah,blah..." Read your Yanmar fuel bulletin and make sure you are complying with the manufacturer's recommendations and you will be all set.

regards
Skip
 
For whatever it's worth.

From a racor filter site,

Feature:Ultimately, the micron rating preferred will be a function of fuel quality, operating climates and maintenance schedules. Thirty-micron (PM) is recommended when the Turbine Series will function as water separator and primary filter. The ten-micron (TM) can be used for primary or secondary/final filtration depending on the engine and/or the application. The two-micron element (SM) is secondary/final filtration.

I dont know about you, but I want my filters seperating water as well.
 
Dave, I agree.

For the Cummins guys, I pinged my local Cummins distributor for information on ULSD in C series engines. I'll post whatever I get back from them.

Skip
 
Dancin Dave said:
Hi Peter, Question-you are throwing your racors filters away and replacing with new ones and not just cleaning them ,right?
I would start the season off with fresh racor filters.
Dave
Click to expand...

Hey Dave,

I am Dutch..... but cleaning filters? :smt018
No I replace them direct with fresh shiny and new 10 micron original Racor elements.
And I bought 10 replacements so when I put hours on her, I can replace them a lot.
I am a perfectionist with that kind of things... when it concerns my boat of course!! :grin:

Here you see the result, I dismantled and cleaned them.

Peter


DSC024412.jpg


DSC02443nr2.jpg
 
Skip said:
Peter,
I also ordered and read the Cummins Fuel Bulletin. Cummins is rather agnostic as regards fuel additives; "Cummins neither approves or disapproves the use of fuel additives, blah, blah,blah..." Read your Yanmar fuel bulletin and make sure you are complying with the manufacturer's recommendations and you will be all set.
regards
Skip
Click to expand...

Hello Skip,

Thanks for your input.
I looked on every Yanmar site and bulletin, but I didn't read anything about that subject...

Do you have the double or single Racors on your 420?

Peter
 
Peter,
U cant remove the racor from the boat.... UR supposed get all squeezed up in there like a manly man.....

loose feelings in the arms ..... etc


Wife let u clean that in the sink... Id be shot ...

rob
 
Robski97 said:
Peter,
U cant remove the racor from the boat.... UR supposed get all squeezed up in there like a manly man.....

loose feelings in the arms ..... etc


Wife let u clean that in the sink... Id be shot ...

rob
Click to expand...

:smt043 I squeezed my wife up in there... :smt043

And I even used a new drying towell :smt100

No s*x for 3 weeks :smt021
 
Skip said:
Peter,
I also ordered and read the Cummins Fuel Bulletin. Cummins is rather agnostic as regards fuel additives; "Cummins neither approves or disapproves the use of fuel additives, blah, blah,blah..." Read your Yanmar fuel bulletin and make sure you are complying with the manufacturer's recommendations and you will be all set.

regards
Skip
Click to expand...

FPPF fuel additives are Yanmar factory approved, they are "normal" additives so I asume I can use the most brands...

These are the products:

Yanmar FPPF 8 Plus cetane improver. 1/4 ounce per gallon. One bottle treats 120 gallons. It raises the cetane level and stops smoking and engine timing problems.
Yanmar Biocide Killem (small amount) to treat tank and prevent algae growth
Yanmar FPPF Lubricity 100, 1/8 oz per gallon. A sulfur additive to stabilize fuel and lubricate.
Yanmar Diesel Fuel Treatment if 45 degrees F or less to keep diesel fuel fluid.
 
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