Fuel filtration:
Feeding the engine with clean fuel is one one the most important things you can do for engine reliability.
There are three Racor 900 series filters. These are large filters for our sized boat, but if there is a problem with dirty fuel, large filters are valuable. For example the Racor 900 will filter over four times the amount of fuel than the slightly smaller Racor 500 series will before clogging.
I have seen boats with diesel bug problems that have needed to replace the primary filter every 15 mins of run time. Of course, it is much better to avoid these problems, but when cruising remote locations fuel quality may be poor. Large filters help buy you time and options if you inadvertently pick up dirty or water contaminated fuel.
One of the three filters is dedicated to the polishing system with a pickup at the very bottom of the tank. The second filter normally functions to filter the fuel before it enters the day tank, but if there is a problem with the day tank the engine can be fed directly from this filter. The third filter further filters the fuel from the day tank, which is then fed to the engine.
So for normal engine operation, which is via the day tank, the fuel has been filtered twice, even ignoring the polishing system, before it enters the engine and the normal secondary engine filter.
This photo shows two of the filters. These are mounted under the aluminium anodised workbench in the workshop/technical area.
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