BX Fuel filters, water absorbing?

[leonz]

About the fuel issues;

I have a link for you here if you would like to examine it.


maesco.com - Mid-Atlantic Engine Supply Corp.


They are a Racor fuel filter distributor and there is a wealth
of informationat their homepage.


The Racor units spin the water and heavier debris out of the
fuel and have a final filter that can either be 2 or 10 micron.

:thumbsup:

 

[oldnslo]

Yes, I am using a fuel anti-gel product. Never have in the past when running diesels in central MN but that was 25 years ago and the fuel quality has not improved in that time....

I looked at the filter media under a 200X microscope and could not see any particulate that would suggest dirty fuel. NOTE: I kept the filter outside all night and brought it in the shop to look at it so there may have been time for any ice to melt.

What I did notice was that the paper media appeared to be a much darker color on the inlet side Vs the outlet side. This could indicate dirt but again i could not see any evidence of that.

Carefully blew air through the media onto a white towel and examined this under the microscope. There was traces of discoloration but again could not see any particulate of any size.

Conclusion: New filter works and I don't have a clue what caused the old filter to plug. I have now changed this filter 3 times in less than 150 hours of run time. First time was maintenance when I purchased the tractor. second time was do to engine missing in the summer. 3rd time noted above. This is from two different barrels of fuel so I can't find a common link and two totally different temperatures.

Fuel is supposed to be straight #2 with no bio. In Illinois this is getting darn hard to find.

Roy

 

[Jerry/MT]

Yes, I am using a fuel anti-gel product. Never have in the past when running diesels in central MN but that was 25 years ago and the fuel quality has not improved in that time....

I looked at the filter media under a 200X microscope and could not see any particulate that would suggest dirty fuel. NOTE: I kept the filter outside all night and brought it in the shop to look at it so there may have been time for any ice to melt.

What I did notice was that the paper media appeared to be a much darker color on the inlet side Vs the outlet side. This could indicate dirt but again i could not see any evidence of that.

Carefully blew air through the media onto a white towel and examined this under the microscope. There was traces of discoloration but again could not see any particulate of any size.

Conclusion: New filter works and I don't have a clue what caused the old filter to plug. I have now changed this filter 3 times in less than 150 hours of run time. First time was maintenance when I purchased the tractor. second time was do to engine missing in the summer. 3rd time noted above. This is from two different barrels of fuel so I can't find a common link and two totally different temperatures.

Fuel is supposed to be straight #2 with no bio. In Illinois this is getting darn hard to find.

Roy

The smaller particulate is trapped in the filter media and hence the discoloration. I believe the water droplets are relatively large and adhere to the outside and freeze to block the filter.

Everybody seems to think that gelling is thier problem when their diesel won't run but but I'd wager more often them not its water contaminated fuel freezing the filters. Freezing happens at relatively higher temperatures, which are more common.
If you lived in Central MN an didn't have a gelling problem occasionally it's probably because you were using winter blend fuel that was relatively a high percentage of #1 diesel. I would think that Central MN had some long stretches of -20 to -30F temps occasionally.

 

[like2wheel]

OTOH, it IS a filter, so if it clogs up, the tractor would stop - I don't believe that anything could ever happen to an injector pump due to a filter, unless the filter broke open and let stuff through.

JayC

Very true, this is often misunderstood about filters: they become more efficient at filtering as they accumulate more dirt.

Problems usually come from the restriction of flow as they become too efficient, not from passage of dirt. Barring any rupture or catastrophic failure...

 

[oldnslo]

The smaller particulate is trapped in the filter media and hence the discoloration. I believe the water droplets are relatively large and adhere to the outside and freeze to block the filter.

Everybody seems to think that gelling is thier problem when their diesel won't run but but I'd wager more often them not its water contaminated fuel freezing the filters. Freezing happens at relatively higher temperatures, which are more common.
If you lived in Central MN an didn't have a gelling problem occasionally it's probably because you were using winter blend fuel that was relatively a high percentage of #1 diesel. I would think that Central MN had some long stretches of -20 to -30F temps occasionally.

Yes, that was one of the better things was that it stayed below freezing Vs the temperature roller coaster we get here. Last year I farmed in MN the warm day for 2 weeks was -22 degrees.

We rarely ran a blend. had a 1000 gallon #2 & 250 gallon #1 tanks for diesel. Would usually fill around 50/50 mix and if knew it was going to get cold for a stretch would fill with #1 only. Slight power loss beat shoveling.

Roy

 

[danfromsyr]

well it seems I have the annual frozen (plugged) fuel filter on my bx2350
it's always the 1st really cold snap of the year and it's not gelled as I usually dump 2~3 gals of Kero in it in the late fall.

the dealer replacement filter is a regular looking paper cone filter w/o the felt media layer in it.. but then it won't contain the water and that would do damage to my injectors or pump?

I've added a dryign fuel additive but that doesn't seem to help..
I'll try to get it into the garage tonight to unhook the filters drain out any residual water and get this back up & running.

Dan in Syracuse.

The fuel filters will absorb water and plug.
I believe they are made if felt like the
Duetz 10 micron drop in fuel filters.