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Clean Fuel + Clean Water

Happy Boating

Go with the flow

Boats are thirsty for clean fuel and debris-free seawater. Your vessel’s Engineering Department (you) are in charge of providing said fluids.
Whether your boat burns gas or diesel, regularly examine the tank fill cap gasket or “o” ring to be sure it’s intact and soft enough to seal tightly to prevent intrusion of water or dirt. If you are fueling with E-10 gasoline and it’s allowed to deteriorate in the tank, your engine will complain loudly and expensively. The ethyl alcohol in E-10 fuel loves water and will accumulate water from the air that flows into the fuel tank through the vent during the diurnal cooling cycle. As little as one-half percent water (0.64 ounces per gallon) in the fuel may trigger irreversible “phase separation” turning what’s in the tank into two useless fluids. Add a fuel stabilizer while filling the tank if you don’t plan to consume all the fuel within a week or two.

Water must also be kept out of diesel tanks, but for a different reason. Lots of “bugs” (bacteria and fungi) consider the interface between water that collects at the bottom of a diesel tank and the fuel floating on it an ideal place to breed. The bugs may be present in the fuel you buy or may enter the tank through the air vent. Although their presence won’t alter the fuel, large populations can create a corrosive slime that clogs filters and fuel lines and may erode the tank.
Diesel slime problems are relatively rare in frequently used boats since an operating diesel engine continually cleans the fuel in the tank by drawing more fuel than it is consuming, passing it through the fuel filter and returning the filtered fuel to the tank. Infrequently used boats can benefit from the same type of continuous fuel cleaning by installing an electrically powered fuel pump and valve system that circulates fuel through the filters when the engine is not running. The addition of a fuel polishing system just became a simple task with the introduction of the new FPM-050 Fuel Polishing Module from Parker, the company that makes Racor filters.

The FPM-050 is a small black metal block that contains a piezoelectric fuel pump and an automatic fuel flow control valve. Consuming less than two watts from the boat’s 12-volt DC system, the unit will circulate 50 gallons of diesel per day through the fuel filter, automatically returning the cleaned fuel to the tank. Parker offers an accessory timer for boat owners who like to see handsome instruments on the panel; or you can use a manual switch or power the FPM-050 from a solar panel and let sunlight manage things.
Your boat also needs a supply of raw water to cool the engines, genset, air conditioners, and to supply the watermaker and deck wash-down pump. Much of the time, a conventional seawater strainer does an adequate job of keeping the weed, grass and occasional fish (or jelly fish) out of the system. However, there are those memorable times when the strainers clog and we have to shut things down and muck-out the mess. The Groco Hydromatic, an automatic, self-cleaning, seawater strainer has provided an elegant solution to this problem on large yachts for a number of years. Good news; Groco has just introduced a 1-inch inlet size strainer suitable for many smaller boats.
Installed in place of a conventional strainer, the Hydromatic’s strainer basket traps incoming debris. Unlike a conventional strainer that relies on you to turn off systems, close the seacock and clean out the mess, the Hydromatic’s microprocessor automatically runs its “garbage disposal” motor for 30 to 60 seconds, macerating whatever has been collected in the strainer and pumping the shreds back into the sea.
Bottom line; provide your boat with clean fuel, debris free water and it will reward you with happy, stress-free boating.