T&T: Racor 2 micron vs. 10 micron

[Jim Fisher]

I don't, because "being useful" means getting dirty, and getting dirty means
all-too-soon needing changing.

To me, wanting the secondary to be useful is like a football coach insisting
that the defensive line let a few ball carriers through so that the
secondary will have something to do.  :-)

--chuck shipley
Tusen Takk II
KK48-022 North Sea

Reply:

I couldn't agree more with Chuck on this one.  I can easily change my Racor
900's filters but the spin-on secondaries are harder and messier and I sure
wouldn't want to do it in any kind of seaway.  If 2 microns are clogging early
the real issue is dirty fuel in the tanks. It's been said several times in
this thread - the fuel flow rates for the 2, 10 and 30's are all the same.
Sure, you can get some lousy fuel along the way, which is why we only buy it
from high volume operations in an attempt to avoid the problem.  If you've
already got bad stuff, get it polished and start clean from there. If you get
a bad load and your filters need changing frequently until you can get it
polished it's not all bad. I'd rather put up with that than let a larger
filter pass it along to the secondary and possibly into the injection pumps
and injectors.

Our boat is a 43 MT Tradewinds with twin Cummins 6BT's and we run from the
Chesapeake to the Keys and back every year....about 500 hours/3000 miles on
average. I've been using 2 microns in the Racor primaries, installed vacuum
gauges in place of the T-handles and check them often. I use NAPA secondaries
and was told they're 10 microns. I change the Racor filters twice a year and
the secondaries once and have never had a fuel issue (knock on
teak.........!!)

I want the offensive front line doing all the work for my team  ;-))

Jim
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