SEPAR Ruel Seperator/Filters

[John Nardi]

Hey Guys...Anyone have any experience with Separ Fuel Filtration Systems??? I hear they are very good??

[Navatech]

Hey Guys...Anyone have any experience with Separ Fuel Filtration Systems??? I hear they are very good??

Never heard of them till now... Had a look at their website... Don't see any significant difference between them and Racor (Parker) who're the established gold standard...

On my own Berty I have 2 Racor 1000's... I also have a fuel polishing system of sorts on each engine... I use those systems' filters as "pre-filters" to the Racors... The pre-filters are by RCI Technologies and they work on the centrifugal filtration & water separation principle... Using this system I started using 10 micron filter elements in the Racors... However, as those don't seem to get clogged my next step will be trying to use 2 micron elements in the Racors...

[John Nardi]

What size engines and fuel burn per hour are you using?? FYI...After 30 years of using Racors, be careful w 2mu filters...very little room for error....I hated crawling into a hot engine room in the canyons in 4-6 to change them!!

[Navatech]

What size engines and fuel burn per hour are you using?? FYI...After 30 years of using Racors, be careful w 2mu filters...very little room for error....I hated crawling into a hot engine room in the canyons in 4-6 to change them!!

My engines are 575 HP 8V92TI Detroit Diesels... I figure about 90-100 gallons goes through each filter every hour... The access to my Racors is real easy... And yes, normally I would advise against using 2 micron filter elements as primary filters but my fuel gets filtered before it gets to the Racors... So far I've run about 4-5 thousand gallons through each filter and they look completely unclogged... It's for that reason that I think I can try 10 micron filter elements...

[Tony Meola]

John

I have the Racor 900 at 30 micron as the pre filter and 10 micron spin on mounted on the engine. Remember I am running mechanical Cummins. If you go newer the filters I believe at 10 micron pre and 2 micron on the engine.

[John Nardi]

Thanks Tony...I have 2 sets of older Racors, one being a 900...I think I am just going to rebuild these....These should be fine for 3116 CATS

[Tony Meola]

John

I have only seen these Separs advertised in the magazines up here since the fall. I wonder if they new to the market.

[Bruce]

Separ filters have been around a long time. They are a better quality filtration for particulate and water than racor.

That said racor filters work just fine and are more common.

[Navatech]

Separ filters have been around a long time. They are a better quality filtration for particulate and water than racor.

That said racor filters work just fine and are more common.

Are the filter elements interchangeable?!...

[Tony Meola]

Nav

When I was poking around online they looked different, but it was difficult to tell because I could not figure out the filter sizing. I just never heard of these guys until a few months ago. But then again, I have not been looking for new filters.

[Navatech]

Nav

When I was poking around online they looked different, but it was difficult to tell because I could not figure out the filter sizing. I just never heard of these guys until a few months ago. But then again, I have not been looking for new filters.

Understood... The reason I asked is that you can get Racor elements practically EVERYWHERE... Going with a relatively unknown filter may cause problems as in filter elements not being readily available...

Let's also not make too much of this... The engine is protected by what are usually termed "secondary" filters... The fact is that as far as the engine is concerned these "secondary" filters are really the primary filters... The purpose of the "primary" filters (better termed pre-filters IMHO) is to prolong the "life" of the "secondary" filters... Putting aside the issue of water separation, you could run an engine without the "primary" filters just fine... The drawback would be far more frequent replacement of the "secondary" filters...

A word about my RCI "pre-filters", I bought my Berty at auction... It had been confiscated (drug running) and it had been on the hard for several years... The tanks were almost full (about 650 gallons of diesel)... I was concerned that possibly it was contaminated with "bugs"... So I looked at having the fuel polished... However, as the boat is in PR I wasn't able to find a provider for that service so I looked into "rolling my own"... I considered several options... From simply adding additional Racor type units all the way through full fledged automated systems...

I had read about the RCI centrifugal filters and went looking for them at the Miami boat show... And I decided on the purchase after having seen a demonstration at the show... The demonstration consisted of running some intentionally contaminated fuel through the filter and seeing the filtered fuel as well as the separated crud and water after it was released from the filtration unit... Obviously a visual check is insufficient to detect solids which are measured in microns... But, for those I had the "primary" and "secondary" filters... IOW, the initial purpose for the RCI filters was to deal with the water and "rough" stuff...

By adding a couple of T sections, some valves and a couple of 12 volt fuel pumps I created a system which serves a dual function... Its normal mode of operation is in-line pre-filtration... Its alternate mode of operation is fuel polishing through circulating the fuel through the filter while at the dock...

As it turned out, I had very little crud, no water and no "bugs" in my tanks... RCI claims that these filters will catch 98% of the contaminants... My subjective observation is that they're being conservative... I have run several thousand gallon through the system and my "primary" filters show significantly less contamination then the identical grade element on the generator (which only has the Racor 500 with a 10 micron element)... Again, this is a visual check... Having said that, the vacuum gauges on the main Racors support the observation...

When I'm due for my next filter exchange I'll be putting in a 2 micron element in one of the units... If I remember I'll update this thread as to the results of that experiment...





Please note, aside from being a satisfied customer I have absolutely no affiliation with RCI Technologies...