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Smarter way(s) to drain a Racor?

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
On the list for the weekend is to check/drain the Racor bowl.

My system is set up with the filter on the suction side of the electric fuel pump:

[tank] --> [racor] --> [pump] --> [secondary filter] --> [engine] --> [tank]

"normally" when I drain the bowl, I do as the Racor manual says
-- open the vent plug on the top
-- open the drain on the bottom
-- close the drain
-- pump the little priming pump until fuel comes out the vent
-- close the vent
... then "run the engine and monitor for problems"

My worry is that... while the vent is open, it's pretty likely that air has worked its way into the line between the racor and the pump. So I have one of two choices... either go through a full "bleed" cycle (run the pump, bleed at the secondary filter, bleed at the injector head, bleed at the injectors...) which is time-consuming and messy. The other option is to run the motor long enough to ensure that any air in the lines has made it past the injectors. Which seems like a naive approach ("hope is not a strategy")

I feel like draining the bowl should be a routine 5-minute job, not an hour-long project.

So.... is there a smarter way to do this? Specifically, is there a way to drain the bowl WITHOUT air coming into the system?

I've thought about (for example) keeping the vent plug closed and either letting the liquid draining out of the bottom of the bowl suck clean fuel into the top of the filter. Or, keeping the vent plug closed and running the pump to pull new fuel through the system as the liquid drains out of the bottom (but my guess is the flow will disturb whatever liquid I want to drain out of the bowl)


Open to ideas

Bruce


PS: I've also thought about installing a three-way valve into the system between the electric pump and the secondary filter. The idea being that I could isolate the line to the secondary filter, and use the pump to eliminate any air from the line upstream of the valve

[VALVE] --> [secondary filter] --> [engine] --> [tank]
|
|
[drain-tube]

Or something. The idea would be that, by closing that valve, there's no way air can get into the line to the secondary filter. It seems clever, but it's not on my list for this weekend.

I mostly want to just drain the bowl without making a project of it.
 
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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Not sure, but I believe I used to pre-fill the racor screw-on fiilter.

Then if the electric fuel pump runs diesel should come out the bleed valve on the engine pretty fast, and all is well.

The little hand pump on the Racor was designed to drive men mad, and takes 200 strokes to do anything.

But this was only my practice, and grist for the improvement mill.
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Bruce,
I wondered about this, but decided to drain the racor filter and take my chances. After doing so, I started the engine, but it only did a slight hiccup and then ran perfectly without any bleeding.
I have the 16 hp engine, and a small racor, only holds a couple ounces in the drain cup, unlike some of the large racor filters, where more fuel would be drained and perhaps bleeding needed.
Frank
 

JSM

Member III
Went thru this exercise last week on my M25xp (twice, don't ask). First time I filled the filter and bowl and screwed it on. Started and it fired right up and ran fine. Second time I didn't have any fuel to fill the cartridge so I opened up the vent screw on top of the Racor turned on the ignition and let the fuel pump fill the Filter until it ran out of the vent screw. Bled at the bleed screw and all was good.
 
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