Fuel Filter Position

[horsemel]

I am replacing all of my original fuel lines.  Not too bad a job just a lot of twists and turns.  My old hoses are the original so they are in dire need of replacement.  I have a Racor filter in addition to the primary engine filter.  When removing the old hoses I noticed that the Racor is positioned between the fuel pump and the primary fitler, not between the tank and the pump.  The Racor and pump are mounted below the head sink on the partition that separates the engine compartment and head.  The Racor is mounted about a foot below the pump.  It does not seem logical to me that the Racor should be placed in line after the pump.  Wouldn't it make more sense to position it between the tank and the pump?  (In other words, run the tank line to the Racor and the Racor out line to the pump.) Maybe they did it this way because the Racor is lower than the pump and pump doesn't have the lift capability??  Anyway, I intend the change the arrangement so that the Racor is in line before the pump unless somebody knows something I don't.  Your thoughts appreciated.
Mark Mueller
HULL 815  1988

[Lance Jones]

Mark,
You are right. I believe this is listed either in the Critical Upgrade section or in Fuel 101. Search through these areas and you'll find it discussed. Enjoy your reading as there are some really great posts in those sections.

[Ron Hill]

Mark : This has been written up many times.  The sequence should be Tank - Racor - Pump - Engine.

If yours had the Tank - Pump and then the Racor you might want to check the screen in side the pump and clean it out. 
All you need is an open end wrench. Shut off the fuel and there is a hex fitting on the bottom of the pumps' cylinder - you can see the studs near the cylinders top. 

While you are in there you might want to install a fuel cutoff valve just before the Racor.  It makes it easier to turn off the fuel, than screwing down the butter fly valve on the top of the tank.  I install an in-line fuel cutoff years ago - easy and convenient.

A few thoughts

[Ralph Masters]

Mark,
Ron is 100 % correct, the electric pump should be SUCKING fuel out of the racor, not blowing it into.  Then if you ever have a leak in your racor, it sucks air in, not spray fuel out which is a fire hazard.

Ralph
Ciao Bella

[Ron Hill]

Mark : One item that I failed to mention.

I went under the head sink and rearranged the electric fuel pump and the Racor filter - so they were in the easyest place for me to change out the Racor filter.
 
I especially moved the filter assembly to be close to the open head sink door and in a position so I could easily get a coffee can underneath it.  Then I could spin the filter (with plastic bowl) into that can and have less of a mess in that compartment with all of the drips going into that coffee can.

A thought

[Craig Illman]

A plastic gallon jug with part of the top cutoff, leaving the handle, works well under the Racor as well.

Craig

[Ron Hill]

Craig has a good idea with the handle on the cut off upsidedown milk jug.  

However, the metal coffee can has a snap-on top or the plastic coffee jug has a screw-on top & handle.  Both keep the mess inside.  A thought

[horsemel]

I followed your advise and ran the line from the tank to the Racor.  All hoses now replaced, in line shutoff installed.   and filter changed.  Thanks for the help.  I would also suggest that you get some of the dog training pads when changing oil or fuel filters.  These are designed to absorb a lot of liquid.  This way if you miss the container you are dropping the old filter into you have something that will catch the excess.

[Dave Spencer]

Mark,
For years, I have used disposable diapers to catch drips when changing fuel or oil filters and to wrap up my primitive manual oil change pump.  They are inexpensive, work well, absorb a ton and have handy tape tabs to wrap up whatever has spilled. 
The only problem is people look at us kind of funny when we're shopping for the diapers... The conversation usually goes like this... "What size should we get?... Doesn't matter, whatever is the cheapest". 

[horsemel]

Dave, at our age the answer to the question about what size diapers should be, "Depends".