I think the lesson to take home from my Mercedes 240D experience for us is to avoid having fuel filters/screens in places where we cannot easily service them in any conditions (like in the breakdown lane of I-10 or 100 yards off the beach).
On Bandersnatch I have wells in the bottom of my fuel tanks about the size of large coffee cups. Lying on the floor of the tank covering the well is a piece of perforated sheet stainless about 5" square with a pattern of 3/16" holes in it. The 1/2" copper fuel suction pipe passes through this perforated screen and extends down to the bottom of the well. This strainer is to keep anything large enough to plug the 1/2" pipe out of the pipe. I would have preferred 5/16" holes but I already had the 3/16" perforated stock on board. After that in the suction line is a small, (about 3 square inch, I wish it were larger) window-screen material strainer whose purpose is to avoid fouling the check valve that by-passes the electric fuel pump (which has its own internal screen), then the Racor 1000 primary filter. Both the small strainer, the electric fuel pump screen and the Racor are very easily and quickly serviced. Norm S/V Bandersnatch Lying Julington Creek FL N30 07.68 W081 38.47 _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
