Replacement water separator idea

Booyah45828

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Pipe thread is sealed by the threads being tapered, and you use either thread tape or ptfe sealant on them. If it's truly npt those washers wouldn't work because the taper will keep the shoulder on the plugs from sealing against the filter head. NPT is on the left, your plug is on the right.

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Whether it's npt or ORB it doesn't matter as both will seal fine, you just can't interchange the two.

I would check your filter head threads to see what they actually are. They might have included the wrong plugs, or they might actually have a straight thread ORB port.
 

Greenie

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I've treated each tank with Stanadyne Performance Formula additive for at least 28 years and there is never any water in the factory filter drain - not even a drop. I buy fuel from several stations. Additionally, my small compact 30HP John Deere tractor runs on off road fuel I have stored in a 275 gallon tank. This tractor also gets Stanadyne Performance Formula at every fill - there's never a drop of water in the tractor's see through bowl that has a red plastic ring that will float off the bottom if there is any water in the bowl. What I gather is the additive puts any water present into suspension - tiny droplets that harmlessly pass through the injection system and into the combustion chamber. Very long fuel filter life too...
The bonus is the additive also lowers the cloud point, increases Cetane and adds lubricity to the fuel. The original injection system on my 1993 F-250 lasted 22 years and 260,000 miles. The tractor has 1,500 hours and is 24 years old - all original injection system. A $9 bottle will treat 60 gallons.
 

Brian VT

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I've been running Opti-Lube XPD additive. Among the other things that it claims to do is, "Improves water separation (demulsifies)". So I'd guess that makes it easier for the separator to catch the water? Or does it make it easier for the engine to digest water?
I just read up on the Stanadyne PF that you're using. It says the same thing (demulsifies).

I don't mean for this thread to change to a "which additive?" discussion but..
I chose Opti-Lube XPD based on this study, fwiw. It doesn't test the water handling, though.
 
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Greenie

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I assume the emulsified water passes through the filter since it doesn't accumulate in the filter drain bowl - but yes, the language does make it sound like the water is trapped better with either additive at the filter.
 

Booyah45828

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A good water seperator, like the racor unit that was shown here, will catch bulk and emulsified water with better then 90% efficiency. It will still separate and collect it even if you use an absorption additive, which is usually an alcohol of some sort.

The fact that you don't have water in the bowl only shows that don't actually have water in the fuel, unless you're using a junk filter, then maybe you do and it's not catching it.
 

Brian VT

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I assume the emulsified water passes through the filter since it doesn't accumulate in the filter drain bowl - but yes, the language does make it sound like the water is trapped better with either additive at the filter.
Both additives mentioned claim to DEmulsify (separate) the water from the fuel. Not trap it in the fuel.
So it seems that it would be easier for the mechanical separator to catch it. Or at least for it to sit at the bottom of your tank.
So I'd have to agree with Booya that you probably just don't have any water getting to your seprators. And you either never got any fuel with water in it or, if you did, then the water is sitting at the bottom of your tanks. (or you separators aren't working, which I doubt)
 
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Booyah45828

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Those 2 additives yes, demulsify the water, which seperates it from the fuel, and puts it in bulk phase. Most water separators will catch that with near 100% efficiency. I was talking about additives like heet, or most other fuel antifreezes. The alcohol in those absorbs the water and then mixes into a solution with the fuel. I think the 911 power service and their clear diesel bottles use alcohol to de-ice/de-water as well.

Having water emulsified in the diesel isn't any good, but neither is having a pool of water separate from the fuel and stuck in the bottom of the tank. I think I'd rather have it mixed and caught by the filter where I can drain it off, then separate and stuck in a pool on the bottom of the tank rusting it out or causing algae growth. Then again, if you're consistently getting water in your fuel, you should probably do something about it, like switching suppliers.
 

Old Goat

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If the water is on the bottom off the tank, it will get sucked up through the Shower Head, which sucks off the bottom of the tank.
A good Water Separator/Fillter will catch it.

Goat
 

KyleJamesBrockman

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Little late to this but figured I would add for anyone doing this in the future. A few months ago I want with an electric lift pump so water separator was necessary. I went with the cat 175-2949. This mounted to a PriPriLod 4770 diesel water separator housing. I don’t have a midship tank so it went high up on the left Frame rail. It does stick out a little but I drive on the highway mostly. Overall a pretty good setup. Took 15 minutes to install and was not expensive. Also this is the most common separator size so no issue if you need one quick from a parts store. Hope this helps anyone
 

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