Reverso Diesel Fuel "Polishing" System

In that picture it is setup very much how a normal F.O. Separator is setup. By continual re-circulation you will remove a quantity of the junk in the fuel, with a F.O. Sep is it just a case of cleaning the bowl when it gets dirty, with this filter system it means changing a filter. You could look at this as a first line of defense and run a filter that is a bit larger than the next one in line and so on. So if you run a 20 micron one in that , a 10 in your Racors and a 5 or less in the secondaries you will extend your filter life. I am doing one now where we will run twin F.O. Separators 24/7, all fuel used will have been re circulated through these things. The engines get their fuel after it travels through an engine manufacturers Coalescor setup and then Racors followed by on engine secondaries. The returns go back to the tank and the whole process starts again.

A lot will depend on where the vessel operates and what sort of fuel it takes on.

For a local coastal cruising boat that setup would be fine, for something going deep sea I would go for as much pre cleaning as I could prior to the filters having a turn and would look to fit a centrifugal F.O. Separator.

For that size and operational profile if you are careful about what you load and carry plenty of spare filters you should be ok.

How much fuel does your boat hold and which model Reverso are you talking about?

Plus 1 one on the 3 stage. I have used a 30 ( non turbine), 10 and 2 micro fuel filter system for years of coastal cruising with no problems. With this setup the Racor stays much cleaner, well worth the added expense of the additional filter.

Which is designed for 1000-5000 gallons so perfect for you.

Actually they make 600 GPH commercial units.

The last 2 boats I ran had Alfa Laval MIB 303s 0nboard. They work just fine.

http://www.marstechusa.com/MIB_303_stationary_MT.pdf

We have Alfa Laval and are very pleased.

We are three larg racor turbines primaries on each engine and I was advised to run two. (20, then 2) with one in reserve that could be put in line within seconds? This make sense?

A couple of fuel lines from the diesel tank manifold to the Alfa and on to the day-tank and a power supply, thats all.

All the crud stays in the bowl to be cleaned away.

With all due respect that's not how you use the Reverso system. The reverso sytem is used either as a transfer pump/filter to pump and filter the fuel when pumping from one tank to another tank, or simply to re-circulate the fuel in the same tank. It does not feed the engines and is never to be plumbed "in-line". SO, you want to run a 2 micron filter in them to remove as much algae,water,etc as possible each pass. The reverso system does not supply fuel to the main engines or filter the fuel going to the main engines through it.

TK- yes they do work very well at filtering fuel and removing water from fuel or as a transfer system (which is how I see them plumbed many times) on a boat that doesn't have enough fuel capacity to warrant a centrifuge. My only gripe with them, is I wish they used a Racor turbine filter instead of a separ due to the ease of changing racor elements and the price of the element. With 8000 liters of fuel, if your not worried about the cost of an Alpha that would be the best way to go, but the Reverso would work fine as well, and is a nice setup, for that amount of fuel as well. It has a timer that you can turn it on and set it up to about 12 hours of run time and just let it go by itself if you're just re-circulating fuel.

Danville, I'd run a 30 micron and a 10 micron, 2 seems to get dirty too quickly and clog in most cases, but if you're not having those issues perhaps leave the 2 micron. Keep in mind that filters, do filter to a smaller micron as they get dirtier they get more efficient at filtering.

J, I hate Separ square filters, the bloody seals never seat properly.

As for Racors, best on the market, but for value Fleetguard now do the Racor and Separ elements for half the price. They cover these part numbers.

OEM OEM Part number Racor
Separ 20130 2010PM-OR
Separ 20110 2010TM-OR
Separ 20430 2020PM-OR
Separ 20210 2020TM-OR
Separ 20430 2040PM-OR
Separ 20410 2040TM-OR

That should work well.

Best practice would be to have as foolproof a system as possible to make absolutely certain that if there is a valve on that balance pipe that it is not inadvertently closed when you are polishing fuel.