Helm Station Vacumn Gauge
Has anyone located their primary fuel filter vacumn gauge at the helm station?
If you have done so with an electronic vacumn sending unit, where did you get
the sending unit and remote display? I don't really want to extent the actual
vacumn line, but would really like to see the current vacumn reading without
having to visit the engine room. This will be part of my winter project of
replacing a single Racor unit with a dual unit.
Thanks,
Gil
Gil:
I spent a ton of time trying to find an electric vacuum gauge but I was
unsuccessful. I asked at every gauge manufacturer at the Miami show, made
lots of calls and did a lot of googleing. There is an electric everything
else but not vacuum unless you want to spend crazy money on a industrial
digital electronic unit. I really wanted gauges on my helm station and I
felt the run was way too long for a vacuum line. Plus if that line leaked
it could stop the boat.
I settled for a vacuum switch that closed at 6" of vacuum. Racor makes them
although there are lots of generic ones. I put on a Racor water sensor
alarm and just tied in the vacuum switch to this circuit. The water sensor
and the vacuum switch are both normally open so they don't compete. So when
the Racor alarm goes off it is either water in the fuel bowl or high
vacuum. I can simply verify which one by looking at the filter and the
mechanical gauge.
My system can go to 20" before I get any symptoms so the 6" threshold seems
reasonable.
If anyone has found a gauge I would be interested but this works well for me.
Frank Burrows Destiny 1979 43' Viking MY
Piney Narrows Chesapeake Bay
At 04:17 AM 10/6/2006 -0700, you wrote:
Has anyone located their primary fuel filter vacumn gauge at the helm station?
If you have done so with an electronic vacumn sending unit, where did you get
Gil Johnson dogtrawler@yahoo.com writes:
Has anyone located their primary fuel filter vacumn gauge at the helm
station?
If you have done so with an electronic vacumn sending unit, where did you get
the sending unit and remote display? I don't really want to extent the
actual
vacumn line, but would really like to see the current vacumn reading without
having to visit the engine room. This will be part of my winter project of
replacing a single Racor unit with a dual unit.
May I make a low cost/high performance suggestion? Put in a Murphy gauge.
These are very simply mechanical gauges with very simple adjustable
mechanical switches. You put the gauge in the engine room and then a warning
light/buzzer at the helm. Best of all, they are very, very inexpensive (about
$50 per gauge). I put in a complete duplicate instrument panel in the engine
room using Murphy gauges and the total cost was under $500. This also means
that when I get a funny reading from the electric gauges I have a mechanical
backup.
See http://www.fwmurphy.com/products/pressure_vacuum/20v_25v_a20v_a25v.htm
for details.
Scott Welch
Product Manager, FirstClass Group
"If we continue to take an eye for an eye, then surely the whole world will
go blind." - Gandhi
I have to agree with the suggestion on Murphy gauges. The downside is that
you can't watch the vacuum slowly increase from the pilothouse. On the
other hand, many will agree that a physical inspection of the engine room at
regular intervals is invaluable. I have alarmed Murphy gauges for vacuum,
oil pressure, gear pressure, coolant level, and temperature for each engine.
I keep a log book in the ER for my hourly checks.
Captain Todd Mains
Scappoose, Oregon
'Lo All,
I installed glycerine-filled (damped) vacuum gauges on the main and
generator fuel lines. They have 1/8" copper tubing, but I could have
used plastic. The gauges are placed in full view when at the lower
helm. They are on the side of the air conditioner cabinet on the port
side of the boat, while the helm is on the starboard side. Running
the copper tubing was simple as was all of the installation, which I
did when installing the fuel polisher.
I like the simple method - direct plumbed vacuum gauges - that are
visible from where I operate the boat. Since I only run the Celestial
from the upper helm in nice weather, not having vacuum gauges there
is of little consequence. Potty breaks take me to the lower helm
sufficiently often that in benign weather, there is little concern
over plugging of the filters such that the engines will quit unexpectedly.
There is almost always a way to accomplish something - if given enough thought.
The gauges rarely show much, if any, vacuum, as the fuel tanks
(except the day tank) are above the engines. The day tank, with clean
filters, shows about 1" Hg vacuum on each main engine at idle. The
Cummins engines will quit at about 22". I never tried the generator
to see when it quits. The test simply involved shutting off the fuel
valves at the main fuel manifold, which is upstream from the fuel
polisher and main Racor 1000 filters on each main engine. (Yes,
overkill, but they came with the boat.)
Take care and be safe.
Wayne
M/V Celestial
Albin43 Sundeck
I wrestled with all these issues before biting the bullet and
installing a vacuum gauge at the helm. I used fairly stiff plastic
(brake line ?) hose most of the distance between the helm and engine
room. At each end, I used more flexible rubber hose slipped and
clamped over the out side of the plastic hose. I installed a small
shut off valve at the RACOR end so I could isolate the gauge if
something happened to the line letting air into the fuel line
The helm gauge has alerted me twice to change the dual RACOR 500 over
to the backup filter. The dual filter has a gauge, but, it would
require opening the engine room hatch and crawling down there to read
it. I just wish there was a way to flip the filter change over lever
without having to crawl down where hot and/or spinning things are
while in rough water.
Ben Lewis
BenGeM
CHB-34
Kingston WA
At 06:23 AM 10/6/2006, Frank Burrows wrote:
I spent a ton of time trying to find an electric vacuum gauge but I was
unsuccessful. I asked at every gauge manufacturer at the Miami show, made
lots of calls and did a lot of googleing. There is an electric everything
else but not vacuum unless you want to spend crazy money on a industrial
digital electronic unit. I really wanted gauges on my helm station and I
felt the run was way too long for a vacuum line. Plus if that line leaked
it could stop the boat.