TWL: Recommendations Attributed to Bob Smith
Bill Sholar wrote, "Bob Smith, daddy of the Lehmans, said last week at
Melbourne TrawlerFest's Trawler FAQ session, that he strongly
recommended 30 micron filters between the tank and the engine, not 2
or 10. (Those who have talked with Bob will understand why I say I'm not
quite sure of his rationale, but that he was emphatic."
I thought I would be the last person to quarrel with Bob Smith's
prescriptions, but this is the second of two recommendations attributed
to him that I find hard to accept without the rationale
I agree that it makes sense to have coarser filters on auxiliary units
that come before the OEM filters on the engine. Were these latter 2 or
even 5 micron, something coarser - 10 (?) - in the Racors would make
sense. However, the OEM units themselves come as 10 micron, and in my
amateur opinion - shared by many on TWL and thousands of local boaters -
that's just not enough protection. (Perhaps that's where Bob Smith
disagrees.) So, we put 2 micron filters in the Racors and render the OEM
units irrelevant.
The other oft-quoted recommendation from Bob Smith is that straight 30
oil should be used in a Ford Lehman rather than multigrade. This flies
in the face of logic and wide practice.
Having now challenged the guru, I'll be sure to ask him to tell us "why"
at Poulsbo.
Cheers, Garrett
----- Original Message -----
From: "Garrett Lambert" e16@telus.net
I thought I would be the last person to quarrel with Bob Smith's
prescriptions, but this is the second of two recommendations attributed
to him that I find hard to accept without the rationale
[snip]
Having now challenged the guru, I'll be sure to ask him to tell us "why"
at Poulsbo.
Hi Garrett,
Thank you!
I'll only be attending the Poulsbo Trawler Fest on Saturday so there's a
pretty good chance I won't get the opportunity to talk to Mr. Smith. I'll be
looking forward to hearing his reasoning.
Thank you again!
Your post kept me from jumping into this thread before completing the
obligatory 'count to three' exercise. I have always attempted to explain the
reasons behind the recommendations I have made here; probably to the point
of posting some pretty boring stuff. Because of that, one of several pet
peeves I have has to do with dogmatic statements, especially if they don't
seem logical.
I won't burden the list with my take on this specific piece of advice (Waits
for applause to die down) since I've addressed the topic many times before.
The interested TWListee can Google the Archive on the keyword "micron" for
tons of information. Look especially for posts from Paul Kruse and Wil
Andrews. Paul manages a large fleet of equipment that operates in a wide
variety of conditions, he probably has more experience with different
filtration systems, fuel conditions, and operating modes than anyone on this
list. Wil got his experience from needing to clean up a filthy load of fuel
on his own boat. His posts will document the closest thing to a controlled
experiment that you're ever likely to see concerning a recreational vessel.
Paul, Wil, and myself have three distinct points of view toward this topic
yet we all agree that 2 micron or better is the way to go for this type of
filtration. What's more, we've all given our reasons and/or shown specific
results.
Evidentially yours,
Alex
I agree that it makes sense to have coarser filters on auxiliary units
that come before the OEM filters on the engine. Were these latter 2 or
even 5 micron, something coarser - 10 (?) - in the Racors would make
sense. However, the OEM units themselves come as 10 micron, and in my
amateur opinion - shared by many on TWL and thousands of local boaters -
that's just not enough protection. (Perhaps that's where Bob Smith
disagrees.) So, we put 2 micron filters in the Racors and render the OEM
units irrelevant.
I actually talked about this at length with my mechanic (also a Racor
distributor) yesterday. His particular advice was that...it depends. <g>
If you get lousy fuel, the 2 micron filter will clog very quickly, much
quicker than the 10 or 30. If you don't have a dual filter setup, this
could have the effect of shutting down your engine while you changed it
out.
OTOH, if you routinely have good quality fuel, then the serviceability
of the 2 micron Racor - especially with a gauge - makes it likely a
better solution.
If you consider trapping large particles with the Racor and smaller
particles with the engine's filter, then you are effectively enlarging
the surface area available for filtering. In summary, a
"one-sized-fits-all" answer might not, in fact, be appropriate for
everybody.
Does that make sense?
Keith Pleas
Custom FC 44
Seattle, WA
I won't burden the list with my take on this specific piece of advice
(Waits
for applause to die down) since I've addressed the topic many times
before.
The interested TWListee can Google the Archive on the keyword "micron" for
tons of information. Look especially for posts from Paul Kruse and Wil
Andrews. Paul manages a large fleet of equipment that operates in a wide
variety of conditions, he probably has more experience with different
filtration systems, fuel conditions, and operating modes than anyone on
this
list. Wil got his experience from needing to clean up a filthy load of
fuel
on his own boat. His posts will document the closest thing to a controlled
experiment that you're ever likely to see concerning a recreational
vessel.
Paul, Wil, and myself have three distinct points of view toward this topic
yet we all agree that 2 micron or better is the way to go for this type of
filtration. What's more, we've all given our reasons and/or shown specific
results.
Evidentially yours,
Alex
Neither will CaptnWil again go over all that has been documented on this
list for several years. It would be good if someone has the time to catalog
as many references as possible about fuel filtering/polishing from the
archives. I expect the number of hits will exceed 100. A lot of the
information is new to the recreational boating world. Many things have been
determined that were not common knowledge before. It would be worth
anyone's efforts to mine some or all of these treasures.
The bottom line is that the fuel that gets to your engine can't be too
clean. It sure can be too dirty. If a better filter clogs up, it makes
absolutely no sense to relieve the problem by letting more crud pass through
the filter by using a less efficient element. If it did, the best
recommendation would be to just remove the filter all together. Keep in
mind that all that passes through the filtering system gets into your
injection pump. Any crud in that little jewel will give you a very bad day
for a long time. One should know just why a fuel filter is used at all.
CaptnWil