0:01
Getting water in your fuel is one of the quickest ways to shut down a boating trip and ruin the day
0:06
which is why fuel water separating filters have become a universal standard in almost every
0:12
single boat building manufacturer in the market today. So in other words, if your boat doesn't have a fuel water separator, which there was a certain
0:20
period in time when some manufacturers were not putting these in their boats in the early 2000s
0:26
and even earlier, and unless you are using a portable tank or have a small
0:29
non-perman tank, we would suggest installing one into your boat. Seeing how important this component is, you might be wondering how exactly it works and what
0:39
one of these filters looks like on the inside. Well today, you won't have to wonder anymore, because we're going to do exactly that
0:47
Right after you hit that like button and make sure you're subscribed to the channel, that is..
0:52
Alright, so before understanding how the water separator operates, you need to know about
0:57
how water and fuel react together. If you put water and gasoline together, they don't really mix together
1:03
They might look like they blend for a few seconds, but they ultimately will separate
1:08
and the water will sink to the bottom of the fuel. That is because the fuel weighs less than the water
1:18
by about two and a half pounds. A gallon of fuel weighs six pounds, whereas a gallon of water weighs 8.3.4 pounds
1:27
making the water sink to the bottom of the fuel. And on a side note, a gallon of ethanol weighs about 7 pounds
1:35
which is why when you test fuel for ethanol, you have to mix it in water
1:39
This video isn't about ethanol, but if you look at fuel that contains ethanol
1:43
you won't be able to see much of a difference, outside of its color. Ethanol is a lot clearer than non-ethanol fuel
1:50
You'll notice that the non-ethanol fuel has a lot darker of a shade over the ethanol
1:57
So to test it you take a 10 to 2 millimeter ratio being 10 millimeters of fuel and add 2 millimeters of water to it Then just shake it or stir it and let it sit for a few minutes Then when you look at it you will see a similar split between the fuel and the water
2:16
You will notice that the water has gained in the amount of milliliters that are in the mixture
2:21
based on how much ethanol is in it. Because you will have more water than what you poured in
2:25
This is because the ethanol molecules are smaller than the water molecules
2:30
and therefore they basically just mix together and become one. I'm not a scientist, though
2:35
That's just the way that I understand it, and hopefully you now having this same understanding
2:40
so when we go back to talking about our fuel water separator, you can see that this canister is going to collect as much water as it can hold
2:48
You can get different sized filters as well, from smaller filters to medium filters to large filters
2:54
The bigger the filter, the more water it can hold. But in reality, when it comes to the larger filters
3:01
if you are getting that much water in your fuel, you have a bigger issue that needs to be addressed outside of just putting a bigger water separator on your boat
3:10
All of the filters are going to go into a similar fuel filter bracket like this
3:14
Most of them will have two inlets and either two outlets or just one outlet, depending on the style
3:28
You will also notice where the filter screws onto the bracket, there can be a smaller one
3:33
and a larger one. The larger the hole, the more flow of fuel that can go through it
3:37
So the gallons per hour of the fuel filter will also depend on how large this inner circle is
3:47
And with having both of those outlets and inlets, you can have the bracket up against a wall somewhere
3:52
and have both the lines coming out one side, or you could put 90 degree fittings to get them
3:57
to go down, or whatever situation you might find yourself in when putting one of these brackets
4:02
in a boat. Ultimately, there are only two ways in and out of this bracket head
4:07
On the inlet side of the bracket it dumps everything into the filter which will go around the outside of the filter by these holes that are on top of the fuel filter Then once it goes through the filter it will come up the center of the filter and go out the outlet side of the filter bracket to wherever you are sending the fuel
4:28
And it's pretty basic when it comes to the science of how the filter separates the water from the fuel
4:33
Seeing that the water weighs more than the fuel, the water will fall to the bottom of the filter while the fuel will run on top of the water
4:41
So as long as the filter isn't full of water, you won't get any water coming out of the other side of the filter
4:47
So if we fill the filter up with some water and fuel and then continue to pour water into the filter
4:53
you will see fuel come out the other side of the filter. And if we continue to pour water into the filter, then eventually all of the fuel that we put into the filter will get pushed out and we'll then start to get water coming out
5:39
and we will then start to get water coming out of the filter and going to our engine
5:43
which isn't a good thing because they don't run on water. This brings us to the fun part of cutting one of these filters open so that you can see how they also filter the fuel as it goes through the filter Using one of these filter cutting tools that just cuts a ring around the bottom of the filter
6:32
lets us cut the bottom of the filter off where we see the first part of the filter, being a spring
6:38
that keeps the actual filter pushed up to the top of the metal housing that the filter sits in
6:43
Then we can slide the filter out and you can see inside of the canister how the holes in the middle
6:48
hold are separated. Then you can see the filter, which is actually basically just a type of paper that is folded up
6:59
like an accordion. When the fuel comes around the outside of the filter, it will flow through this paper element
7:05
and this will catch any debris that is in the fuel, which could be anything from a piece of
7:10
metal shaving to a piece of rubber or anything else that can get into your gas tank
7:15
If we cut the paper element off of the filter, you'll see the inside of the inside of the
7:18
metal portion of the filter that keeps the paper from collapsing under the vacuum of the fuel pump
7:24
that is pulling the fuel from the fuel tank and up to your engine. Seeing that this is just paper
7:29
that is inside of the filter, you can understand a little better how if water and dirt gets into the
7:35
filter, then the paper will get clogged from the water and dirt over time, creating a fuel restriction
7:40
in your fuel system which won't allow your engine to get fuel, causing you running issues. But we've
7:46
We've covered that topic in another video that I'll link to which will give you more understanding of how your fuel delivery system in your boat operates
7:55
Once fuel flows through the paper element to the center of the filter, it will then flow up the middle of the filter and make its way out the filter bracket to your engine
8:04
And that is how your boat's fuel water separator keeps water out of your engine, keeping you on the water
8:09
Don't forget to hit that like button and share this video. Now make sure you are subscribed to the channel and check out this video here
8:16
You can visit us at born againboating.com. Thank you all for hanging out with us today
8:21
and we look forward to seeing you next week
