Fuel's Paradise

How to put together a homegrown fuel fi ltering system

- Phil Gutowski

Keeping your diesel fuel clean should be one of your highest priorities, and you can avoid a lot of trouble by adding extra filtration. During the 2015-16 winter aboard Eclipse, our Tayana Vancouver 42, we pulled out our old Perkins 4-108 for a rebuild. With the engine out of the way, I also took the opportunity to plan and install an electric pump-driven polishing system that would improve the likelihood of having clean fuel in our two tanks.  

In this context, the term “polishing” really just refers to the repetitive refinement of the diesel fuel by circulating it through an external filter. The system I decided on also offers some bonus features, like the ability to move fuel between Eclipse’s two tanks and the option to keep fuel flowing should the primary filter experience a blockage. Its electric pump also makes an easy task of priming the fuel system all the way to the injectors.