I recently got my hand on a used Racor 1000FG filter. This thing is HUGE! about 2 feet high! I can only dream of the millage I can do before element change...

It got the optional heating system. According to everything I read, this electric heater only heat to 40°F, and stops there.

Has anybody heard of a way to improve this? Thanks!.

-Jay2

I would think you should be able to bypass the thermostat easy enough, but there will still be roadblocks. First, is the element even beefy enough to heat the oil much hotter? Second, if you are using the element that hard, how long will it last?

And will housing components for the element be able to take the heat?

It would be cool if it worked though!

Ray Hudson had GREASEL install a 1000FG on his MAC truck 18 wheeler. The 1000FG was the third filter installed on this truck. Ray was noting that the filter was not staying warm enough in the cold Mid West winter. Ray said that this filter fixed the problem. I was wondering my-self how hot it would get and how GREASEL wired around the thermostat.

Eco Aware in San Diego, CA

Jay2 I have just ordered a 500FG, I think you are correct with the 40oF.

Racor litterature shows the element to be a fairly thick resistance wire with a rating of 300 watts. I would be carefull unleashing all that without appropriate controlls. I do not know it as a fact but with 25 amps at 12 volts, across what looks like 6" element, it could get fairly hot quickly.

Someone who understands the relasionship between watts, thermal density and temperature may be able to enlighten the issue.

My filter has a heater and I too would like to be able to drive it to about 100oF.

Graeme

I've been looking at my dismantled filter:

The heater element is some kind of disc wich contains the element (some king of rolled-up heating wire). Riveted to a flange is a small piece I've identified as a thermostat (thanks to google).

So I guess now the only thing I need is an auto-reset thermostat in the 85-90°C range (170-180F).

As anyone seen something like this? It must be all immersed in vegoil/diesel...

Jay2, do a search on "PTC" self regulating resistor heaters. I believe someone on this forum (maybe Tony from WA) has suggested that a PTC resistor, in series with a heating element, will regulate current to the heater.
Graeme

Jay2 I found the thread title.

"Biodiesel & SVO Forums ; General SVO Discussion ; Racor 14278 In-Line Diesel Fuel "

The suggestion was to use a PTC to controll current to a relay that powered the heating element.
Graeme

Jay2,

Do you have the capablity of posting a picture of the thermostat?

I have done a lot of R&D on filter heating and may be able to identify it visually and locate a higher temp range replacement.

Here is the picture of the thermostat

Numbers on it are:

2455RBV117-242
L80 85/B

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jay2,

racortherm.jpg (25 Kb, 186 downloads) Thermostat

and by the way:

Using a PTC instead of a thermostat would be real good, except it would need to sustain 25amp continuous. Using it to power a relay would be better, but then I need a fully fuel immersion compatible relay... anyone?

Thanks for the pic..but I have never seen anything like that. What are the approximate dimensions of the control unit?

There is some infos there:

http://content.honeywell.com/sensing/prodinfo/thermostats/bimetalthermostat.asp

The dimensions are about 1 inch long by 1 inch diameter.

Working with what I have so far. You may be able to use a snap disc "limit" control with a higher temp setting to replace your current low temp one. You will probably need to wire in a relay to handle the high voltages.

I have been down this road myslef though..and ran into problems with heating elements designed for lower temps and duty cycles. They just did not last long under the heavy use of near constant high temps in this application.

I wired the higher temp snap disc thermostat (about 1"x1") on the outside of the metal housing and insulated it. I then used a 30a 12v relay activated by the new thermostat to feed power to the heating element. I drilled small holes in the housing to feed the wires through and seald them with expoxy.

This worked well enough...until the elements pooped out...which only took a couple of months in each case. The mofdified Ford F250 (Racors) lasted a bit longer since they have a heavy plate as the heating element. But the contacts to the plate were the weak point there. Just not designed for constant heavy use.

Whcih is why I designed the "GoldenGlow" filter conversion. Although originally designed for the common and cheap Goldenrod fuel filter I have adapted it to several other filters. The only requirement is that the filter inlet must be at least 3/4" NPT and Racors just don't offer that inlet size. I am considering getting designing a whole new filter heater for the Racor using the basics I have learned from developing the Goldenglow...but I don't know if it would be cost effective.

What you're telling me here is that, from your experiences, the element fail due to bad connections when left on for too long? Like glow plug fails (but on a longer run)?

And they fail due to a bad connection on the disc?

According to the link above, the standart thermostat has Environmental Exposure -18 °C to 121 °C [0 °F to 250 °F]. So a new "same kind" thermostat should be able to support it, but wihtout external cooling to aid the over-current it is subject to.

So, just to clarify: do you know WHAT fail when they fail?

Jay2,

Sorry for the confusion.
I have only converted the Racors that are stock on the F250s. These look very different from the one in your picture. They do not have a a heavy heating element wire as you describe. Rahter they have a solid disc which is the heating element. My hope was that this would be able to withstand the higher temps and longer duty cycle of a vegoil heating filter. And the disc elements did..but the contact points which supplied them with power deteriorated fairly fast.

Your filter heater is different than the ones I converted, tested, and ultimately rejected as suitable for this purpose. The newer Racors may be more suitable. But no one knows. Maybe Greasel tested for the more demanding duty cycle of a high temp vegoil filter. I have never seen any indication of this..but the best way would be to ask them I suppose.

I would reccomend having some way to monitor the outlet temp on this filter once you "convert" it. This way you will at least know if the element burns out...and if it is able to raise the vegoil temp to the level you are trying to achieve.

Since I concetrate on low cost alternatives for vegoil conversion I never attempted to convert one of the newer Racors by changing the temp control. I assumed based on my "failures" with other similar filters that any filter heater not designed for constant duty high temp use would simply not be up to the task. The diesel techs I conferred with agreed that most likely the designers of the filter/heater did not build that much robustness into them since to do so woudl only increase their cost and provide capabilties which would never be required in their intended use. Filtering diesel fuel.

Just trying to give you the benefit of my previous experience in the hope that it might be applicable to your current goal. I wish I could provide more guidance. Sorry.

Do you think it would be necessary to heat the filter continuously. I imagined that, in the worst case, if tallow was being used it would be sufficient to get the filter up to about 38oC (about 100oF) to melt the fat so that, with appropriate line heating, the fuel would flow. After that the hot incoming fuel would keep the filter hot and the current could be turned off?

Jay2, good work tracking down the Honeywell thermostats. They may have the same model covering other temperature ranges.


To reduce the current load on the internal resistance heater it may be possible to add an external resistor in series to reduce the current draw to say 5-10 amps. It would take longer to heat but may have a longer duty cycle.

Graeme

It depends on a lot of factors. Ambient temp is a big one. As is whether your engine is a DI or more forgiving IDI.

Large engines can draw so much fuel that massive coolant/fuel exchangers are requires..or a continuously heated filter/fuel temp booster.

In a case where you are only interested in initially thawing the filter so vegoil will flow through it than yes..once the flow is established "upstream" heate exchangers can take most of the burden off..unless you want to warm the vegoil hotter than coolant/fuel heat exchangers are capable of.

I wrote to Parker toady (manufacturer of Racor filters) and asked them this question:

I have a Racor 660 filter with a heating element in it, which heats up to
40*F. I would like to know if it is possible to increase the temperature
range of the unit (perhaps through a different thermostat). I need the unit
to warm the filter (and the fuel in it) up higher than 40*F. Can you
recommend any ways of doing this?

Here is the answer I got:

“It is thermostatically controlled, no way to bypass that. on at 45f and off at 85f.”

I guess there is two way to inbterpret what they told you:

1) They told you you can not ADJUST the temp up, no "temperature" screw to tighten or something. The unit as is will not operate higer

2) The thing is made to regulate at 40, and no matter what you do, the heating element can not go up.

I tend to say they meant the 1st point. You can not move temp up, without modifications. The "thermostatically controlled" part of the filter is that small honeywell thermostat. It would be easily replaceable.

Why not you try to sent another mail, telling you found the "paste thermostat number" on the heating element, and ask them if replacing it by an higher temp equivalent would work ok with the element. They may have a much motre clear answer...