Water Separator / Sedimenter
This unit removes large sediments and water from the fuel without using a filter. There are no replacement parts required meaning no ongoing expenses on consumables. This unit should be fitted before your replaceable fuel filter to offer you a longer filter life, and regularly drained of water and sediments. The unit is completely serviceable and easy to install.
Water displaces the fuel's lubricative coating on the precision injection components. The loss of this protection will result in wear, erosion,surface pitting and eventual pressure loss and failure.
This unit is a worthy addition to both standard diesel systems and vegetable oil conversion systems.


These devices seem to be widely used in Europe, but rare here. Some users of CAV type sysrems report waterlogged folters. These might seem to offer a remedy.
Anybody have any experience with 'em?
Anybody know where to buy the element only?

2_Diagram.png (8 KB, 40 downloads) Water Separator

Correction: "Folters" should read "Filters"
Seeattached photo

1_Photo.png (20 KB, 25 downloads)

Those work only on Diesel fuel, not on VO.

I found a drawing from a US Army Field Manual dated 1940

3_1940_US_Army_Field_Manual.png (47 KB, 21 downloads) Army Drawing

quote:

Originally posted by Thomas Finnell:
Water Separator / Sedimenter These devices seem to be widely used in Europe, but rare here. Some users of CAV type sysrems report waterlogged folters. These might seem to offer a remedy.
Anybody have any experience with 'em?
Anybody know where to buy the element only?

The Water Separator / Sedimenter is standard equipment on the Toyota LandCruiser trucks. The one on my truck works very well with VO & BD - diesel fuel blends.
Here's an aftermarket unit by Delphi #296 with an integral filter cartridge.

quote:

Originally posted by john galt:
The one on my truck works very well with VO & BD - diesel fuel blends.

Blends of what % VO or Bio? How have you determined it works very well?

The way I have determined they don't work on VO is: Took some VO that failed a hot pan test, put it through a filter like shown, then did another HPT and it failed just as badly.

Because the HPT doesn't work on blends I wonder how to test how its working?

quote:

Blends of what % VO or Bio?

it varies, 5% to 50%.

quote:

How have you determined it works very well?

The FWS traps bulk water and dirt; that's what it's supposed to do. That's why Toyota puts them on their LC trucks. It also traps fats and PHO in BD and VO. There's no claim that the FWS will separate suspended/dissolved/absorbed moisture in VO/BD.

The VO-BD-ULSD fuel blends are dry when they go into the vehicle tank so there's no concern with absorbed moisture; it doesn't happen with blends in my experience. The water trap will catch any bulk water in pump fuel or from condensation in the tank.

Racor filters do catch some water with the caveat that none will catch suspended water. I am switching to a Racor 345RC .
They give this a BD rating.

My issue is the dense fog moisture here on the coast which I do believe has been building up a lot of condensation on the inside of my fleetguard filters. Sometimes it's literally dripping in the morning and the copper surround doesn't help. I like the idea of a heated head that will force moisture into the bowl and maybe I'll add a rubber wrap. I went for the WIF (water) sensor all told under 200 via the great fence of ebay.

I still use a Racor 1000FH for a polishing fuel mainly because I have surplus filters. After the CF this does keep the oil more dry so I figure the spin on elements will be even better at this. Bottom line knowing is better than not when you've got water. If there's enough to trigger the sensor at least I can drain and investigate the problem. I don't see changing elements for quite some time provided the water is kept out of the oil to begin with. But in terms of expense a $20 filter is actually fairly cheap to have a sensor with it. Fleetguard has 1 with a sensor but it's part of the element and it's around $40. NAPA has a filter with a sensor in a solid bowl and the elements you can get cheap but they're kind of crappy and wouldn't hold up to VO. All in all I trust Racor and the elements are made in the USA so it's all good in my book.

Hi everyone,

as John said Toyota LC have a DIESEL sedimentor as standard.

They do a great job of picking up dirt and water in diesel fuel.

I also run the delphi 296 unit as my main fuel filter for both diesel and wvo.

These units work well and may collect some free water from wvo but I believe no filter set up can remove suspended water from wvo.

A blend is another issue, does wvo repel suspended water once blended?

God bless froggo.

Our VegMax 2 (VM2) and the filters we used earlier, for years, (Vormax, which I pioneered the use of) have integrated, heated water separators, as well as water-absorbing or water separating secondary spin on filters. If there is free water present, they are good insurance.

BTW, did you know that Canola (a type of rapeseed) was first grown in Canada to supply lubricating oil for steam engines in WWII when petroleum based oils were not available or in short supply?

It was used because of the exceptional ability to coat and cling, and therefore lubricate, the cylinders in the steam engines and would not wash off even in the presence of steam.

quote:

Blends of what % VO or Bio? How have you determined it works very well?

The way I have determined they don't work on VO is: Took some VO that failed a hot pan test, put it through a filter like shown, then did another HPT and it failed just as badly.

Because the HPT doesn't work on blends I wonder how to test how its working?

The Sandy Brea type testors work well for that.
I have tested blends and they appear nearly as succeptible to absorbtion of atmospheric moisture as wvo if it is dewatered using a non-evaporative method.

quote:

quote:

If there is free water present, they are good insurance.

Unfortunately if there is ANY free water present there is ALSO normally an unacceptably high level of suspended water.

Nearly ANY fuel filter will provide good insurance against small amounts of free water passing through. But as far as suspended water the ONLY insurace against the damage it can cause in IPs and injectors is to make certain that fuel does not contain it...period.

I've located a photo of the Sedimentator element for CAV systems.
From what I've seen, this unit works well extracting free water. at least from Diesel Fuel, but can't remove suspended water.
It's suspended water that I'm worried about. Is fuel conditioning the answer? Anyone have any experience?
What works? What doesn't?

Sedimentater_Element.jpg (4 KB, 13 downloads) Element

quote:

It's suspended water that I'm worried about. Is fuel conditioning the answer? Anyone have any experience?
What works? What doesn't?

Dewater [dry] the fuel, and test it for dryness less than 500ppm moisture, before it's placed in the vehicle tank. Fuel Water separators/Sedimentors are designed to remove the bulk water that can occur due to moisture condensation in vehicle tanks or storage tanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Edward Beggs:

It was used because of the exceptional ability to coat and cling, and therefore lubricate, the cylinders in the steam engines and would not wash off even in the presence of steam.

Perhaps this lubrication ability also has benefits when used in an internal combustion engine? If so, it would make the use of Veg fuels extending engine life a distinct possibility.

quote:

Originally posted by DCS:

Perhaps this lubrication ability also has benefits when used in an internal combustion engine? If so, it would make the use of Veg fuels extending engine life a distinct possibility.

After 30 years of waste cooking oil use, IF you use a proper 2 tank system and switch at the correct temperature and purge properly, yes, I believe it does.

Yes I think it can be said that that is a distinct possibility. We have marketed locally a Canola-based lubricity additive for bringing low sulphur diesel fuel up to spec for lubricity.

Research at the University of Saskatchewan, a number of years back, found samples of winter diesel to be deficient and well below the spec for lubricity. For rotary and distributor type injection pumps, low sulphur and ULSD have been a disaster, since they were designed to rely on the fuel for their lubrication.

Canola methyl ester and Canola Oil Derivative were found to be very effective at restoring lubricity when used as diesel additives.

How effective?

0.1% additive brought the fuel to baseline, to spec for lubricity.

1% reduced engine wear by up to 50%

We have a TDI out there with over half a million km on Canola WVO.
I read of a fleet of trucks, a real fleet, in Europe, with, so far, an average of 700,000 km on them.

I also have often thought that if you have the right oil in the system early on, some new Canola or very good Canola WVO, say, that is not acidic, and that's the first stuff you run, you would get that famous cling coating on the pump internals, and if you oil your saws, you know how that actually prevents rust and protects metals from subsequent moisture.

The key here, I think is to focus on using a non-drying, high-oleic WVO such as most of the Canola we see being used now as food oil, that is very lightly used and is not acidic. In regions of the world where it is affordable, use new oil that meets the DIN standard (DIN 51605)