2 Fuel Water filters ,2 totally different fuel contents,Fuel pros ,have a look at this

[crazy charlie]

I have twin 5.0 mercruisers i/o .Both run off of same fuel tank.Pulled fuel water separators for spring start up.Emptied contents of each in to separate containers
and found totally different results.Different brand filters on each motor.Take a look and what do you think?? BTW fuel was winterized with Seafoam and StaBil.

 

[nola mike]

Both were changed at the same time? Only thing I'd think is maybe your tank had water in it, but only one of the pickups got to it

 

[dingbat]

Which motor did you start first?
Guessing your not using E-10 by the golden color

Wrong color for phase. Looks like of stabilizer

 

[Lou C]

Charlie is in Long Island as I am and we only have 2 gas stations that sell E0 fuel so it’s quite likely that is E10 but I’ve never seen E10 fuel that looked like that. Looks like too much Stabil. My gas has always been a uniform yellow color with no different layers etc.
What is the fuel tank made of? Just curious….

 

[crazy charlie]

Both filters changed yesterday.Didnt start either motor yet.Tank is aluminum and its regular gas and its from October.Too much stabil is a possibility.My idea was that one filter performed better than the other.Charlie

 

[nola mike]

Are we questioning what that second layer is? That's water for sure. And that golden color is just oldish gas I think. It can turn from clear pretty quickly

 

[nola mike]

Both filters changed yesterday.Didnt start either motor yet.Tank is aluminum and its regular gas and its from October.Too much stabil is a possibility.My idea was that one filter performed better than the other.Charlie

No, how long were the old filters on, were they changed at the same time? The filters aren't magic; if they're intact I can't imagine one would trap zero water. I'd be interested to see what the new filters look like after an hour of running

 

[Lou C]

this is what mine always looks like....

 

[crazy charlie]

Both filters are 1 season old .My concern /curiosity is why are they so different

 

[flashback]

My thoughts are with Nola Mike. I just think water in the tank settled under one of the pickup tubes but not the other. or one tube may be deeper in the tank.

 

[Lou C]

that explanation makes sense, it would be interesting to test both samples for water and see what comes up.

 

[crazy charlie]

that explanation makes sense, it would be interesting to test both samples for water and see what comes up.

too late,I used it for weed killer along my street curb.

 

[dingbat]

My idea was that one filter performed better than the other.Charlie

Anything is possible, but I have a hard time believing it's a performance related. Even the worst of filters are rated 80-85% effective.

Primary separation function of the a filter is primarily gravity driven. Have a hard time believing the fluid was trapped by one filter yet the other trapped absolutely nothing.

I theorize one was exposed to the fluid and the other was not.

Assume one tank with two pickups?
PIckup in different locations in the tank? Fore/aft, Starboard/Port? If so, boat leaning port or starboard at layup?
Fuel drained from fuel system prior to storage? A leaking anti-siphon value would siphon fuel out of the delivery system back into the filter.

 

[Grub54891]

I usually add the stabilizer before filling up, then go for a boat ride. If you put it in and just ran the motors one at a time on the hose, one picked up the unmixed product first, the other got none.

 

[Scott Danforth]

one filter got a slug of un-diluted stabilizer. BTW, if you run your boat tank close to empty, just fill up in the spring. no stabilizer needed.

 

[Lectro88]

I think I see water in both, maybe not.
different colors for sure.

Ok just for fun and giggles.
The mallory is a 10 micron.,
I would "think" the mercury is the same, and even thinking further that all marine separators would be industry standard the same.
Ethanol from my experience and findings almost draws moisture to it, or it has moisture and it separates with time.
Anytime, I work on the fuel system for a "fuel problem,"
I most times encounter water, in the bowl or filter, thats atvs, mowers, tractors, tillers, generators, especially small equipment.
I have for the last 3-5 years swore of of putting Reg. pump gas in equipment of mine.
I keep Eth free on hand and I tend to add 1 oz per gallon of cheap 2 stroke oil to everything. I do that for my diesel too,
just a little lube for needle & seat and combustion, it in theory runs everything technically said leaner, but I'll trade the slick'em for it.(turns my gas a pale carolina blue tint)Got a tad off topic, but its distantly related.
but back to the filter you can separate water from gas with a napkin single layer, a quad folded napkin opened up laid in a funnel will separate water from gas or diesel.
Thats one way I finish separating fuels. to not just throw gas away.
My point is in all this, that its not hard to separate water from gas, even an old school clear glass screen in-line or also a sediment bowl again only a screen not "filter material" will screen out water unless you get massive amounts of water.
I say theres nothing magical about the 2 different filters.
Sorry for the long spill but I have dealt with this a lot, not the twin thing but water in fuel.
I too would tend to think the pick up is slightly different and a little will do ya, unless you were really sloshing as little as a 1/4"-1" would scavenge water before it got to the second pick up.
you just had the perfect storm situation.
And this could be a design thing to let 1 engine stall first and the second possibly limp on, just by luck.
It might be worth noting for thought.
or maybe I rambled for nothing in the wrong direction.

Again sorry if I rambled, not a simple explained topic.

 

[crazy charlie]

I think I see water in both, maybe not.
different colors for sure.

Ok just for fun and giggles.
The mallory is a 10 micron.,
I would "think" the mercury is the same, and even thinking further that all marine separators would be industry standard the same.
Ethanol from my experience and findings almost draws moisture to it, or it has moisture and it separates with time.
Anytime, I work on the fuel system for a "fuel problem,"
I most times encounter water, in the bowl or filter, thats atvs, mowers, tractors, tillers, generators, especially small equipment.
I have for the last 3-5 years swore of of putting Reg. pump gas in equipment of mine.
I keep Eth free on hand and I tend to add 1 oz per gallon of cheap 2 stroke oil to everything. I do that for my diesel too,
just a little lube for needle & seat and combustion, it in theory runs everything technically said leaner, but I'll trade the slick'em for it.(turns my gas a pale carolina blue tint)Got a tad off topic, but its distantly related.
but back to the filter you can separate water from gas with a napkin single layer, a quad folded napkin opened up laid in a funnel will separate water from gas or diesel.
Thats one way I finish separating fuels. to not just throw gas away.
My point is in all this, that its not hard to separate water from gas, even an old school clear glass screen in-line or also a sediment bowl again only a screen not "filter material" will screen out water unless you get massive amounts of water.
I say theres nothing magical about the 2 different filters.
Sorry for the long spill but I have dealt with this a lot, not the twin thing but water in fuel.
I too would tend to think the pick up is slightly different and a little will do ya, unless you were really sloshing as little as a 1/4"-1" would scavenge water before it got to the second pick up.
you just had the perfect storm situation.
And this could be a design thing to let 1 engine stall first and the second possibly limp on, just by luck.
It might be worth noting for thought.
or maybe I rambled for nothing in the wrong direction.

Again sorry if I rambled, not a simple explained topic.

Dont sweat a long hypothesis.Especially since you have some experience mixed in.The purpose of this post is for opinions since I was so surprised at what I had seen.Thanks guys!! Charlie

 

[CaptnKingfisher]

You could always try switching the filters around and see if the results follow the filter or if they are based on pickup location. Dunno how interested you actually are or if this is just a lazy "musing" about an interesting find

 

[crazy charlie]

Those that gave opinions,Thankyou.Some good opinions from most.Thanks again!! I never took the time to see what was in a filter. I was always in a hurry to do some weed killing with the contents.Glad I took a look.Charlie

 

[Lou C]

I dump mine out every season. If I were to see something I don't like I'd probably try to siphon out whatever was in the very bottom of the tank, just to prevent a problem during our short season. If water is a frequent problem the Racor UL listed filters with the metal bowl are superior.