Best HEATED Fuel Filter

[patty]

What is it?
-coolant or electric?
-what brand?
-how much?
-if electric, whats the draw on the alternator?

[jessef]

There are many heated filters nowadays from cheap to ridiculously expensive.

You are asking for the best ?

After talking with Kevin and a few Racor guys, this is the filter they recommended because it's heated both ways and can take a variety of filter flavors.

Racor 6401 - coolant heated and has a 12V heater in the bowl.

Spending days on end, forum after forum, talking with diesel mechanics, the same response. Racor 64xx series heated filters.

Not cheap, but quality is up there and so is the heating temps.

[AndrewH]

http://www.thedieselstore.com/template/ ... 41&VehNum=

cheap, easy and electric so it is instant. You don't need to wait for the coolant to heat everything up.

The ease of installation makes it a good choice, simply wire it into the vegtherm and done. No need to splice into coolant lines and get messy.

Just my thoughts though, other people like the other choices that do the same thing but cost 4-5x as much...

Andrew

[delicat]

Nice and cheap Andrew but what about their description:

In-unit heater. (*Note - Heater will heat fuel to 45º F and shut off. This heater is not designed for use with SVO or WVO alternative fuels)

[AndrewH]

Nice and cheap Andrew but what about their description:

In-unit heater. (*Note - Heater will heat fuel to 45º F and shut off. This heater is not designed for use with SVO or WVO alternative fuels)

true but 45º F is more than enough to keep the fuel flowing well through the filter and just because it wasn't designed for VWO doesn't mean it won't work...

Many of the parts, including the 6 port pollack valve, were not designed for WVO either but some still use them with success.

Very few parts are designed for WVO, it is too small of a market. Usually the parts are from other applications like the high pressure/high temperature hydraulic hydraforce valves which end up working extremely well.

[after oil]

heres my cheap home made coolant heated fuel filter. its 1/4 hose wrapped with foil tape, plumbed from the fuel heater and then back to the stock heater core hose return to engine.


here is is in my delica:

[patty]

hey after oil,
what type of tubing did you use to wrap the filter in? how hot does it get? ho wmuch it set you back?
thanks

[Adam]

I personally like a coolant heated filter, especially if you are using an inline electric heater like the VegTherm. How much can do you want to tax your alternator? This way if you electric heater fails because of some faulty wiring or a blown fuse (both happened to me) you aren't sending cold WVO to your IP. There is also the school of thought that if your engine isn't up to temp then the engine will just end up stripping the heat from the WVO before it gets spray through your IP. Not sure how much I subscribe to this, but it is something to keep in mind.

[after oil]

patty pm'd me for this info, but i guess i might as well post it here.

for my filter heater i used 1/4" fuel line. i simply wrapped it around the filter as tight as i could and then wrapped the foil tape around the outside. i think i used the odd zap strap, at each end of the hose, to help hold it till all the tape went on. then i slid the filter out and taped the inside.

my wvo kit heats the wvo with engine coolant. after the wvo heater, i reduced the line to 1/4" and plumbed in the filter heater, then back to 5/8" or whatever it was and then tee back in to the interior's heater lines

this has never failed me. the filter and filter head get hot to the touch, but i never measured the temp

the filter head came with my kit, but i think they are really cheap. the filters are cheap too.

im building another one, maybe today even if i get off my ass, for the mercedes i got. ill list the parts and prices when i get them.

[loki]

patty pm'd me for this info, but i guess i might as well post it here.

for my filter heater i used 1/4" fuel line. i simply wrapped it around the filter as tight as i could and then wrapped the foil tape around the outside. i think i used the odd zap strap, at each end of the hose, to help hold it till all the tape went on. then i slid the filter out and taped the inside.

my wvo kit heats the wvo with engine coolant. after the wvo heater, i reduced the line to 1/4" and plumbed in the filter heater, then back to 5/8" or whatever it was and then tee back in to the interior's heater lines

this has never failed me. the filter and filter head get hot to the touch, but i never measured the temp

the filter head came with my kit, but i think they are really cheap. the filters are cheap too.

im building another one, maybe today even if i get off my ass, for the mercedes i got. ill list the parts and prices when i get them.

you taped the inside of the coil of hose too? seems like that would be counter productive?

[PlantDrive]

Wrapping filters with coolant line works to heat the filter, but man it really sucks at filter change time, and electric heating at the filter is not necessary, as by the time you have driven a few minutes to get things warmed up enough to be thinking about switching over to SVO, a good coolant heated filter will be ready to go. I have been doing WVO for close to 10 years now. My pick is a coolant heated filter that has the filter element on top, insulated, and a built in sedimenter/water separator that is also heated. This allows for the best heating, easy installation, no extra load on alternator, etc. If you are trying to heat a frozen-solid element, you need a lot of heat as fast as you can get it, and you need it where it can reach the filter easily, and be retained, yet you do not want to create a problem at filter change time.
Our TurboFyner and VM2 filters fit the above description. The VM2 is made in BC, and is my own design, based on the experiences I have had in supplying the WVO conversion market over the years. Both these filters have been getting rave reviews from installers and users across Canada and US, in coldest of winter conditions. The VM2 at $249 has extra features and costs a little more than the TurboFyner ($199). You can see it at our site, plantdrive.ca


(RE: valves...the motor drive Pollak 6-port works fine, mount it where it can get some warmth, run long enough that warm diesel return can warm it up a little before switching over and it will work well....$89 with buzzer and switch? Hard to beat. Easy to plumb, install, and change if you ever need to. Cheap enough to carry a spare if going to boonies.

Or, for a little more money, use two or three 3-ports. I am using two on my Delica. They will go in the battery box, in front of the VM2 filter, with the Optima battery mounted sideways. The single Optima red top had no trouble at all giving a good fast spin at -20C, no block heater, just synthetic oil.

Should have mine done in a week or two and can put some pics up.
Had to pull off doing my own, I am doing a custom tank conversion of a G-wagen first, tank builder has to finish my tank then we can finish my install.

Also we have our own in-tank heaters now, aluminum, with the same handy O-ring Boss fittings as the VM2 filter and the 3-port valves (clockable, which means point to the exact angle you want, no frustrating "do I crank the fitting once more, or hope the thread paste seals") experiences as with NPT thread fittings)

[after oil]

patty pm'd me for this info, but i guess i might as well post it here.

for my filter heater i used 1/4" fuel line. i simply wrapped it around the filter as tight as i could and then wrapped the foil tape around the outside. i think i used the odd zap strap, at each end of the hose, to help hold it till all the tape went on. then i slid the filter out and taped the inside.

my wvo kit heats the wvo with engine coolant. after the wvo heater, i reduced the line to 1/4" and plumbed in the filter heater, then back to 5/8" or whatever it was and then tee back in to the interior's heater lines

this has never failed me. the filter and filter head get hot to the touch, but i never measured the temp

the filter head came with my kit, but i think they are really cheap. the filters are cheap too.

im building another one, maybe today even if i get off my ass, for the mercedes i got. ill list the parts and prices when i get them.

you taped the inside of the coil of hose too? seems like that would be counter productive?

i see what you are saying, and maybe youre right, but it works fine. i never thought about it. perhaps a conductive tape would be more in order if such a thing exists.

Wrapping filters with coolant line works to heat the filter, but man it really sucks at filter change time

it usually takes about two minutes to change the filter. the coolant line wrapper just slides right off. if its stubborn i give it a shot of WD40

the line cost $10, the tape was $6, i ordered the filter head and i think its pretty cheap (less than$40 fer sure)

[PlantDrive]

Ok - a lot of times they are a fight, though. You have to get the coil off, for example, to get the filter off if it gets stuck enough that you need to get a wrench on it.
The coil comes apart, the insulation gets wrecked over time, etc. and pushing coolant through an extra 10' of coiled 1/4" line is not likely to make your water pump happy.

....and on the Racors that were mentioned, with the clear bottom bowl....bottom bowl ever gets stuck, you have a heck of a time getting them off, the 12V heaters quit working, or don't come on when you need them (thermostat set too high), and not enough wattage to really heat the oil, they are just meant for warming diesel fuel. We tried them for a while and I agree that Racor makes a good filter but they are expensive and overall not worth it, and quit using them. We also used to offer a 12V heater option that worked really well....a tiny heater with very low amp draw that kept the filter element warm all night (it was called the Overnighter), and combined with a battery-low-voltage cutoff. But, now, with the new top-mount filters and the better heating, we found nobody needs them.

For underslung filters; a note....heat at the head does not mean adequate heat, quickly, within the filter element. They tend to take longer to thaw and allow full flow than the type that have the filter on top. (And, in case anyone is wondering, you drain them out using the bottom drain valve, before you change them - the VM2 has a really large drain valve to make this fast - and the new element primes easily- and I'm not going to have to crawl under the van to change the filter, which will be nice.

General "cold weather" comment.....A lot of stuff that seems to work even down to -10C does not work below that.

[after oil]

the materials




wrapped and zapped




taped on the outside





added a little tape to the inside, enough to hold together, not too much as to reflect heat back ;)





the finished product... i trusted the parts store guy to wrap the hose enough time and then give extra, well its a little short, but itll do...

[PlantDrive]

Note to Patty: I replied to your latest PM last night and this morning again (Saturday) with an updated message on the TTVTS kit pricing and what it incudes, but those messages seem to be stuck in the forum's outbox so not sure if you got it...
maybe just email me directly at plantdrive.ca@gmail.com
Thanks!