Best inexpensive all-season low volume fuel filtering options?

[DanG]

Anyone got any ideas on the best low volume fuel conditioning options?

I'm setting up a domestic hot water & space heater for my twenty-seven foot Airstream trailer using an Espar H10 diesel coolant heater modeled along the lines of an AquaHot RV-Bus $ystem. Burner specs are 32.4K BTU to 5.1K BTU, .32 to .05 gallon per hour.

I need ultra pure fuel to maximize the life of this thing since overhaul parts are unbelievably expensive. Oh, and that down time could be ugly in a Minnesota winter.

I've missed a few rare eBay auctions on the smallest Parker-Racor R12~ combined filter-separator-heater w/ drain bowl when the prices went past nose-bleed territory - plus I am not sure whether my gallon per day use warrants the Racor 15 gal/hr filter setup. Without the heater it seems $75 US is the least I've found it for recently.

Somewhere in the future there may be a diesel galley cookstove and a small diesel house generator so maybe the small Racor is best?

Its taken a couple of years on a limited budget to piece together most of the parts I have so far; I have a nice large aluminum fuel tank salvaged from a boat that I may have to cut it down in size to use so interior condition will be seen then - and nicer diesel fill through-hull deck fitting - all lines and pumps, remote thermal storage tanks, 24V power system, 24V hot water pumps, just need a good filter-separator (and maybe heater) combo.

First picture is the heater unit - second is borrowed from the AquaHot people to show y'all the general layout...

[DanG]

Two months now and no one has a good cheat?

I figured someone would have a link to a disposable inline or small cartridge filter that I could trust.

1-micron or better filtering for 3~ gallons a day use, and hopefully some water separation ability.

The attached photo shows how my project looked for the last four months. Understand the need better?

It seems old Airstreams have near zero R-value insulation when the glass area is counted in!

I am working on on a solar hot water & photovoltaic system, with baseboard convection radiators installed during the aluminum shell rebuild (new insulation). Having the option of firing up diesel if I get tired of feeding pine cones and the like to the micro wood stove is a very good idea.

Here's a post from a Canadian gentleman who did a similar set up - beware clicking through his other links might take all day.
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f287/diesel-powered-trailer-23048.html

[mobile_bob]

i don't have the part number handy but the cat 3126 E model has a spin on fuel filter that is good to about 1 micron

get one of those, and a filter head to fit it, and you would be good to go for a long time

the filter comes with a drain option as well, just a different part number.

there is ample head space for a reasonable amount of water capture, and if you use the drain option filter i can't imagine having
any problems with the espar heater

bob g