Saddle tank fuel filter location

[persistent]

My 20’ hourston has a pair of saddle tanks, and it is setup to draw from both tanks at the same time. If the racor is closer to one tank that the other will it draw more from the closer tank? Where I want to mount the filter would require 2’ of fuel line to the starboard tank and an out 5ft to the port. Probably a dumb question but would rather figure it out now rather than later if it causes the tanks to drain at different rates. My other thought was to make the fuel lines the same length then do a loop on the closer side to take up the slack.

thanks!

 

[adrian1991]

My 20 has the same the water seperator is located more port side, I run one tank at a time and switch when ones low does yours have T taps on the outlet port of the tanks under the gunnels
I do this so the motor dosnt suck air if one gets drained and cause the motor to stall and need repriming

 

[gungadin]

I don't think it would make a significant difference. Assuming both tanks are mounted at approximately the same height and location, but on different sides of the boat. the pressure exerted by the fuel should be the same +/-. I think that because you will have two inlets into the Racor, the fuel could flow from one tank to the other (not sure about that though) and both tanks would have the same level of fuel, all things being equal. That which adrian 1991 said about fuel taps is imo a benificial idea

 

[Wild Bill]

If you have fuel pickups in the top of the tanks the the levels won't balance out over time. Draw from the tanks wherever your fuel pickups are will vary and boat angle, fuel line lengths and fitting and tank vents. Pretty tough to get them drawing perfectly equal when you are drawing from both.

 

[Wild Bill]

If you have fuel pickups in the top of the tanks the the levels won't balance out over time. Draw from the tanks wherever your fuel pickups are will vary and boat angle, fuel line lengths and fitting and tank vents. Pretty tough to get them drawing perfectly equal when you are drawing from both.

For instance this wood chipper I built used two five gallon jerry cans with identical pickups tee'd into a line to the pump with a single fuel filter and it would sometimes run out of fuel in one tank and have a gallon left in the other. Won't run when one is sucking air.

 

[sly_karma]

Dual tanks fore and aft on my setup. I went with a brass selector valve upstream of the fuel/water separating filter. Also have a three gallon day tank for the kicker which can be manually connected to the main as emergency reserve fuel. Since bad fuel is the only major item that takes out today's modern outboards, it's wise to have a separated reserve fuel supply. Using it for the kicker ensures that reserve fuel is used and kept fresh.