Fuel Pump Strainer

[dom14]

Hey guys,
I made this small petrol pump strainer out of a stainless steel kitchen strainer globe.
I'm just wondering whether this is enough, or whether I need a piece of cloth/fine fabric around it to filter even
smaller/finer particles.
thanx in advance for any suggestions, advice.

P.S. The strainer and pump is a submersible one.

[garett]

that looks like you would raise the pickup point, so it would effectively make your fuel tank smaller. (less usable fuel)
i think most of the strainers i think would be a tighter weave, don't most fuel pumps come with the strainer ?. if your tank is clean and the fuel is clean technically you wouldn't need one BUT we dont live in a perfect world.

[macca]

What do they have as a standard strainer?
Give a point to start from I suppose, the idea you have there looks good for "larger" bits of crud if that's what is in your fuel, then the fuel filter looks after the rest.

[Cuppa]

Like Macca says, good for the larger crud, (& I guess it will ensure the pick up hose doesn’t sit right on the bottom of the tank) - but to be honest IF you have larger crud to deal with finding a way to clean out/line the tank might be advisable.

I don’t think I’d be putting anything cloth/fabric on it. Finer metal mesh might be useful, but I wouldn’t unless you can access it to clean it as easily as a fuel filter.

[dom14]

that looks like you would raise the pickup point, so it would effectively make your fuel tank smaller. (less usable fuel)
i think most of the strainers i think would be a tighter weave, don't most fuel pumps come with the strainer ?. if your tank is clean and the fuel is clean technically you wouldn't need one BUT we dont live in a perfect world.

Actually, it lowers the pickup point. There was no strainer or fuel pickup hose before, so this arrangement can reach(almost) bottom of the tank. If it doesn't I can modify it a bit to do that. But, definitely better than before. I used submersible fuel hoses.
There are actually two hoses that goes into the strainer. The second one is a redundant on I made to add a redundant external pump.
I will open a second thread and post all the details once I get it going.

Tank and fuel in it is clean. But, I thought all of them should have a strainer to prevent any grime build up inside the pump.

[dom14]

Like Macca says, good for the larger crud, (& I guess it will ensure the pick up hose doesn’t sit right on the bottom of the tank) - but to be honest IF you have larger crud to deal with finding a way to clean out/line the tank might be advisable.

I don’t think I’d be putting anything cloth/fabric on it. Finer metal mesh might be useful, but I wouldn’t unless you can access it to clean it as easily as a fuel filter.

Yeah, the thought has crossed my mind. That's why I added a second fuel pickup line with the same strainer to join a second external redundant fuel pump.

[dom14]

What do they have as a standard strainer?
Give a point to start from I suppose, the idea you have there looks good for "larger" bits of crud if that's what is in your fuel, then the fuel filter looks after the rest.

A cylindrical smaller one, I think(with a bit finer metal mesh I think).
I thought a slightly bigger strainer would be better to prevent any possible crud blocking it in future.

[GeeYou8]

Termi-Mesh offcuts are a bit finer than the tea strainer ball, kitchen blow torch & silver solder (with correct flux) work well for fabrication, you can use soft solder with CLR for flux if your clever.
Graham

[dom14]

Termi-Mesh offcuts are a bit finer than the tea strainer ball, kitchen blow torch & silver solder (with correct flux) work well for fabrication, you can use soft solder with CLR for flux if your clever.
Graham

Where would you get Termi-mesh offcuts mate?
Thanx

[GeeYou8]

I got some when I had an addition put on the house, you could always call them and ask if they will sell you some, or stalk an installer on a building site. We had some fine brass mesh at work, I don't know where it came from (or where it went), it was very easy to work with but was not as chemical resistant which would not be a problem in a fuel tank.
Graham

[dom14]

I got some when I had an addition put on the house, you could always call them and ask if they will sell you some, or stalk an installer on a building site. We had some fine brass mesh at work, I don't know where it came from (or where it went), it was very easy to work with but was not as chemical resistant which would not be a problem in a fuel tank.
Graham

I thought it might be a good idea to wrap the strainer ball with another durable fine mesh in case the glue that holds the strainer to the fuel pickup hoses(epoxy) fails.
I'm thinking dropping into bunnings and see if they have something.

[SCUBA Patrol]

Definitely if there is the possibility of grime getting into the fuel tank via unreliable sources, like here in Africa fuel from a 45Gal drum that stands open in the veld for unknown hours, then yes a strainer is necessary. All the submersible pumps I worked with, came with it's own strainer, it is only there to prevent big stuff to enter the pump the fuel filter further on in the system prevents micron stuff from entering the final fuel system, that is more critical and need to be changed regularly! So yes if you want to protect the pump you have to have a strainer

[dom14]

Definitely if there is the possibility of grime getting into the fuel tank via unreliable sources, like here in Africa fuel from a 45Gal drum that stands open in the veld for unknown hours, then yes a strainer is necessary. All the submersible pumps I worked with, came with it's own strainer, it is only there to prevent big stuff to enter the pump the fuel filter further on in the system prevents micron stuff from entering the final fuel system, that is more critical and need to be changed regularly! So yes if you want to protect the pump you have to have a strainer

Yeah, the funny thing is that some models of RB30 Patrol comes with the intank strainer, while other didn't. Mine(1990) apparently haven't. But, it's possible since my tank is an aftermarket one, when they moved the factory pump unit from factory tank to the current aftermarket one, they might have forgotten the strainer or damaged it and fitted the pump without the strainer.

When I removed the pump unit to have a look inside the petrol at the bottom was crystal clear with no dregs.
It's either,
1)Petrol in Australia since 1990 up until now is super clean or
2) The pump has been sucking up any residue on petrol, and that may be even the reason the pump appear to be not working properly at times(I haven't figured that out for sure yet. ATM, factory pump appears to be working fine, but I'm adding a redundant one anyway).

[dom14]

Bunnings have aluminium mesh which comes in reels and way too expensive for my job.
They have flywire mesh which is dirt cheap, but not suitable for submerging in petrol.

[dom14]

I've noticed during my dramas withe intank fuel pump that if I try to run it without submerging the pump pickup in petrol it sucks in air and subsequent submerging in petrol won't work(it won't pump petrol) even though I can hear the pump running. The way to overcome that was to stop the pump running and start again(disconnect the power to the pump and reconnect it). This was while having the pump on a bench with a small petrol container to produce the conditions inside the tank.
I'm not certain whether this is a pump fault or not, but I suspect it is, 'cos when the tank run out of petrol the pump does get filled with air through the breather(s) so the same condition can produce the same result. Turning the ignition off and turning on again can mimic the scenario of power disconnect/connect. My overall guess was that the pump was faulty so I wired up a cheaper external pump while still having the internal pump & it's plumbing(sealed but left alone in case I wanna swap over the external pump plumbing lines to the internal pump). I opted to not to purchase a new internal pump 'cos I wasn't sure(still not sure) whether the pump is faulty or not(internal pump is around $150 and I didn't wanna spend that much money without confirming it). External pump setup was super cheap and effective, but I will have to get back to the internal pump issue sometime in the future.

I think the internal pump is indeed faulty in my case 'cos when the vehicle in on LPG(I run it on LPG all the time) the intank petrol pump still runs all the time, and there is no petrol in the petrol tank most of the time. I reckon it's been pumping air(pumping dry) for too long and that might have partially stuffed it up. The wiring by the LPG guy was bad to make it run all the time I reckon.
I have corrected that issue by rewiring so the petrol pump doesn't run anymore while the engine's running on LPG.

[the evil twin]

Fuel lift pumps will almost invariably use the fuel passing thru as a cooling medium to prevent overheating.

If the pump is run for long periods with no fuel then, yes, I agree it will almost certainly have crapped itself.

[garett]

yeah common thing, pump will run even when on gas. keep 1/4 tank of petrol is the standard to keep the pump covered and cooling.

[dom14]

yeah common thing, pump will run even when on gas. keep 1/4 tank of petrol is the standard to keep the pump covered and cooling.

I didn't have a clue before. It is bad electrical wiring.
The damn petrol pump is $130, and I wired up an external one, thinking it's a total waste of money.
External ones are easier to replace and heaps cheaper and easier to replace as well.
Replacing internal one means dropping the tank in my case 'cos there's no access hole from top(LRA tank).
I thought about cutting an access hole from top, but spot is under the back seats, so I couldn't be bothered.
In mine, there is hardly any need for the petrol pump to run all the time while the engine's running on LPG.
Sure, it causes an issue when switching from LPG to petrol on the fly, but I easily wired up a priming push
button switch on the dash to do that, and I rarely need to use that priming button 'cos I rarely switch from
LPG to petrol while driving.

[dom14]

Fuel lift pumps will almost invariably use the fuel passing thru as a cooling medium to prevent overheating.

If the pump is run for long periods with no fuel then, yes, I agree it will almost certainly have crapped itself.

Yeah, all that trouble 'cos of the stupid way the LPG conversion electric was done.
It wasn't the only issue with LPG electric wiring. There have been horrendous electrical wiring related to LPG all
around the vehicle that I had to spot one by one and correct.
I'm beginning to believe it was a backyard conversion, 'cos back then it wasn't necessary to have compliance plates for
LPG. It still isn't necessary to have a one, but I'm planning to update the LPG system with better gear soon and have it
stamped.

[mudnut]

The only thing I wonder about the steel strainer is, will it jiggle around on the inside of the tanks and wear out either or both components?

[dom14]

The only thing I wonder about the steel strainer is, will it jiggle around on the inside of the tanks and wear out either or both components?

Yeah, that thought hasn't crossed my mind. I'll keep my fingers crossed. :)