Quote Originally Posted by SCUBA Patrol View Post
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).