fuel vent overflow

D

dreamer*65

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 7, 2016
Messages
101
Fluid Motion Model
C-24 C
I've been searching everywhere for the "No Spill" fuel vent overflow catch device recommended by all boating websites, but it seems to no longer be manufactured. Try hard as I may, the foaming from filling my diesel tank oftentimes bubbles out, and foams up out of the top of the tank fill hole. Are there any devices (still manufactured) or suggestions on how to prevent this other than standing there with a roll of paper towels or having to fill only 90 gallons every time into a 100 gallon tank?
 
Is it the Clean Way Fill you are looking for? We bought one on Amazon a month or two ago, and I think it's still wvailable.
 
I think this is what you were looking for, but it's discontinued:

https://www.davisnet.com/product/no-spill/

If you're a little handy you could easily make your own by simply cutting a suitably sized hole in a rectangular plastic bottle, and then just duct tape it to the side of your boat while refueling.

I think there was another thread here, or maybe THT, that addressed issues with the vent line. Something about the vent hose being too long, and having a low spot which collected fuel, blocking air flow. The low spot caused foaming and spitting. You might check to see if you're having the same problem. Maybe just making sure the vent hose can drain completely back to the fuel tank will solve your problem, and you won't need the bottle.
 
I had an overflow event the first time I attempted to fill my RT25SC....fortunately, the fuel dock fellow kept throwing me the absorbent towels and all was captured.

Resolving never to do that again, I did get the Clean Way Fuel Fill product - https://amzn.to/2swdtEN - and have not had an issue again....as in not one drop out of the vent or fill.

I have found that it is smart to stop fueling for a few seconds from time to time and listen to the vent....air rushes out when I stop fueling until my tank is about 80% full, then the vent seems to be in sync with the fuel fill. There is something about the tanks, I guess.

I did have a chance to speak with the fellow who developed the Clean Way system. He worked on it for a few years to get it just right. I'm sure there are other alternatives, but this one sure works well for us.
 
We are on the Great Loop and get fuel very often. Had the same problem. Acquired and installed a Racor fuel/air separator on the vent line. Install took about 20 minutes. Have not had ANY vent issues since. We are a 2015 R-25sc.

The Racor device was kinda spendy, but well worth the price.

Tk
 
tlkenyon":2vsi985r said:
We are on the Great Loop and get fuel very often. Had the same problem. Acquired and installed a Racor fuel/air separator on the vent line. Install took about 20 minutes. Have not had ANY vent issues since. We are a 2015 R-25sc.

The Racor device was kinda spendy, but well worth the price.

Tk
Click to expand...
I believe the R-25sc has the same tank as the C26 I have the Drawing of the tank 80gal FO8018. Fill and vent aft section of the tank starboard side. We most likely have similar filling issues. I have straighten the hose run out some but still have issues filling the last 8 to ten gallons. Its worse when the dingy is mounted and or extra weight is in the aft section of the boat. I have my wife stand on the bow and I fill very slow when I see the foam coming up and or fuel spill out the vent I stop clean the fuel up ( alligator clip attached to a wire that I hold on to , Alligator clip clamping absorbent towel. ( no more dawn) ! I then move to the bow to burp the tank, start filling again slowly, foam up, repeat, absorb, burp, fill until the tank is nearly full. I can get a total of 76.5 gallons total in the tank. I changed my Garmin tank Capacity from 80 gallons to 76 gallons because that is the most I can get in the tank, boat in the water. It takes 15 to 20 minutes. My question is, did the fuel/air separator stop vent spills and deck fill opening spills? We have it spilling from both even when using slower small nozzle fills. I have had it burp out the deck fill with the nozzle shut off . I am use to it, take my time to prevent excessive spilling , but if I can do something to help the issue I will do it. I ordered the Racor fuel/air separator for the vent today. I did order the Clean way fuel fill last winter after a similar discussion ,it was back ordered and I canceled it. I recorded it today too.
 
I am considering getting a 'Clean Way'. How do folks store the device after fueling? The inside of the funnel will have diesel on it and I am worried about the smell.
 
Fueling my 25SC has gone a lot smoother after I straightened the fill line that runs through the engine compartment. There was a very slight incline caused by a hanger. After cutting the hanger the hose dropped a bit and fueling has been a lot easier and faster with minimal burps. Previously I had also eliminated a dip in the vent line.
Make sure there are no dips in your lines before you purchase these after market items.
 
The Racor device has stopped the vent foaming issue...completely. To keep the fill from burping all over, I fabricated a funnel from plumbing parts available at any hardware store. The thread is 1.25-inch NPT and I bushed it out to a 4-inch coupling. It threads right into the fuel fill perfectly. It catches all the burps.

About monthly, I top off the tank from cans....poured very slowly. That way, I know the tank is actually full and I reset the Garmin. Garmin typically underestimates the fuel used by 10% or so...remember that we are on the loop and are using a lot of fuel as we often travel at higher speed, necessitating almost daily fuelings. Sometimes when I top off the tank, the Racor device weeps a little fuel, but stops when I run the motor for a few minutes to draw down the fuel a little.

We had a Cleanway device, but the combination of the Racor and the home built filter works better.

 
dreamer*65":kmvkha4f said:
... suggestions on how to prevent this other than standing there with a roll of paper towels or having to fill only 90 gallons every time into a 100 gallon tank?
Click to expand...
Might be as simple as slowing down. Or when close to full stop for a minute or two then top off slowly. Diesel foam is not persistent and dissipates very quickly. If you have a 5 gallon jerry that you can fill you can see how quickly the foam goes away.

But beware. The foam ma be the least of evils. It provides a layer of warning before pure fuel shows up.
 
I have neither a clean way device, a fuel air separator, or a vent whistle, and rarely have a problem if I follow the process described below carefully.

- first, before fueling check the Garmin to determine approximately how many gallons are needed to fill. Subtract 5 gallons from that number.

- fill up to the number calculated above at full speed from a low speed pump (do not use the high speed pump if available).

- after hitting the target number of gallons suggested above slow down and listen carefully at the vent. The sound will change to a definite gurgle as the fuel/foam hits the top of the tank and vent. Stop fueling immediately. Do not try to top off. The few times I tried to test to make sure it was full it foamed over. When you hear the gurgle it is full. Even if you were slightly off it is close enough as you calculated the amount from the beginning within 5 gallons. It has always been within two or three gallons of my estimate (our fuel flow overestimates the fuel use a bit bit). I’m sure a vent whistle will work as well or better but this process works for me. No whistle or or other tool needed.

- set the Garmin to fill up all tanks and you are on your way!

Curt
 
Dreamer*65,

I do pretty much what Red Raven states, by listening for a change in the sound from the fill opening and the vent opening. When that occurs, STOP. Again, just as Red Raven states, if you try to top it off there will likely be some spillage. I always carry absorbent towels to catch any slight overflow, which I only had to use once to learn that you must STOP when the sound changes. I then update the Garmin fuel fill counter to full, so that I will know next time about how many gallons are needed to get a full fill.

This approach is assuming you don't have any sagging fill line or vent line, which need to be addressed first.
 
Curt, your procedure is the same that we use but the foaming and and vent spill starts at 10 gallons before full. Having a 80 gallon tank in a C26 getting every gallon of fuel in the tank is important especially when longer fuel cruise range is needed. The last ten gallons takes 15 to 20 minutes. With the RIB and motor on the boat the attitude of the boat sits stern heavy. As I fill the tank an air pocket forms in the forward portion of the tank. With the vent and fill located in aft section of the tank the air gets trapped forward. The slow process of getting the air out and more fuel in takes time and a few small spills. Anything that I can do to reduce or eliminate the spills I need. Its not going to speed the process but my biggest concern is spilling fuel. We usually get an extra 7 to 8 gallons in the tank during the process. Normal weekend boating I don't go thru the effort. When we need extra range I do. I have fueled up when getting to a marina for the night. Stopped filling when it starts foaming and gurgling. In the morning when leaving the marina I will stop at fuel dock pump out and top off the tank again. I start filling slow and it takes on another 5 or 6 gallons with no problem and then I only have to fight with the last couple gallons. I installed an extra 22 gallon reserve tank to help fuel range. In some areas of cruising we need every gallon we can carry. It sounds like others have had the same issues filling, some worse then others.
 
Clearly there are variations per boat. Maybe it can be improved with adjustments to the vent or fuel intake lines or adding ballast to the forward portion of the boat. Maybe we are just lucky on our boat. On our boat it only takes less than 5 minutes to get the last 2 or three gallons before the gurgling starts. I have never run below about 30 gallons to know if there is an air pocket or not so I suppose there could be less total fuel when full but at the dock the Garmin agrees fairly well with the Volvo gauge. We have not had the need to push to the last gallons of the tank.

Brian, I have added forward ballast under the v-berth to compensate for the stern weight of the dinghy, dinghy motor, and our ebikes. Maybe some ballast forward would help in your situation if you have air in the top forward portion of the fuel tank.
 
Wow, lots of ways to top off the tanks!! I only do that on land just before the start of a cruise. It’s messy. It burps. It occasionally has made a slight mess on the concrete.
In the water in the PNW, we only fill to about 95% and that’s plenty of range to get to the next planned fuel refill. The Yanmar fuel gauge in our boat seems to be spot on so I have a very good idea how much fuel is in the tank at any given time.
When refueling, when I get to 85% full I slow way, way down. I always use a diaper to catch any drips or small burps. Takes a lot longer to fill the last eight of gallons but I haven’t had a spill or even significant burp yet. I do listen closely as I fill the last few gallons. The vent sounds confirm my understandings of how full the tank is based on the Yanmar gauge starting point and what I’ve added. So far I don’t see the need to do anything differently...
 
Probably too complicated to do this while cruising, but maybe a longer term solution might be to add a second vent to the forward part of the fuel tank to vent the trapped air. Tricky to do right, I know...
 
I went looking, and newer fuel systems (2010 and up, I think) are supposed to have something called a "grade valve" that basically addresses your issue, while not allowing raw fuel to reach the evaporative emissions canister. This thing: http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/product/fuel/integrated-fuel/components/grade-valve There's a nice picture of how it's connected here: http://www.boats.com/resources/modern-gasoline-fuel-systems-on-boats/#.WxaYtEgvw2w

Maybe you could add that to your fuel system next winter? Or if you have one already, maybe it isn't working correctly and needs to be replaced?
 
BB marine":1992kcta said:
I believe the R-25sc has the same tank as the C26 I have the Drawing of the tank 80gal FO8018. Fill and vent aft section of the tank starboard side. We most likely have similar filling issues. I have straighten the hose run out some but still have issues filling the last 8 to ten gallons. Its worse when the dingy is mounted and or extra weight is in the aft section of the boat. I have my wife stand on the bow and I fill very slow when I see the foam coming up...
Click to expand...
This is indeed an issue with the tank configuration on these boats. The long, wide, flat tank is very sensitive to being off level. For example on the R25 classic for every half inch of bow up attitude of the fuel tank it will trap about 2.5 gallons of air. The matter is compounded by the fact that most of us likely stand on the swim step while filling the tank. If you consider the geometry of the tank it is more effective/easier to have someone sit/stand on the port rail than on the bow. That doesn't completely eliminate the air pocket but reduces it dramatically. I also stand as far as possible to port when filling on the water. When on the trailer the issue is self correcting when hitched and is easily corrected by lowering the tongue when unhitched.
 
I believe the Grade Valve mentioned above is only on gasoline powered vessels, not diesel.
 
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