Transfer Pump Failure
Short recap for those unfamiliar with my setup: My truck stores WVO in a pair of 60gal GFS Trekker tanks. I treat the rear-most tank as my “dirty” tank and only pump WVO into that tank. I treat the forward-most tank as my “clean” tank and feed the 7.3L PSD engine from that tank. Each time WVO leaves a tank, it passes through a Racor 1000 fuel filter and a 2020SM (2-micron) filter.
I use a small 12V gear pump to transfer WVO from the “dirty” tank to the “clean” tank. The WVO is pulled out of the “dirty” tank, through the Racor 1000, through this 12V gear pump, and then sent to the “clean” tank. I use a switch in my dash to turn the pump on/off. Do NOT forget to monitor the fuel level in the “clean” tank. I have had a big mess on more than one occasion because I pumped too much WVO into the “clean” tank.
This transfer pump failed (again). The first failure occurred in 11/2009. I do not recall why it failed and did not seem to write about it. This time, I left the pump running for a very long time and ruined it. Golden Fuel Systems sold a replacement “One/Half Shot Pump – OSP01” for around $260 after S&H in 2009. I received a Fill-Rite FR1602 pump. I learned that GFS would remove the gear pump from the enclosure and discard the enclosure. The internal pump that Fill-Rite was using in the FR1602 is a “Marco UP3/OIL 12V gear pump” (P/N: M164-020-12).
I contacted GFS to purchase another replacement. They informed me that they are unable to provide an exact replacement (Fill-Rite discontinued the FR1602). They are now selling a much more expensive GFS Gathering Pump Kit for $415+S&H. The new pump may be superior (or not), but I preferred an exact replacement because I had already fabricated a custom mount that allowed me to attach the “Marco UP3/OIL 12V gear pump” to the side of my fuel tanks between the two Racor 1000 filters. I was able to find several FR1602 and Marco UP3/OIL products in the $225-250 range. Sharing in case anyone else is needing to replace this pump, but did not have the Fill-Rite or Marco part numbers. Good luck!
