PARKER RACOR FUEL FILTER WATER SEPARATOR VS Chinese copy

PARKER RACOR TURBINE SERIES 500FG FUEL FILTER WATER SEPARATOR £250.00 VS Chinese copy £30.00

Such a huge price difference and looks like very simple filter , especially to make good copy?
Is it worth going for original one?

Not in my view.

I have both, in use there is no difference. I spent some time fettling both of the copies, getting rid of fraze and changing the too large fittings for more suitable ones. I fitted genuine elements. Probably nothing wrong with the ones supplied but I had plenty of genuine ones in stock

People say they are 'knock off's' but Patents only last 20 years and must be renewed during this period. The Racor Patent has long expired and anyone is free to use the technology.

As long as the filter housing is intact, doesn't leak and the fuel passes through the element, I'd be more concerned about the quality of the filter element. We have Separ units on both engines and genset, they are identical and use the same seals and elements as Racor and probably originate from the same factory as cheaper, unbranded units.

Anyone know where the Parker ones are made?

The copies are made by Rongsun / Headman in China. Following extensive research we (I) selected their filters for my company's project to overhaul the entire Virgin Penolino train fleet air-conditioning compressors. We had nil issue nor failures during or in the post works period.

The quality was in every sense OEM, indeed I understood that one of the re-badged brands was Unipart.

I have used these filters for my own boats ever since. I would not hesitate to recommend them.

Thanks!

Forty years ago I walked into my BMW bike dealer wanting a battery. “Genuine at £70 or pattern at £25?” said Dave, “and to help you make your mind up, take a look here and you will see that the mould marks on both cases are identical.”

I bought both, the original to go on my boat and a chinese copy for a fuel polishing system. In both I use genuine Racor filters. The chinese copy is definitely good value, but given how crucial this component is for the seaworthiness of my single-engined boat, I don't regret buying the Racor, if only for peace of mind. If it fails, or does not do its job, at least I won't have myself to blame for trying to save a buck. For what it's worth, I can see a difference in build quality, though not sure it justifies the price differential. The o-ring on the top handle of the copy has almost disintegrated after a year, but is intact on the Racor. There is a plastic ring floating around in the bowl of the copy. I'm not sure why it's there, or where it has fallen off from -- I remember I tried to open the bowl to take it out, but couldn't do so with ease so decided to leave it there rather than risk damaging the device.

superheat6k said:

The copies are made by Rongsun / Headman in China. Following extensive research we (I) selected their filters for my company's project to overhaul the entire Virgin Penolino train fleet air-conditioning compressors. We had nil issue nor failures during or in the post works period.

The quality was in every sense OEM, indeed I understood that one of the re-badged brands was Unipart.

I have used these filters for my own boats ever since. I would not hesitate to recommend them.

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I wouldn't bank on their being only one Chinese company making Parker filters and filter housing copies. Even if there were, they would almost certainly have different finishing and quality control, perhaps even production lines, for the products being punted to big commercial customers than those flogged cheap on ebay. (The latter might even be the ones that failed the QC required for.)

I used to work in quality control (in very high end electronic equipment), and I can assure you that high quality costs very significantly more than low quality. I doubt that that adequately explains the huge price difference between Parker gear and the copies, but even at Chinese wage and other costs rates, I very much doubt anyone can produce reliably high quality filters and housings, and sell them retail, for the price the copies are flogged on ebay etc. That seems borne out by the reports on this Forum of poor detailing and finishing of the ebay Parker copies.

China does produce some really high quality stuff, but mostly it's cheaper and poorly made tat, and false certification is common. It's nigh on impossible for the average retail punter to have any idea who by, where, and to what standards their purchase has been made.

Many American companies have kit made in China. I don't know if Parker are one of them, but if they were, their quality control standards will almost certainly be higher than the ones flogged on ebay. (Though history shows that even significant companies offshoring their production can get their fingers burnt relying on Chinese QC. No names, no pack drill!)

As it happens, I have bought one of the cheapie Chinese Parker copies, but only because the genuine Parker is many times the price, I don't have the money to indulge my preference for better quality in every instance, and an oil filter housing is simple enough for me to make a judgement as to whether it will do the job adequately, and cheap enough for it not to be a complete disaster if it does prove unsatisfactory.

Plastic ring is to float when water is present.

Kukri said:

Thanks!

Forty years ago I walked into my BMW bike dealer wanting a battery. “Genuine at £70 or pattern at £25?” said Dave, “and to help you make your mind up, take a look here and you will see that the mould marks on both cases are identical.”

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That may or may not have meant the insides were the same!

And were the mould marks the same because they came out of the same mould, or because the mould of the 'pattern' part was made from an original?

You could have saved a lot more money by buying the Russian copy of the BMW!

Speaking of which, do I remember correctly that BMW now has some its production done in China? I've seen quite a few comments that BMWs reliability is not these days particularly good (not that I'm suggesting the two things are necessarily related).

Rafal said:

Plastic ring is to float when water is present.

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It'd be much more fun if it had a tiny rubber duck for that job!

Rafal said:

Plastic ring is to float when water is present.

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That's a good suggestion, but if I remember correctly it's pretty large, so it just ends up sitting at an angle across the bowl, i.e. it would take a blindingly obvious quantity of water to make it float properly.

LittleSister said:

It'd be much more fun if it had a tiny rubber duck for that job!

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A tiny rubber duck with a clearly angry look.

LittleSister said:

That may or may not have meant the insides were the same!

And were the mould marks the same because they came out of the same mould, or because the mould of the 'pattern' part was made from an original?

You could have saved a lot more money by buying the Russian copy of the BMW!

Speaking of which, do I remember correctly that BMW now has some its production done in China? I've seen quite a few comments that BMWs reliability is not these days particularly good (not that I'm suggesting the two things are necessarily related).

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I’d say the marks were identical. The battery was just as good as the one it replaced.

When I lived in Beijing I owned a Changjiang 750 which is the Chinese copy of the Russian copy of the BMW M21. Over the years I have owned several BMWs. The Changjiang with its plunger suspension, tickle carburettors and hopeless drum brakes was easy for anyone used to Ancient British motorcycles to keep running, but it had nothing apart from its appearance in common with a BMW. Everything had been simplified, made of pot metal or rubbish steel, painted and chromed badly and had heaviness added.

BMW quality has been going down since they took the Government’s pfennig, moved bike production to Berlin and abandoned the Earles forks!

Kukri said:

I’d say the marks were identical. The battery was just as good as the one it replaced.

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I meant it as a general caution against assuming that any pattern part that looks the same as an original is of equivalent quality, rather than a casting of aspersions on your particular purchase.

Re BMWs etc., there's nowt wrong with plagiarising learning from successful technologies and practices.

I very much doubt BMW made the first boxer twin motorcycles, for example*. (More recently BMW have been self-plagiarising, perhaps? Or given they're now water-cooled, were they plagiarising the mighty Velocette LE 'Noddy Bike' ? )

I'm sure there must be examples of motorbikes (and in many other fields) which used key elements of others' designs, but actually did it better, or developed it further, than the 'original', though none spring to mind. (Not that I'm suggesting the Russian and Chinese copies of the BMW were that!)

*Additional useless information - According to Wikipedia ;'The first flat-twin motorcycle engine was the built in 1905 by the Light Motors Company in the United Kingdom.' (That was transverse crankshaft, cylinders in line with the frame.) 'One of the first motorcycles with a longitudinally-mounted [i.e. cylinders across frame] flat-twin engine was the 1916 ABC, which was built in the United Kingdom.' 'BMW's first motorcycle, the 1923 BMW R 32 was another early example of a longitudinally-mounted flat-twin engine, although it this case the power was transmitted to the rear wheel via a shaft drive.'

sailoppopotamus said:

A tiny rubber duck with a clearly angry look.

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Here you go

Rafal said:

Plastic ring is to float when water is present.

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I was just going to ask what that pinky red ring was for........So leave it in i guess

Slowboater33 said:

I was just going to ask what that pinky red ring was for........So leave it in i guess

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Extracting it would be interesting as the glass bowl, at least in my unit, is fixed to the metal housing.

One advantage that the Racor unit has is in and out ports on both sides of the unit. Turing the unit round needs some very thin walled tools, don't ask how I know.