can be seen passing through the system particularly when there is entrained air or very large quantities of water the present system appears to be unaffected by air bubbles or the presence of a full accumulation chamber provided that the water level is not above the turn around point it is estimated that a 12 inch diameter filter of the present invention would be at least equivalent to a 16 inch diameter filter of the 39 907 design in u s pat no 4 780 203 it is recognized that smaller droplets are more difficult to separate from the main stream than large droplets it is believed that this problem is due to the presence of the fluids in a swirling path which reentrains the smaller droplets no such problem was encountered in the filter system of the instant invention it also appears that with a laminar flow environment small droplets of water or air coalesce thus facilitating the separation process the annular flow provides not only for a change in flow direction but critically provides for a flow rate change which is sufficient to allow fuel contaminants e g water and particulate to separate or fall out from the diesel fuel by way of contrast in u.