This came from a boat manufacturer and was told to me. "It is against Coast Guard regs to send pressurized fuel through a spin on, water seperating filter." I'm not sure if what they say is true, but it does make some sense. The filter does collect water and is made from steel, so it is possible that it could rust from the inside out. This could cause a pinhole that would spray fuel at ??? psi all over the bilge. In the case of an efi engine, it could be as much as 80 psi before the regulator. Obviously, this could be dangerous. If it happens on the suction side, then it will just lose it's prime.
I've never had an issue with a properly sized fuel pump and hose setup pulling through a filter. If everything else is correct, it should work just fine pulling.
Eddie

That would make a LOT of fuel systems illegal. Most engines I see have a mech pump pushing through the spin on filter. Hmmmmm?

The merc setup that has a mech. pump driven off of the seapump pulls it's fuel from the filter first. On every merc engines that I can think of, the fuel goes into the filter first.
Eddie

My 1993 502 mags went; wallet>tank>mech pump>spin on filter>carb
My 2002 575SCi's go; mortgage>tank>mech pump>spin on filter>elec pump>threaded filter>TBody

Both had/have the sea pump/fuel pump set ups.

All Merc 496's w/ Gen II fuel system have the filter 'pressurized' by the lo-pressure electrical fuel pump.

the coolfuels send pressure from regulator back to spinon filter, that is purpose of black plastic cover. it is intended to divert spray fuel down, towards bilge to help prevent spray fire(blow-torch).