bleeding diesels

our friend Laura www.novascotiansailor.blogspot.com describes the difficulty of getting air out of the fuel lines, especially if its rough. She doesn't mention crawling over a hot engine, but this is also a consideration on any of the size boats I sail. I have found something that helps. I read it somewhere, so its not my idea. Coming back from the bahamas, 1000 miles from home, my fuel tank sprang a leak, and I had to improvise with a plastic outboard tank. This came with the bulb and the line, and when I got home and installed a real tank, I kept it. Now, if  I need to bleed the system, I just crank open the top bleed thing on the fuel filter, and squeeze the bulb until clean fuel comes out. The little lift pump on the engine isn't up to much,and using it takes forever. I can reach the bulb from the engine, so now bleeding the lines is 2 minutes max and I don't need help. Not sure how the gasoline designed bulb and fuel line will last using diesel, but it put there in spring 2009 and still looks all right. things only cost $15 or so, so wouldn't be a major expense to replace it