Generator Water Flow

[J.D.]

I am having very little water flow on the generator in my 1985 Hatteras 53 ED. Strainer was cleaned recently. Could there be a priming issue? Any ideas on how to get the water flowing. It is just a small trickle of water. Thanks

 

[Captain Ralph]

What has changed since the last time it worked? Past service? New impeller?
Or, old impeller failing?

 

[Pascal]

First thing is indeed to check the impeller. If that’s ok then check the heat exchanger inlet for debris like pieces of impeller, sea weed etc. That’s why whenever you change an impeller you should always fish out all the pieces.

Also, check the thru hull it self to make sure it s clean

 

[SEVEN]

Impeller. Is there steam coming out of the exhaust?

 

[madhatter1]

Most likely if impeller is okay the HX is clogged, usually old impeller bits at the entrance. Don't know this because I'm smart.

 

[dsharp]

Start at the intake and work your way back through the system. Check the water flow before the raw water pump, then check the pump impeller. If those check out check for a stopped up heat exchanger. Last thing to check is the exhaust elbow. It just takes logical troubleshooting.

 

[Sadey]

Had the same issue. Two brand new impellers, still no flow. Scott was right, it was the pump. The same one that worked perfectly the minute before I changed the impeller. Scott had the pump at the boat in two days.

 

[Freestyle]

If impeller, water pump, and all are clear, check the syphon break for air leaks. Mine was running throaty and after going through everything I found that it was pulling air in through a loose fitting at the syphon break.

Nice find and cheap fix but lots of time getting there.

Bruce

Freestyle

1985 62 CPMY. (54My with ext)
Tampa

 

[rwaldrop13]

HX would be my first stop if everything else is good. I didn't have a full-on impeller failure but it shed enough small pieces to clog the HX right at the inflow cap. The problem I had was getting the cap loose, once I did that I was able to backflush the HX and wash it out. Honestly the cap was the hardest part.

 

[bostonhatteras]

This may sound stupid. I took a video of about a minute length of my genset exhaust from above and side while all is well. This gives some objective comparison next time I think flow is lacking. I also added these mechanical gauges because the originals have no numbers, just meaningless hash marks and a vague red band to the right.