New Generator

[ian w]

I have just had a new Phasor generator installed
It was put in by Jason of Armada marine in West Palm extremely efficiently through the hatch in the forward stateroom
He has said that the Aqualift muffler has to be below the generator exhaust It was not with the original Onan
Any thoughts
Ian W 53my

 

[rsmith]

The lift mufflers are supposed to be below the exhaust so water doesn’t flow back into the generator

 

[Pascal]

I had the same issue years ago on my 53. The old Ohno had been replaced with a Norpro by the previous owner right before I bought the boat. Then a year later, it ingested water. Turned out the water lift muffler was left high against the hull side and the installer failed to use a syphon break. Apparently the new Norpro manifold was lower than the old Ohno.

I was able to save it by immediately flushing it with diesel and oil but still have to pull the head to replace a valve.

Make sure you move the muffler and use a euphonium break

 

[Dragonten]

Pardon my ignorance what this a lift muffler and would it be original to a 1981 53MY? Reason is because I am at this moment replacing my old Onan with a new Westerbeke.

 

[Pascal]

Pardon my ignorance what this a lift muffler and would it be original to a 1981 53MY? Reason is because I am at this moment replacing my old Onan with a new Westerbeke.

Whenever an engine exhaust manifold is below WL like a generator or a small engine (sailboats), cooling water can flow out so you need a muffler that uses exhaust pressure to lift the water up

On my 53 and probably most, Hatteras installed the water lift muffler up along the hull side. While that was fine with taller Onan gens, it causes problems with lower profile modern gens

Another issue with water lift muffler is that excessive cranking will fill the muffler without exhaust back pressure to push the water out. 30” cranking is often seen as the max, if you need to crank more you need to close the sea cock.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Pardon my ignorance what this a lift muffler and would it be original to a 1981 53MY? Reason is because I am at this moment replacing my old Onan with a new Westerbeke.

Very common style like these used in Hatts;

 

[jim rosenthal]

If you can find the video from Northern Lights entitled "Don't Drown Me", which should be on line still, it explains this in good detail. It's possible that it may be available as a DVD from Northern Lights, also.

 

[jrmccoy]

I highly encourage you to take him seriously. Maggie Mae had a wonderfully functional low hours Norpro 20KW Ginny with an Isuzu engine...original install, cooling loop didn't go high enough (actually was at or below water line)..allowed salt water to fill entire top and bottom side of engine without me knowing it. When it wouldn't start I ended up open the heads to what looked like 3 inches of snow from encrusted salt...it was a boat anchor. $25k later I have a new Northern Lights with a gensep/watersep muffler that goes WAY above the water line.

 

[ian w]

I highly encourage you to take him seriously. Maggie Mae had a wonderfully functional low hours Norpro 20KW Ginny with an Isuzu engine...original install, cooling loop didn't go high enough (actually was at or below water line)..allowed salt water to fill entire top and bottom side of engine without me knowing it. When it wouldn't start I ended up open the heads to what looked like 3 inches of snow from encrusted salt...it was a boat anchor. $25k later I have a new Northern Lights with a gensep/watersep muffler that goes WAY above the water line.

My new Phasor has a high vented loop on the input side and the aqualify muffler is now below the generator