Washing Engine Sea Strainers

[IOLANI]

Cleaning Engine Sea Strainers

This is a real newb question but first time I'm opening up these large sea strainers to clean the filter baskets. Anything I should be made aware of ? I assume you just lift the basket out and rinse it down with a hose and drop it back in. Should I also reach down inside and swab it out ?

Most importantly, is it possible for these chambers to lose prime if the water level inside drops ?

Thanks

 

[dsharp]

The strainer will just lift out of the top. The plexiglass way not be very clean so you may want the order some gaskets are take the cylinders off and scrub the inside. You can fill the strainer with a garden hose ito help it pick up a prime.

 

[SEVEN]

Make sure you have new gaskets just in case you break one. Simple and easy take it out, clean the stainless steel mesh screen and then take soap and water and go inside and wipe down the inside of the plastic. You will make them look brand new.

 

[Pascal]

In addition to the previous post, keep an eye on the rods which hold the bottom. They can break with age and corrosion

Engine strainers rarely have to be cleaned since they only collect stuff when the engines are running. Generator strainers require more frequent cleaning… air con strainers may have to be cleaned as often as weekly in some places.

Oh and at the risk of stating the obvious, don’t forget to close the sea cock before opening the lid

Gens and Mains should reprime easily as their pumps are self priming. After cleaning a strainer, it s a good idea to check for water flow immediately after start. Either look at the exhaust or put you hand on the raw water pump cover, it should feel cool. If it gets warm and hot, means no water is flowing

Air con can be a pita if the hoses were not installed correctly. If there are low and high high point in the hose run, the pump which is not self priming may not reprime.

 

[IOLANI]

Oh and at the risk of stating the obvious, don’t forget to close the sea cock before opening the lid

.

You know I thought about this one and figured those main engine strainers are so far above the water line it wouldn't matter. Maybe I got lucky but no water flows out the top even with the sea cock open.

Cleaning the baskets was interesting it looked as though someone had taken handfulls of black mussel shells and stacked them inside. The boat came all the way up from Stuart Florida but I think those shells made their way in right here by the marina because it was the only time the boat was churning up mud.

One small setback was the handle came off the basket. Looked as though someone had done a poor job of spot welding it back on so until I get a new one I used a couple small stainless rivets.

Thanks to all for the advice I'll order in some spare gaskets.

 

[Pascal]

Those tiny mussels have become a plague here in south Florida. They grow in air con raw water hoses and then jam at the condenser inlets.

Over time those SS baskets corrode and fall apart. Some can be replaced with plastic.

 

[IOLANI]

Those tiny mussels have become a plague here in south Florida. They grow in air con raw water hoses and then jam at the condenser inlets.

Over time those SS baskets corrode and fall apart. Some can be replaced with plastic.

Interesting so maybe the mussels made the trip all the way here from Fla. Good thing the strainers are big enough it didn't seem to affect the cooling.