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Post by lollygagger on Jun 8, 2018 11:13:02 GMT
I'm an air-cooled sort of chap, water cooling is slightly mysterious to me. When I take this cap off my engine I see coolant. In the background are two taps I fitted last year on the flow and return to the calorifier coil. When I fitted them no coolant came out, despite them being a foot lower than the level Where I've taken the cap off. Seems weird to me.
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Post by Gone on Jun 8, 2018 11:18:59 GMT
I'm an air-cooled sort of chap, water cooling is slightly mysterious to me. When I take this cap off my engine I see coolant. In the background are two taps I fitted last year on the flow and return to the calorifier coil. When I fitted them no coolant came out, despite them being a foot lower than the level Where I've taken the cap off. Seems weird to me. Seems very odd to me as well. I have a similar engine and when I fitted my calorifier fluid certainly would have come out had I not squashed the rubber hoses with a couple of spreader plates and a mole clamp
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2018 11:27:59 GMT
Is it possible it is a heat exchanger cooled unit cooled by a skin tank and the calorifier is plumbed to the skin tank not the engine coolant circuit.
If it was a HE version it would have a jabsco/Johnson pump as well as the engine mounted coolant pump. Usually Beta HE engines are red.
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Post by lollygagger on Jun 8, 2018 12:58:04 GMT
Thanks all. Good to know it's definitely wrong. The seller said the inch of coolant in the bilge was spilt. I didn't believe him, you'd have to be pretty dopey to spill a gallon or so.
The furthest I've been is across the marina for diesel, perhaps if I ran it fully up to temp it would sort itself out or show up the possible leak when hot. I'll get some more coolant ready and try that.
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Post by TonyDunkley on Jun 8, 2018 13:10:31 GMT
I'm an air-cooled sort of chap, water cooling is slightly mysterious to me. When I take this cap off my engine I see coolant. In the background are two taps I fitted last year on the flow and return to the calorifier coil. When I fitted them no coolant came out, despite them being a foot lower than the level Where I've taken the cap off. Seems weird to me. Is it heat exchanger or keel (skin tank) cooled, and what/where on the cooling system/engine do those two grey plastic pipes connect to ? Don't run it it again until this is sorted out, . . it looks as if you've probably got very little, if any, coolant in the engine.
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Post by lollygagger on Jun 8, 2018 15:26:42 GMT
I'm an air-cooled sort of chap, water cooling is slightly mysterious to me. When I take this cap off my engine I see coolant. In the background are two taps I fitted last year on the flow and return to the calorifier coil. When I fitted them no coolant came out, despite them being a foot lower than the level Where I've taken the cap off. Seems weird to me. Is it heat exchanger or keel (skin tank) cooled, and what/where on the cooling system/engine do those two grey plastic pipes connect to ? Don't run it it again until this is sorted out, . . it looks as if you've probably got very little, if any, coolant in the engine. The grey pipes are connected to the calorifier coil and the engine cooling. They turn into rubber pipes a foot or more from the engine. It's skin tank cooled, one each side.
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Post by TonyDunkley on Jun 8, 2018 15:37:23 GMT
Is it heat exchanger or keel (skin tank) cooled, and what/where on the cooling system/engine do those two grey plastic pipes connect to ? Don't run it it again until this is sorted out, . . it looks as if you've probably got very little, if any, coolant in the engine. The grey pipes are connected to the calorifier coil and the engine cooling. They turn into rubber pipes a foot or more from the engine. It's skin tank cooled, one each side. It's where on the engine, and to what part of the engine circuit, that they are connected to that I wanted to know. If you can see water in the header tank/manifold but none comes out of either pipe there might be a massive air lock in the engine block water jackets, and/or the engine end of the two pipes might be blocked with rust and sludge from the inside surfaces of the skin tanks.
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Post by Mr Stabby on Jun 8, 2018 15:42:18 GMT
Does the water in the calorifier get hot?
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Post by lollygagger on Jun 8, 2018 15:43:27 GMT
The grey pipes are connected to the calorifier coil and the engine cooling. They turn into rubber pipes a foot or more from the engine. It's skin tank cooled, one each side. It's where on the engine, and to what part of the engine circuit, that they are connected to that I wanted to know. If you can see water in the header tank/manifold but none comes out of either pipe there might be a massive air lock in the engine block water jackets, and/or the engine end of the two pipes might be blocked with rust and sludge from the inside surfaces of the skin tanks. I'll take some pictures. The engine/skin tanks/boat has only seen 200 hours service, but in 12 years the skin tanks could indeed be very rusty.
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Post by lollygagger on Jun 8, 2018 15:44:51 GMT
Does the water in the calorifier get hot? I've never run it long enough but as there's no water in that part of the circuit I'd guess no!
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Post by lollygagger on Jun 8, 2018 16:16:18 GMT
On inspection I have 2 skin tanks, but only one is plumbed in. Anyhow... At low level the bilge is split into 4 parts. At the stern it looks like stern tube leaks a bit but well down from overflowing. Not worried about that. The right (top of pic) is dry. The left has rusty water. Probably rain from blocked rear drains. In the centre there is coolant so any leak if there is one is close to the engine. None of this has changed in almost a year since I've had the boat. One end of the calorifier connection in centre of photo... Other end with wire clip just visible, you can follow from grey pipes... That wire clip that you can't quite see wouldn't be my choice of hose clamp, but that's above the bilge with rusty water not coolant.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2018 17:31:23 GMT
Why did you add those valves to the system (calorifier circuit) ?
Is it because you also have a Morco or similar on there?
When you fitted the valves you must have had to dismantle the pipes and if there was no water/coolant in there then it seems to be a problem.
Is it the thermostat keeping the water in the engine header tank?
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Post by lollygagger on Jun 8, 2018 17:54:43 GMT
Why did you add those valves to the system (calorifier circuit) ? Is it because you also have a Morco or similar on there? I thought I might be loosing heat from the calorifier through the engine coil + it's handy to be able to isolate the domestic plumbing. What header tank? I can't find one or any engine plumbing that could lead to one.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2018 19:19:40 GMT
The one you took the lid off. That is the coolant header tank. If there isn't another header tank then it must be directly cooled by the skin tank.
I don't know whats happening really but TD's suggestion that there is some sludge somewhere seems quite likely.
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Post by lollygagger on Jun 8, 2018 20:14:01 GMT
The one you took the lid off. That is the coolant header tank. If there isn't another header tank then it must be directly cooled by the skin tank. I don't know whats happening really but TD's suggestion that there is some sludge somewhere seems quite likely. What if... The previous owner thought he'd change the coolant, somehow got all or most of it out and expected to get the same amount back in. While sloshing it in with a big funnel he hit full way before he expected due to an airlock. By the time he realised + the large funnel full (we've all been there unable to stop that!) there was the coolant I now see in the bilge. He did say he spilt it and maybe my imaginary tale above could account for the quantity. The question then would be how to be rid of the air lock. I'm no rush and will wait to see what Tony suggests.
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