Beta Marine 30 engine not passing enough seawater through the Raw water cooling
- Thread starter ritchyp
- Start date
ritchyp
Well-Known Member
Mostly fixed thanks to all the contributors but still got some issues
alahol2
Well-Known Member
Those photos of scaling, above, really gave me the willies so I checked my 18 year old Beta 13 installation yesterday. Pipe ends were totally devoid of scaling thank goodness. Ran a mouse through the pipe for good measure and it was clear all the way.
A total mystery how that scaling can happen.
A total mystery how that scaling can happen.
Pye_End
Well-Known Member
Same here. Completely clean.
I wonder where the water line is on OP boat. Perhaps a pipe that dries out?
ritchyp
Well-Known Member
In simple terms it has something to do with hot raw/sea water being rapidly cooled, it is basically a build up of salts that form solid in layers that you can see in the photos. Mine looked identical to the photo of the red metal pipe it was uncanny. I have it on my phone still but I thought the thread had gone cold. I still have issues with the coolant side but we are going to replace the thermostat and recheck the heat exchanger for precise alignment and I have new O rings which we didn't have previously but manged to re-use the existing ones with delicate handling and Vaseline. It was a case of too many cooks.... I have always used the double cabin at the stern but its a real pain when working on the engine or the battery or final drive as half of the cabin's bed is on top of it all so it all has to come out and when its all open, there is not that much room and a mechanic friend of mine did tat side while I was at the front putting the front cap on and then putting the alternator belt back on and tensioning it. I didn't see what he was doing at the back so it I am going to go through all of it again by the book!!
Where have all the others gone? I was hoping for some input about the oil pressure sensor and the intermittent twittering of the alarm buzzer.
When i was a teenager i worked on BSA and Norton motor cycles and they had external oil tanks and metal oil pipes Low oil pressure was a common thing as oil was circulating outside the engine as well as inside The old classic British bikes were plagued with oil leaks and lack of pressure. Its much more a thing of the past unless the engine is high performance or specialist. This is a very basic overhead valve 4 stroke and with plenty of oil and the oil still nice and viscous, I really cant see that I have suddenly developed a problem with my oil circulation. The oil light flickered briefly at first start-up after we successfully sorted out the raw water cooling fault.
penfold
Well-Known Member
Oil light/alarm flicker is common enough; our Bukh DV24 does it sometimes as the idle is too low, despite it being fiddled with several times(possibly because it's been fiddled with!). Once above idle it does not alarm. The pressure switch is a cheap enough component to change if it's bothering you but I doubt there is any lack of oil pressure.
VicS
Well-Known Member
But it is not being rapidly cooled at this point. It is just the incoming seawater.In simple terms it has something to do with hot raw/sea water being rapidly cooled, it is basically a build up of salts that form solid in layers that you can see in the photos. Mine looked identical to the photo of the red metal pipe it was uncanny. I have it on my phone still but I thought the thread had gone cold. I still have issues with the coolant side but we are going to replace the thermostat and recheck the heat exchanger for precise alignment and I have new O rings which we didn't have previously but manged to re-use the existing ones with delicate handling and Vaseline. It was a case of too many cooks.... I have always used the double cabin at the stern but its a real pain when working on the engine or the battery or final drive as half of the cabin's bed is on top of it all so it all has to come out and when its all open, there is not that much room and a mechanic friend of mine did tat side while I was at the front putting the front cap on and then putting the alternator belt back on and tensioning it. I didn't see what he was doing at the back so it I am going to go through all of it again by the book!!
Where have all the others gone? I was hoping for some input about the oil pressure sensor and the intermittent twittering of the alarm buzzer.
When i was a teenager i worked on BSA and Norton motor cycles and they had external oil tanks and metal oil pipes Low oil pressure was a common thing as oil was circulating outside the engine as well as inside The old classic British bikes were plagued with oil leaks and lack of pressure. Its much more a thing of the past unless the engine is high performance or specialist. This is a very basic overhead valve 4 stroke and with plenty of oil and the oil still nice and viscous, I really cant see that I have suddenly developed a problem with my oil circulation. The oil light flickered briefly at first start-up after we successfully sorted out the raw water cooling fault.
Calcium carbonate scale could be formed by heating the sea water ( The soluble bicarbonate being decomposed to form the insoluble carbonate ) but it is not being heated at this point either.
I wondered about some electrochemical effect between dissimilar metals but that does not seem to apply. Like others I am puzzled.
.
Peterjs
New Member
After reading this thread I have removed the transfer pipe between the raw water pump and heat exchanger on my Beta 25 with only 200 hrs from new. The pipe was reduced from 22mm to 5 or 6mm. Most shockingly the pump outlet was reduced to a 1mm pinhole!!! I have no idea how the engine was being cooled with virtually no flow. Anyhow I have cleaned away the calcium deposits and the engine is like new.
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Supertramp
Well-Known Member
I read that it might be to do with where water settles in the system and evaporates at the surface after running. Not sure I buy that because on my engine the face of the build up is vertical. Either way, it's an easy enough service item and as you say will make a huge difference to flow.
ritchyp
Well-Known Member
Yes, the same had happened to mine. The metal pipe had clogged with calcium where it connects to the impellor. I had a 2 to 3mm hole and had the layers like a tree trunk as shown in a photo by one of the contributers.
My cooling issues were all sorted properly around a year ago.
My cooling issues were all sorted properly around a year ago.