Electric seacock

[johang]

I am looking for a supplier of electric seacocks. I was told that VETUS had one but in my contacts with them I have bee told that they still have some in stock but they have stopped sales in Sweden because quality problems. Any suggestions on other seacock suppliers?

 

[PlanB]

WE have had Vetus electric seacocks for about 10 years. Apart from sticking very occasionally (and sometimes blowing a fuse) if they have not been used, they have been fine.

 

[ARE]

I am looking for a supplier of electric seacocks. I was told that VETUS had one but in my contacts with them I have bee told that they still have some in stock but they have stopped sales in Sweden because quality problems. Any suggestions on other seacock suppliers?

I know Sunseeker and a few others us Safi Valves - http://www.safi-valves.com/en/robinets/index.php

They go inline between the seacock and the equipment you are supplying.

Anthony

 

[jfm]

Beware Vetus. In the past they have done some good stuff but more recently they buy a lot from china and rebadge, and their electric actuators in the last few years were complete junk. I had some on my last boat, and had to replace them with better gear. They got so many warranty claims they then withdrew the products, as you have found out. I took one apart and it really is proper cheap junk inside. The 10 yo stuff might be fine

You need to get proper valve actuators, and if you are operating 1.5inch seacocks get 50Nm or so of torque, not wimpy 25-30Nm stuff (the vetus ones were only ever 30Nm).

There are several good makes. Make sure to get ones that hve microswitches at each end of the travel so you get positive LED indication that the valve is open or shut. I have these ones (J3 L55 model; 60Nm) fitted to my new in-build boat http://www.jjautomation.com/actuators_j3series.asp

 

[BartW]

There are several good makes. Make sure to get ones that hve microswitches at each end of the travel so you get positive LED indication that the valve is open or shut. I have these ones ...........fitted to my new in-build boat

good stuff !
have been thinking about the importance of this when disassembling all the hoses around the black tank.
One of the hoses, the one from the seawater fire extinguisher pump, was in a really "bad" state !
Just for my repose, I closed quite a few seacocks (for the first time ever) when I left the boat 2 weeks ago.
Do you think it would be a good upgrade to add electrical shut off seacocks to BA ?
there are 14pcs on my brand new seacock plan ;-)

I do move the seacock valves a couple of times a year, to keep them flexible

 

[vas]

JFM, I vaguely remember giving an astronomical price for such devices, still true? Care to give some # plz.

I'd be temped to fit them on the (bear with me I think I have an interesting idea here !) engine intakes:

Since I'll be more often than not run at D speeds on long passages with family dozing/asleep I'd like to keep the engine operating temps where they should be to avoid cyl glazing etc.
So, could I strangle them seacocks from a nice pot/button interface and tune their throughput based on the revs the engine's doing (by checking the coolant temp I mean)?
I don't want to replace main pumps (as has been suggested) as I will be running them at planning speed in various occasions.

Am I talking bull or can that be done???
From a quick read through the specs, doesn't look that they expect to be run half open and once they get a signal, they go all the way to the other end

cheers

V.

 

[jfm]

JFM, I vaguely remember giving an astronomical price for such devices, still true? Care to give some # plz.

I'd be temped to fit them on the (bear with me I think I have an interesting idea here !) engine intakes:

Since I'll be more often than not run at D speeds on long passages with family dozing/asleep I'd like to keep the engine operating temps where they should be to avoid cyl glazing etc.
So, could I strangle them seacocks from a nice pot/button interface and tune their throughput based on the revs the engine's doing (by checking the coolant temp I mean)?
I don't want to replace main pumps (as has been suggested) as I will be running them at planning speed in various occasions.

Am I talking bull or can that be done???
From a quick read through the specs, doesn't look that they expect to be run half open and once they get a signal, they go all the way to the other end

cheers

V.

Hi Vas. If you click on the link I posted and select "plug and play modulating kit" http://www.jjautomation.com/documents/J3_DPS_KIT_Rev3_KW_000.pdf you can use these valves to throttle the flow, rahter than in 100% open or shut mode. That's exactly what you're asking for

Alas, they are >£1000 each though. I think about £1300 or so but not 100% sure

I don't think controlling the temp cures bore glaze. Part of the antidote to bore glaze is having enough force pressing the piston ring onto the bore, so it rubs harder on the bore. You do that by higher cyl pressure (due to piston ring groove design), ie higher load factor on the engine. Or putting it another way, by running at 2000rpm for an hour in every 10.

 

[jfm]

good stuff !
have been thinking about the importance of this when disassembling all the hoses around the black tank.
One of the hoses, the one from the seawater fire extinguisher pump, was in a really "bad" state !
Just for my repose, I closed quite a few seacocks (for the first time ever) when I left the boat 2 weeks ago.
Do you think it would be a good upgrade to add electrical shut off seacocks to BA ?
there are 14pcs on my brand new seacock plan ;-)

I do move the seacock valves a couple of times a year, to keep them flexible

Hmmm, well, there is a lot of seacock body that is upstream of these valves, so they are no cure to corrosion in seacocks. If there is say electrolysis, the seacock can still break off inside the flange of the skin fitting part. Hence, fitting these valves (or closing any seacock of the ball-valve-screwed-onto-skin-fitting type) absolutely does not protect you from sinking due to seacock corrosion/electroylsis/dezincification, etc. On the other hand, closing the valve DOES protect you from downstream failures eg the rubber pipe and jubilee clip part of the system

I see these as convenience devices. I like to have no swan necks in my black tank system and therefore I need to shut the seacock after dumping the tank at sea. The electric valve is perfect for this. I therefore only have two of these electric seacocks, one on each of my 2 black tank discharges (I had 3 on Match 1)

I fear that if I had them on genset coolant, airco, watermaker, etc, crew would accidentally run machinery on closed valves. Therefore so I'd have to wire up interlocks to the seacock open/closed microswitches. It then becomes a >£2000 per valve project, and 14x2=28k, erk. I don't think it offers any real benefits to justify that cost, tbh

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Do you think it would be a good upgrade to add electrical shut off seacocks to BA ?
there are 14pcs on my brand new seacock plan ;-)

I do move the seacock valves a couple of times a year, to keep them flexible

I see the Vetus ones cost £350 each so for your 14 valves, thats a cool £5k which seems a lot of money. Also what I don't like about the Vetus ones (maybe others are different) is that it seems you have to unbolt the actuator to operate the valve manually. So, if you have a massive hose failure in your bilges which knocks out the electricity supply to the seacock, you then have to grapple with a spanner underwater in a panic to unbolt the actuator in order to close the seacock manually. That doesn't seem too clever to me. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on this

 

[David2452]

Forespar do them in Marelon, with visual indicator switch panel.

 

[jfm]

I see the Vetus ones cost £350 each so for your 14 valves, thats a cool £5k which seems a lot of money. Also what I don't like about the Vetus ones (maybe others are different) is that it seems you have to unbolt the actuator to operate the valve manually. So, if you have a massive hose failure in your bilges which knocks out the electricity supply to the seacock, you then have to grapple with a spanner underwater in a panic to unbolt the actuator in order to close the seacock manually. That doesn't seem too clever to me. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on this

You're correct Deleted User. But anyway, anyone buying Vetus elec valves, esp for £350 which is bottom of range pricing, deserves what they get. You've been warned - they are absolute junk. Real toytown stuff.
The proper gear that I linked to above is considerably more £££ but has a manual override knob so you can close the valve in the situation you describe. Also they are IP65 so you'd have some time after the hose failure while they still worked electrically