Fur in my VP 2003

[Swampyhotdog]

Hi There,

I bought a Jeanneau 36 in Turkey, and on my way to Mallorca the engine overheated. I removed the thermostat, and on doing so I discovered that the housing is full of dried on salt deposits (The engine is direct seawater cooled).
I'm assuming that the whole engine is full of the same, and it's only a matter of time before the cooling spaces are completely blocked.

In the merchant navy we use SAF acid to clean stuff like this out of SW cooled compressors and the likes.
My question is should I clean the engine out with this, and go back to SW cooling, or should I fit a fresh water cooling system with heat exchanger etc

Is SW cooling a good long term idea, or does it just lead to problems in the future?
The other concern is that adding a FW cooling system just complicates things, with more things to go wrong.

What do you think?

Stuart

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[bob_tyler]

I my engine is furred up with salt deposit when I lay up tomorrow, what is SAF acid and where can you buy it?

Bob

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[penfold]

No idea what SAF acid is, but we use Citric acid to fettle intercoolers and shift deposits from saltwater cooling. You can also use Hydrochloric (muriatic) acid but this has to be used carefully as it dissolves people quite well too, and shouldn't be used on Aluminium or magnesium alloy components, whereas Citric is more people friendly and won't harm aluminium castings in small doses.

Intercooling is a good idea, IMO, as it allows the engine to operate at a higher temperature, which is more efficient. Other benefits include easy domestic hot water, faster engine warm-up, the engine cooling passages don't fur up and corrode, and longer engine life. Downsides are it's more complicated, so there's more to go wrong, and some intercoolers are expensive to replace.

cheers,
david

<hr width=100% size=1>This candidate has low personal standards, and continually fails to meet them.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by penfold on 19/10/2003 20:47 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Spuddy]

Citric acid sounds a useful tip. Tempted by flippant questions on how many lemons per horsepower but presumably there is some more technical source. Is it in liquid or powder form and if so - what sort of dilution?
Vague recollection of someone claimig to use kettle descaler or was it brick cleaner.
Presumably these sort of treatments work on removing calcium deposits as well as salt.


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[roger]

I have a vague recollection of sulphamic acid being used to remove scale (CaCO3) from industrial equipment. Try looking it up on Google

<hr width=100% size=1>Roger

 

[philip_stevens]

SAF-ACID™ descaling compound is made by Drew Chemicals and was used on the ships I served on to descale heat exchangers, boiler, steam generator and evaporators, purifier/separator discs, of Oil/organic deposits, Light oil, scale and rust, rustscale, sludge, and corrosion.

See <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.thebuyingnetwork.com/general.htm>http://www.thebuyingnetwork.com/general.htm</A>

I can assure you that it works, but we used it in a big tank and immersed the unit to be descaled. When it was used to descale the cooling water side of the evaporator, a recirculating system was used, with a pump and drum. A bit Heath-Robinson, but it worked.

I wish I could still get some of the products on the list, like SAF-Acid and RSR, in small quantities.

<hr width=100% size=1>regards,
Philip

 

[penfold]

You can get it from the chemist (relatively expensive) or look in the yellow pages under chemical suppliers or descaling. Depending on the severity of scaling, experiment between 100 to 200 grams per litre of water (water will have to be hot). And, as my mother has just reminded me, you can get a range of proprietry kettle/tap descalers in most supermarkets, some of which use citric acid as an active ingredient. Experiment first tho', to make sure you're not going to dissolve anything expensive.

cheers,
david

<hr width=100% size=1>This candidate has low personal standards, and continually fails to meet them.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by penfold on 20/10/2003 16:27 (server time).</FONT></P>