Is there any water?

[Colvic Watson]

The transom on my Halcyon 23 has a decent rake to it and unfortunately the combined exhaust/water coolant pipe emerges there. This means that to check there is any water running through the engine I have to lie down and lean well out - fine for a Marina start-up but no way is it safe when under way! What can I install to monitor the water flow as I understand that even a brief period of water coolant block can result in an engine rebuild - and dangerous seizure of the engine.

The engine is a Yanmar 1GM with no engine temp gauge (would be too slow to react in time anyway?)

Thanks!

 

[dickh]

Fit a Water Flow Indicator in the water inlet pipe - obtainable from RS or Farnell - rigged up to an alarm.
PM me and I can send a 'picture'.

 

[Vara]

Mirror on a stick?

Low-tech and cheap always does it for me.

 

[Colvic Watson]

How would a 10 foot Gunter rigged sailing dinghy help? Bit heavy to put on a stick anyway. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[johna]

Route a bleed pipe from the anti-siphon valve or vented loop to a convenient viewing location either inside or outside the cockpit. See Yanmar help site for anti-siphon location info http://www.yanmarhelp.com/i_exhaust.htm

 

[Colvic Watson]

Seems a nice low tech idea, do I just fit a Y valve and a small pice of hose with a tap on the end - open the tap a touch and if water emerges then all is well? Will the water still be very hot at that point? Is an alternative a loop of clear hose and if water is flowing I'm OK?

 

[johna]

Have a look at the Vetus site [url="http://www.vetus.nl/pdf/03M0405_0499.pdf[/url"]]http://www.vetus.nl/pdf/03M0405_0499.pdf[/url] do not have a shut off valve in the vent pipe or the siphon will not break when you stop the engine.
I see the link to the manuals does not work so go to the UK site first and then to Manuals use http://www.vetus.nl/UK/