Perkins Sabre Cooling Issue

[Dino]

I have a pair of Perkins Sabre M265Ti’s in a Broom Ocean 38.
I am having intermittent stern gland cooling issues and the telltale is pulsing at tickover?
When at tickover speed my starboard engine doesn’t have a steady flow of water like the port engine, it pulses. It turns to a steady stream when I increase revs.
On 3 or 4 occasions over the last year I have had an overheating stern gland with a load rubbing noise. Each time I put the engine in neutral and ran on the other engine.
My M265Ti’s have a water feed off the front face of the heat exchanger, through a reinforced pipe to the stern gland.
I have descaled the raw water circuit with Wessex Proflush, replaced the impeller, cleaned the strainer before the impeller, checked both ends of the heat exchanger, descaled the raw water intake and perforated tube and replaced the pipe to the stern gland.
When I remove the pipe from the stern gland with the engine running there is a steady stream of water but if I put my hand to the end of the pipe there is no real pressure. I’m guessing that by putting my hand over the pipe I am diverting water down to the exhaust telltale.
Should I put Descaler into the stern gland?
It seems like the water is taking the path of least resistance and flowing out the telltale as the pipe in the stern gland is pretty small.
Has anyone resolved this issue?

 

[Dino]

Anyone come across an issue like this?
Is there a chance that my stern gland is too tight? Should I back it off to let a drip every minute or so?

 

[ChromeDome]

Depending on the specific type of gland and you don't have dripless seals, they are meant to drip.

 

[Dino]

The stern glands are not dripless, they are they old fashioned nut and packing type
There is no greaser

 

[Whopper]

Did you manage to get a temperature reading on both glands with an IR gun? It wouldn’t necessarily have to be overheating but on any standard run just to get an idea. Probably worth doing that and seeing if that side is hotter. If it is it might be worth backing the nut off slightly assuming it isn’t dripping excessively.

 

[Dino]

I monitor them on longer trips with a IR Temperature Sensor gun that I bought in Lidl. The port one always runs fine. The starboard gland has overheated a few times and made a loud rubbing noise. The temperature gets up to around 90-95°C.
It’s an intermittent issue. One thing I noticed was that the pipe feeding the gland goes flat and seems to stop pumping water so i replaced the pipe with a new reinforced pipe. I think the issue is related to the way the water splits from the heat exchanger. The telltale is a large bore pipe whereas the stern gland feed is less than half the size. I have a feeling that the cooling water is taking the path of least resistance.

 

[burgundyben]

Explain a bit more the 'pipe goes flat?'

 

[Dino]

Explain a bit more the 'pipe goes flat?'

When the overheating of the stern gland occurs, it seems that there is no water passing through the raw water feed pipe from the front of the heat exchanger to the stern gland and the pipe looks to be air locked. I have replaced this pipe with a stronger reinforced pipe/hose.
I did a bit more investigation last night and found that the stern gland nut was very tight. I backed it off until I saw a drip. I will adjust it this evening to 1 drip per minute approximately.

 

[Whopper]

When the overheating of the stern gland occurs, it seems that there is no water passing through the raw water feed pipe from the front of the heat exchanger to the stern gland and the pipe looks to be air locked. I have replaced this pipe with a stronger reinforced pipe/hose.
I did a bit more investigation last night and found that the stern gland nut was very tight. I backed it off until I saw a drip. I will adjust it this evening to 1 drip per minute approximately.

Hopefully this will solve your issue.