Vetus Water Strainers

[Dave 71]

Just to close out - It's frustrating to see the 'I have a problem' threads with no reporting back on what worked - today I managed to remove the lid and clean the strainer!!!

Strap wrench did it, no need for heat. Didn't need that much effort, it was probably not that badly over tightened, just awkward to grip. It was still tricky to get the strap wrench around the lid. The set I bought off amazon had two wrenches, big and small - I tried the big one first but the belt was too thick and jammed between the filter lid and the bulkhead. Small one was only just big enough to go around the the lid but had a thin enough strap. Glad I got it out, was full of crud.

I can only assume that the boat's designers held regular meetings on the theme of 'where can we place this simple item to make a 30 second routine maintenance task as hard as possible'

Buoyed by this success I tried another simple maintenance task and have invented a completely new, never seen before problem, according to the yard. See 'I didn't expect that post' - perhaps someone has a solution

 

[rotrax]

I fitted a pattern water strainerof Vetus type to my Westerbeke genset - the Vetus Patent has long expired - and upon service I found the lid difficult to shift by hand. My strap wrench did it easily. I lubed the threads with petroleum jelly. Comes off dead easy by hand now.

It is a Vetus clone and cost about 20 quid from a well known internet auction site. Six years later still well pleased with it.

 

[sailaboutvic]

I made a small plywood one bit like a mini table tennis bat. I made it after trying mole grips which cracked the lid rendering the strainer useless.

I did the same on a boat I had and just GRP the lid , works fine.

My lid had a Cross on top and like others I made up a ply wood spanner

 

[Keith-i]

In my experience with one of the larger Vetus strainers it’s not the thread that needs greasing but the o-ring. I’ve not had a problem since doing this with mine.

 

[Praxinoscope]

I have always smeared silicon grease on the ‘O’ ring and threads on my Vetus water strainer, only tighten down hand tight, yet it still conspires to stick solid and I have to use the hoe made plywood tool to get it undone.

 

[Halo]

Glad you sorted it. The problem is these tend not to seal so it is tempting to over tighten. Plenty of good advice re tools already. I find that if you put a rag over the lid and then pour on boiling water ,leave it a couple of minutes, drag it off and then it comes off much easier.

 

[john_q]

Another trick is sometime there is pressure in the water system so losing the hoses going to and from the filter make release the pressure, (I have the Vetus Spanner which works well as I have 3 strainers in the engine room)