volvo Shaft Seal Overheating

[mj81]

Hi, I have a Volvo shaft seal but am constantly having to burp it throughout the season - far from the burp once and forget. I always burp as soon as we splash down. Its seems that it fills with air when sailing or motor sailing in any type of breeze above F2-3. In fresh condition F3-5 I need to burp it every 1-2 hours. If I don’t it gets hot to touch and starts to squeal! I have a fixed prop and leave in Neutral when sailing as directed by Volvo, so shaft constantly turning. Has anybody come across this or any ideas how to fix. Boat is a Westerly Falcon 34.

 

[Charlie Boy]

Fit a Radice. To all intents the same design, but it has a ‘through‘ tube that allows water to be in the seal without burping. You need to attach an open ended tube that runs well above the waterline though. It also has a cap that can be opened to squirt in grease.
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[Malish]

have you fitted à 25mm seal on a 1" shaft? That will result in a hot seal..

 

[burgundyben]

How is shaft alignment?

 

[vyv_cox]

I have come across a few examples of air ingress to Volvo seals during sailing. Difficult to explain, presumably a function of stern tube depth and angle. As suggested, change to a design with a vent tube seems to be the answer. Is it possible to fit a DIY vent to the Volvo?

 

[Yngmar]

What Charly Boy said, but it's worth pointing out that Volvo also has the same seal in a vented version, with identical dimensions. Probably the easiest route: Volvo type seals

 

[ctva]

My first question would be, what is wrong with the installation? Until identified, you may not solve the problem.

Internal lip not sitting correctly when installed with supplied tool?
Shaft scoring?
Engine alignment as mentioned above?
Faulty seal?

I have used the Volvo dripless seal for 23 years, replaced the first one one at 20yr not because it was dripping, just because I felt I should. I did look at the Radice but I felt the more links in a system, the more to fail. I like the simplicity of the Volvo and the fact that there are countless boats with them, testament to their worth.

 

[rotrax]

I have successfully frozen, bored and threaded synthetic rubber.

By boring when frozen at the bearing part of the seal and then tapping M6 a small tube with an M6 external thread could easily be fixed in place. Then a tube fastened well above the waterline would resolve the issue.

Or, as others have suggested, buy a Radiche or Orbitrade version with the grease and bleed port ready installed.

I have used an Orbitrade with the grease and bleed ports for six seasons now, almost 15,000 NM's and the area under the shaft seal is as dry as a Nuns crutch.

The convenience of not needing to bleed and easy greasing is a game changer.

 

[Charlie Boy]

I think that doing a DIY vent on one of those things would really keep me awake at night! Even one nights sleep is worth the £70-80 squids for a new Radice or equivalent!
It may be that the existing Volvo is time expired anyway, what age is it?

 

[mj81]

Thanks for replies, current seal is only 2 years old, the one prior was unknown age and I changed as though that might be the issue - it wasn't. Alignment seemed ok but i am interested how if alignment was off could that cause the issue I am seeing?