Rich:
Thank you for the comments on this and for the info on where to obtain
one here in Halifax. While mine is not causing me problems at the
moment, (that I know of) I think I will replace it now and not wait for
it to fail....it is 28 years old.
I witnessed the failure of one on a Beneteau 31...everything you
described, filling of the boat interior with soot, fumes and dirty
water.....yep, not pretty....nay, down right ugly!
Regards
Bob Abbott
AZURA
C&C 3 - 84
Halifax, N.S.
On 2012/11/19 11:17 PM, Knowles Richard wrote:
A couple of comments:
Having replaced a number of elbows on both my boats and others, I have
concluded that there is no one reason they self destruct or clog up.
Salinity of the water, temperature of both exhaust and water, grade of
cast iron, condition of the injectors and consequent soot content of
the exhaust, average operating speeds, loading of the engine, fuel
quality, water flow, and a host of other variables likely have some
effect on the failure or clog rate. I have seen the sides of the elbow
rust out with the consequent filling of the boat interior with soot,
fumes and dirty water. Not pretty! Some have clogged up with carbon to
the point the exhaust passage has been reduced to the size of a pencil
and the engine simply won't run at anything much over a slow idle.
Others seem to rust up internally and the water passage or exhaust
passage is essentially blocked.
The one thing in common is that they all needed replacing. It's almost
impossible to remove the built up crap inside with any confidence that
the elbow will last before it either clogs again or develops a crack
or hole in the side. I've tried die grinders and chisels. No cigar.
Here In Halifax, the elbows can be obtained from Nova Automotive, the
shop that rebuilt my engine this summer.
http://www.novaautomotive.com. They sell them for $160 and they have
them in stock.
Nova apparently obtains them from Manifold Warehouse, a Vancouver BC
company. http://www.manifoldwarehouse.com/mes/mgr?brch=mani&id=35.
They advertise them on their website for $145 in the US and suggest
Canadians phone them. They warrantee their products, but perhaps not
some of the failures I have seen.
As a final comment, I have not experienced any failures on boats
equipped with stainless steel mixing elbows. This includes all sorts
of engines on everything from fishing boats to large pleasure craft. I
have seen the injection fitting get clogged with salt and other
deposits, but the rest of the mixing elbow generally seems to be good.
Maybe there is a market for a stainless replacement for our
perennially failing Yanmar units.
My .02!
Rich Knowles
INDIGO LF38
Halifax, NS.
_______________________________________________
This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album
http://www.cncphotoalbum.com
CnC-List@cnc-list.com
_______________________________________________
This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album
http://www.cncphotoalbum.com
CnC-List@cnc-list.com
