Boat Guy
Well-Known Member
- May 15, 2013
- 2,289
- Boat Info
- 400 DA
- Engines
- CAT 3116s
So, I noticed that the water was just a trickle coming from the bow thru-hull.... I figured that wasn't good so I should probably check the strainer, etc... Well, the next day I had AC failure, HI PS and it stopped working...So much for procrastinating...haha
But I figured since I had good flow to the aft unit, I would still have that unit to keep things cool...Well, that went to HI PS shut down also.. So much for redundancy. I like having two of things, but when they have common components, that whole redundancy is a bit of false security.
Fortunately, I understood the system pretty well and had just cleaned the strainer about 10 days earlier... I should say I cleaned the bowl too. The strainer was filled with biomass and so was the glass bowl. So I cleaned the strainer and flooded the bowl with fresh water and cleaned it as well.
My system has on inlet thru-hull leading to one strainer bowl that the leads to the single pump that has one outlet with a "kindof" Y fitting allowing for two hoses to be connected. One hose to the aft unit and one to the bow unit.
To figure out where the clog was I started in the bilge and after closing the thru-hull valve, I unclamped the hoses and cleaned them. Because they were so short I could visually see they were clean... In fairness, I knew which line was likely to be the issue... But since the aft unit showed "HI PS" I wanted to be sure to investigate them all...
I was unable to clear the main culprit, the hose going to the bow unit, from the bilge. It would just spray water out from the makeshift connection. So I took the water hose from the dock up to the opening at the bow unit and flushed it back towards the bilge. That did the trick, and all the biomass came out. Probably as much as was in the strainer. I picked it out of the bilge water so it wouldn't have to be forced out of the bilge pump....
Lesson learned...
Still interested why the "HI PS" would stop the aft unit with good flow. Anyone know where the sensor is or what it's actually doing?
But I figured since I had good flow to the aft unit, I would still have that unit to keep things cool...Well, that went to HI PS shut down also.. So much for redundancy. I like having two of things, but when they have common components, that whole redundancy is a bit of false security.
Fortunately, I understood the system pretty well and had just cleaned the strainer about 10 days earlier... I should say I cleaned the bowl too. The strainer was filled with biomass and so was the glass bowl. So I cleaned the strainer and flooded the bowl with fresh water and cleaned it as well.
My system has on inlet thru-hull leading to one strainer bowl that the leads to the single pump that has one outlet with a "kindof" Y fitting allowing for two hoses to be connected. One hose to the aft unit and one to the bow unit.
To figure out where the clog was I started in the bilge and after closing the thru-hull valve, I unclamped the hoses and cleaned them. Because they were so short I could visually see they were clean... In fairness, I knew which line was likely to be the issue... But since the aft unit showed "HI PS" I wanted to be sure to investigate them all...
I was unable to clear the main culprit, the hose going to the bow unit, from the bilge. It would just spray water out from the makeshift connection. So I took the water hose from the dock up to the opening at the bow unit and flushed it back towards the bilge. That did the trick, and all the biomass came out. Probably as much as was in the strainer. I picked it out of the bilge water so it wouldn't have to be forced out of the bilge pump....
Lesson learned...
Still interested why the "HI PS" would stop the aft unit with good flow. Anyone know where the sensor is or what it's actually doing?