Boat Heat Exchanger Repair | Sailing With Lucy
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2024
- In this video we finish cleaning and repairing our entire raw water cooling system - from the seacock which lets the water in, to the exhaust outlet where it returns to the sea. It's taken us a month to complete and now I finally get MY BED BACK. Jim also repairs the Perkins marine Heat Exchanger with Devcon Epoxy Aluminium Putty. We're mobile again and our entire marine engine raw water system is as good as new!
Here is some more technical information about the job for those who may be considering tackling a similar project or just interested:
Oxidation on aluminium surfaces reduces the adhesion of epoxies and it must be removed before using the Devcon Aluminum Putty or any similar product. It can be removed either by mechanical means or chemical means. In this case I used a combination of the two with materials easily accessible for most boat owners. The full process was:
1. Drum sander to clean up & reduce the two (curved) pitted surfaces.
2. Rotary wire brushing with stainless wire to further penetrate into the ‘pits’.
3. Hand wire brushing with coarse then finer stainless wire brushes, focusing on the pitted surfaces, digging the wires into the pits.
4. The pits were then then targeted with Phosphoric acid (the Barnacle Buster Concentrate) diluted 2:1 with water and a toothbrush. Allowed to sit for 5 mins then thoroughly rinsed with water. Then repeat with a 1:1 Barnacle Buster Concentrate/Water solution.
5. The entire heat exchanger was then acid etched by immersing in a tub with weak Phosphoric acid solution (the Barnacle Buster Concentrate diluted about 1:15 with water) for about 30 minutes.
6. The acid solution was then drained and a hose inserted into the coolant cavity of the HE. The hose was run for about 30 minutes, forcing water flow through all the cavities to rinse the HE, thus filling the tub and allowing it to overflow. So the HE was both immersed and had water flowing through it to remove any traces of acid. We did it this way because we had unlimited water but if aboard a boat you could skip this step and go to step 7.
7. We added about 500gm of Bicarbonate of Soda powder to the tub of water to further passivate any residual acidity. After about 30 minutes in the bicarbonate solution, the HE was again thoroughly rinsed. Ensure that you flush the cavities thoroughly as well.
8. Once drained and dry the HE was heated with a portable gas flame to accelerate drying. The areas where the Devcon was to be applied were targeted to sweat out any moisture. I used a weed killer torch that burns gas at about 1900 C. In this case the repair areas only had engine coolant running through them (not sea water) so there was no real need to sweat the metal with the torch to remove impurities but it was a good extra step to dry it thoroughly. If the area to be repaired had been exposed to sea water it would need the flame sweating and cleaning at least twice to ensure any impurities have been removed.
The above process achieved a clean, acid etched surface. The pits had the appearance of bare alloy with no oxidation or contamination. Another option would have been to grit blast the pitted surfaces but I was satisfied with the surface we achieved.
How strong is the Barnacle Buster Concentrate?
The MSDS says it’s approx 50% Phosphoric Acid and the recommended dilution rate is 1:4
So using 100ml of Barnacle Buster Concentrate to make a 500ml working solution will result in the following mixture contains 100ml of Barnacle Buster Concentrate contains 50ml of H3PO4 (Phosphoric acid) plus 50ml of H₂O (Water), so a 1:4 solution contains:
(50 ml of H3PO4 + 50 ml of H₂O) + 400 ml of H₂O to make a 500ml solution
= a 10% Concentration of Phosphoric Acid
Corrosion Resistance of Copper and copper Alloys
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Stay well and stay safe and keep your tails wagging!!!
Until next time,
Lots of Love A&J&L
(This video is about sailing, boating, how you boat's raw water system can block and why, what happens when the raw water or cooling system on your boat gets blocked, how to flush it and maintain it, how to use Barnacle Buster safely and effectively, how to clean and repair your heat exchanger, test that it is working properly and refit it. We replace our wet exhaust synthetic hose after it was overheated and we fit a new non return valve in the exhaust system).
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Devcon is a classic brand. Love that you're using it. I know many people who relied on it for years and the family that started making it.
Hi Sarah, that's amazing that you know the family. It's a small world! Cheers, Adriana and Jim & Ms Lucy
Coolest video ever! Love the zany mix of boat jobs and high energy dancing. Great job Jim BTW. During the last bit of COVID isolations, I just rerigged our whole boat. Had the mast in the front yard for over the 14 months. It's back on the boat now - even works. I wish my wife was that enthusiastic about my next boat project though :)
Hey Paul, it's so great to get your feedback. Jim & I met woking in the music business so we love a funky audio visual experience too! It's so good that you did that mast and rigging work yourself during Covid, a pretty big undertaking and when you can't leave home why not do a project like that! Best wishes, Adriana & Jim & Ms Lucy
Always shinier than before 🙂
Thank you. She's special and we want to keep her that way. Hopefully we'll be sailing her very soon.
Stellar work! Always a treat to watch.
Thanks so much, appreciate the feedback and glad you enjoyed the video.
Hello there you three! Absolutely love Jim’s jobs, outstanding work on the heat exchanger, unbelievable! Wow, there sure are a lot of jellyfish! Where in the world did you find those dancers, holy cow, the music was awesome too, what a great episode, loved it and thank you!
Thank you Nena! Jim's chuffed! Yes the Jelly fish population just exploded, it began about two weeks ago. I just plunged the GoPro into the water near the boat and it was thick with them. In the dinghy motoring along I could feel them hitting the underside and winced, hoping we hadn't chopped up too many with our motor! So glad you like the music, it takes me ages to find the right music and I appreciate your appreciation! We love making the videos for you. Love Adriana.
Jim & Adriana so awesome to see that things are great Down Under and Adriana always adds her touch to the Video. Any chance You Two Sail to Hawaii? Still can’t understand no one Wants a Pretty awesome Sailboat. The Finish wood interior is so sweet and Awesome. Well Done Jim. Hey Jim add a little soap 🧼🧼 when working with Marina Hoses. Peace Be With You Two plus 🐩
Hey Greg, she’s been off the market for the last 6 months so no buyer enquires. We’ll see if we can get away to for a trip to the Barrier Reef/ North East Australia Coast. If we don’t do that we may put her on sale again. Thanks for the tip about the exhaust…good idea! Best wishes from Adriana and Jim and Ms Lucy
Gidday guys, there can't be much left to replace or refurbish so when is it time to head north to the Whitsundays and beyond? Ron ... in Noosa 🤓⛵
Hey Ron, we were heading to Port Stephen’s for slipping and anti foul when we had the raw water blockage. So we’re now trying to organise slipping somewhere ASAP. Cheers, Adriana
Amazing job on the heat exchanger.
Is your yacht on a paid mooring or anchored?
Hi Bekir, thanks for your comment. If you're interested we have put a full description of the process and about Barnacle Buster Concentrate in the video description. We have a private mooring which we pay annually to the state government. It costs about AUD $1100 pa for a 12.75m boat. You have to either buy or install your own mooring apparatus and you are required to have it checked annually and provide proof of it's serviceability to the government body that manages them. Cheers, Adriana