Draing the fresh water\antifreeze?

egantsea · Veteran Member

Draing the fresh water\antifreeze?

Stanley · Guru

Hello Chip,

Your anti freeze mixture is much too rich and this is causing your problem. As you are in a hot climate I suggest that you use a mixture of 40% anti freeze and 60% water.
50/50 is too rich for a hot climate unless you change it every 2 years. The clumps that are shown on the radiator cap are coagulated anti freeze, not salt water.

I suggest that you do your best to flush out the cooling system a few times when you get to a reliable fresh water supply and then fill with 40% A/F. You are better off draining the system from the hot water heater hose that not at all. Don't forget that the hot water heater will have much the same stuff in the heating coils as this is also part of the engine's cooling system.

Stanley

egantsea · Veteran Member

Hi,

Thanks, it is good to hear that we do not have salt water in our fresh water cooling system.

We will flush it a few times and then add 40% anti freeze. I think by draining the system into a container and measuring the amout drained that will tell us how much is still in the system for the 40% mixture? That is after we flush it a few times?

Our water heater and accumulator tank are higher than the motor so this should help in the flushing out.

One other quick question.

Is it possible to contaminate the fresh water system by removing the heat exchanger stack tube?

The stack tube did leak a couple times at the seals when we did this and I was hoping it would not contaminate the fresh water system.

Thanks,

Chip

Stanley · Guru

It is possible that you may have spilt some salt water when you removed the tube stack if you did not drain the raw water and the coolant before you removed the tubestack. When you flush the cooling system, you will be getting rid of any raw water residue.

When you re-fit the tubestack, note that the tubestack only works when it is fitted in the right direction on this model heatexchanger design. There is a slot at the aft end that is designed to accommodate the divider in the end cover that has the hose connections.

egantsea · Veteran Member

Hi
Hurray, we got the pet**** working to drain the water\antifreeze. We had worked the pet**** with Simple Green on the threads we could get and it slowly started to free up. We unscrewed it most of the way out. We then ran the Beta 38 hp for a bit to get the tempter up to 165 deg hoping that the water\antifreeze would break out of the pet****. It did not come out at all. Then we unscrewed the pet**** completely and with the engine off we poked a wire inside the pet****. Then the water\antifreeze came out. It was hot Any way we let it all drain out or what we thought was all of it. We removed the accumulator tanks radiator cap and let the air lock out. Then we opened the radiator cap on the motor after the motor cooled off some.

That leads me to the question of why there is still liquid in the engine? As you see in the picture there is liquid. Do we turn the motor over a couple times or even start it to get the rest out?

We will purchase a new 16v radiator cap for the engine and of course clean up the fill area and the clogged over flow hose. This will not happen again.
By the way the forum automatically puts stars in the word pet**** thinking it is a dirty word :)

Farron · Senior Member

Sounds like you got some work done today!

The water you see in the heat exchanger tank is residual to the system. I suspect it is water from the water heater system/ header tank.

You can disconnect the large hose at the bottom of the heat exchanger tank between the tank and the engine fresh water pump or disconnect the small water heater hose from the bottom of the tank under the exhaust outlet.

This will completely drain the systems of all residual coolant water.

egantsea · Veteran Member

Hi,
FYI
By the way in the Beta 38 hp manual (pdf) on pg 14 it does not say anything about draining fluids or tips like aligning the end etc. This info would have been most helpful at the time. Still love my Beta though.

"It is possible that you may have spilt some salt water when you removed the tube stack if you did not drain the raw water and the coolant before you removed the tubestack. When you flush the cooling system, you will be getting rid of any raw water residue.

When you re-fit the tubestack, note that the tubestack only works when it is fitted in the right direction on this model heatexchanger design. There is a slot at the aft end that is designed to accommodate the divider in the end cover that has the hose connections. "

Thanks,
Chip

egantsea · Veteran Member

Hi,
Well we got the hose off the water pump and a lot of coolant came out.
I did try to un-screw the fitting that goes into the radiator cap housing and it snapped right off. Bad move on my part. I then drilled out the clog and cleaned it all up. We might be able to get the threads or rest or the fitting out with an "Easy Out" and we probably have the right size. I am bit Leary to try this though as we do not want to damage the cap housing by twisting it etc. Getting another one here in Mexico would be problematic.
Is there going to be an issue because of this?
We added the hose to the housing so I am thinking there is no issue here. If the coolant comes out the overflow then it may remove the paint on the engine but not hurt anything. Is this correct or should we do something to fix the over flow hose?
Thanks,
Chip

Farron · Senior Member

Hello Chip,

You mentioned in a previous post that you have an "accumulator tank" in the piping between the engine and the water heater. And that the accumulator tank is higher than the engine.

This sounds reasonable and is a proper way to pipe a water heater that is higher than the engine. The accumulator tank vent cap should be he the highest point in the system and provide venting for the entire coolant system with a vent cap rated at ~13 PSI.

The lower vent cap on the engine mounted heat exchanger tank needs to be a higher release pressure. Usually 15-16 PSI.

This means that if all is working as it should be, the vent cap on the engine mounted heat exchanger tank should not open and release pressure (air or water) from the system. All venting will take place at the higher vent cap which has a lower opening pressure.

egantsea · Veteran Member

Hi,
Yes we have a 16 on the engine and the cap that was on the engine on the accumulator tank. I will check it again today to make sure it is a 13 psi cap.

More questions.

Also do or should we use distilled water for the 40\60 mix?
And what about this product if we can find here in PV Mexico?
Diesel WaterWetter
http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=75&pcid=10

Thanks,
Chip

Farron · Senior Member

Hello Chip,

Due to a lower specific gravity, a 40% coolant /60% water, ratio transfers heat more efficiently than does a 50/50 coolant ratio. It still gives more than adequate freeze protection in tropical climates.

My first recommendation would not be distilled water. Use normal tap water that is not "hard" or filtered water. Distilled water lacks any mineral content and has a tendency to attract minerals from its surroundings.

I am not sure about the coolant additive you are proposing. My guess is that it is some sort of detergent.

Your best and simplest solution would be a 40/60 mix of standard coolant and change it out every 3 years.

egantsea · Veteran Member

Hi,
Thanks for all the good information and help.
We will be flushing out the system with fresh water tomorrow. The adding 40\60 mix of coolant as you suggested.
We purchased a new 16 psi cap today and I will post a picture of our accumulator tank (we kept it from our old 50hp Perkins) for others to see.
Thanks again and also for the speedy replies!,
Chip

egantsea · Veteran Member

Hi,
So we flushed out the coolant and the Beta 38 looks real clean inside the coolant area now. Tomorrow we will add the 40\60 mix.
Here is the picture of our accumulator tank and engine etc. The hot water heater is under the AC ducking. The red cap is on the accumulator tank and came from the Beta 38 which has a 16 psi cap.
Hope tis helps.
Chip

egantsea · Veteran Member

Hi,
This is our Beta 38 hp with 650 hours on it. We have just flushed the cooling system and changed the oil and we did some other maintenance. Getting ready for cruising the Mexican Riviera again this coming season. Our sailboat is a 36' 1978 Islander Freeport.
Thanks for your help,
Chip and Debbie on s\v Elegant'sea

-- Edited by egantsea on Friday 16th of October 2015 10:10:55 PM