sea water strainer

In my continuing saga of replacing my head hoses I had to remove my sea water strainer for the AC to gain access. It is a large strainer, brass/bronze I think, similar to what is on a lot of engine feeds. I want to clean it up while I have it out. I have seen many of these on vessels that have been detailed that look like they are brand new. I suspect they have been painted. It presently is a dull dark color. If I use a brass brush it cleans to a brass looking color. Is there a chemical that I should use to clean it? After it is clean should I paint it and if I should what kind of paint should I use? I really would like to get it looking new again. Thanks for your inputs...
Also is there a secret to getting the wire hoses off? It has been a crazy battle to remove them with wire cutters, screw drivers and so on.
Thanks

It should be bronze. They do turn a dark dull brownish green color after a while. If you want to clean them, I would use a ZEP product called BestStuff and a rag. A wire brush might leave unwanted marks. Hoses are another issue if they have been on a long time, and there is no easy way other than shutting the seacock and cutting them off.

Soak it overnight in white vinegar. Cheap and effective.

Or hit the hoses with a heat gun...as with all things, do not over do it.

Scrub the strainer clean with degreaser than soak the strainer in any mild acid solution. The only way to keep it from turning green again, which is not a bad thing, is to either clean coat it or paint it. They look pretty sharp painted white.

As to the wire reinforced hose, a heat gun will do little or nothing as it does nothing to the wire. The quickest way to cut through wire reinforced hose is with a Dremel tool with a cut off disk attached to it. Cuts through the hose and wire like butter. Pop, pop, pop goes the wire and off comes the hose.

Greetings,
The Dremel tool is a good idea but don't score the hose nipple/barb by cutting too deeply.

Capt.Bill11 said:

Scrub the strainer clean with degreaser than soak the strainer in any mild acid solution. The only way to keep it from turning green again, which is not a bad thing, is to either clean coat it or paint it. They look pretty sharp painted white.

As to the wire reinforced hose, a heat gun will do little or nothing as it does nothing to the wire. The quickest way to cut through wire reinforced hose is with a Dremel tool with a cut off disk attached to it. Cuts through the hose and wire like butter. Pop, pop, pop goes the wire and off comes the hose.

Click to expand...

===============================================

Uggggg....how about you try it before you discount the heat gun. It is far better to comment when you know your subject though I could barely understand you sitting down, your voice was so muffeled. I have used a heat gun as routine when on different occasions on air conditioner stuck raw water strainer hoses and barbs and they came right off. I should know having replaced/ repaired between 5 and 10 March raw water pumps. (Hate em). The wire is not the source of the friction or seal between the hose barb and the hose...think... the wire is internal, the seal and friction point is not the wire but the rubber contact between the barb and hose. Btw except from releasing the hose from the stuck hose barb, Cpt Bill, you were dead on...ya must have stood up.:lol:

Two things:

1) Yes, a heat gun usually helps spread the heat around, don't just get one spot hot and be careful not to burn anyhing.

2) Go to your favorite auto parts or tool store and ask for a "radiator hose tool"

Heat your hose and wiggle it if you can, then stick the point of the tool between the inside of the hose and the fitting as far as you can and try to work it around the outside of the fitting/inside of the hose. Keep working it as much as you can while wiggling the hose. It's easier to do than to explain. The object is to break the seal between the hose and the fitting.

This is one of those processes that works better after you've done it a few times.

While you're at the auto parts store, pick up a small tube of "radiator hose grease". When it's time to reinstall the hose (used or new), smear a little of this grease on the outside of the fitting and the inside of the hose. This will make it easier to install and easier to remove down the road.

Exactly....heat and twist, then probe and cuss...then cut and not grove the hose barb or you replace or leak forever.

I can be a fanatic about certain things on the boat myself, but a strainer? I've spent I don't know how many hours trying to figure out why my upper helm joystick control for the spotlight doesn't work (when the lower helm control works just fine) - even though I almost never actually use the searchlight - but even if I were 19 again I don't think I'd have enough time in my life to dress up a strainer housing. But more power to you, to each his own.

Mule said:

===============================================

Uggggg....how about you try it before you discount the heat gun.

Click to expand...

You know what they say about assuming.

I have tried a heat gun. Didn't work well for me. But maybe I wasn't patient enough. The Dremel tool is very fast. Once I started using it I never bothered to pick up a heat gun again for wire reinforced hose.

Mule said:

Exactly....heat and twist, then probe and cuss...then cut and not grove the hose barb or you replace or leak forever.

Click to expand...

I guess you could cut through the nipple if you were very careless or a klutz. Have you tried it? Or are you now the one talking out his a$$?

Surprisingly, a heat gun takes some practice to be effective. Most people either just heat one small spot or they give up before they have enough heat to do the job.

:Bill stand up, can't understand you....how is that strainer detailing going...I understand plating is very effective over bronze...I suspect ya can really dress up a Perco or Groco strainer for a few $ 100's or so for chrome...now gold...well that is a different matter entirely...

Mule said:

:Bill stand up, can't understand you....how is that strainer detailing going...I understand plating is very effective over bronze...I suspect ya can really dress up a Perco or Groco strainer for a few $ 100's or so for chrome...now gold...well that is a different matter entirely...

Click to expand...

Bend down here and listen up..... gold's the best. But Alwgrip runs a close second.

Personally I prefer clean and a bit green. But it does dress up and engine room when all the strainers are nice and shinny white like the walls, engines, gensets, pump motors. etc., etc.

So tried the Dremel yet? My back is starting to get sore from being bent over waiting for your answer.

rwidman said:

Surprisingly, a heat gun takes some practice to be effective. Most people either just heat one small spot or they give up before they have enough heat to do the job.

Click to expand...

I got tied of not being able to get it around much of the circumference of the hose when access to the hose was block by the engine, hull, stringer, etc.

Plus it's hot enough working down there most times. So I guess the added heat just cut my patience level back even more. So perhaps I said "screw this" to soon.

But the Dremel just makes very easy in my opinion.

Capt.Bill11 said:

I guess you could cut through the nipple if you were very careless or a klutz. Have you tried it? Or are you now the one talking out his a$$?

Click to expand...

I think Mule was referring to the risk of marking the barb along it's length if you use a cutter to split the part of the hose stuck onto the barbed nipple. He was not suggesting anyone would be dumb enough to cut hose and barbed nipple off at a swipe, I suspect. And it is tempting to help get the stuck part of the hose off, even after you've cut the hose away beyond the barb end, by doing a longitudinal (shallow) cut, but always there is the risk of it not being shallow, & cutting a groove into the barb which can then be a source of leak, however unlikely unless it is gouged really deep. I often thought of trying one of those hose remover things, but never did…could be worth having though.

Peter B said:

I think Mule was referring to the risk of marking the barb along it's length if you use a cutter to split the part of the hose stuck onto the barbed nipple. He was not suggesting anyone would be dumb enough to cut hose and barbed nipple off at a swipe, I suspect.

Click to expand...

Yes that is what I thought he was saying. And no I did not think he was saying anyone would cut the nipple off along with the end of hose.

Any suggestions about how to clean the clear plastic container that houses the strainer? Particularly removing barnacles? Can it be done without taking the thing apart? Howard

"Any suggestions about how to clean the clear plastic container that houses the strainer? Particularly removing barnacles? Can it be done without taking the thing apart? Howard "

I'm sure you could get the barnacles out with acid based cleaner. Barnacle Buster is a chemical used to clean sea water systems that works well.
Welcome to Trac-Online

A wooden spoon or a piece of PVC pipe works well. Then shop vac out the results. If there are still a lot of barnacle bases left stuck to the sides of the strain housing you can dissolve them off with acid.

To remove reluctant hoses I use WD-40 and the little tool below - basically a screwdriver I bent for the purpose. The corners of the blade are slightly rounded to stop it digging in. Insert blade under edge of hose, squirt WD-40 next to blade, apply leverage, move round a bit, repeat.

Rogerh: I do understand why you want nice clean looking strainers. Apart from looking good, clean equipment is more likely to get inspected and serviced. I have found that a fine rotary wire brush mounted in a bench grinder cleans up the bronze/brass parts of Perko strainers pretty well.

If the acrylic cylinder has a build-up of calcium deposits on the inside, Ryd-Lyme will desolve coral, mussels and most other undesirable stuff in there. It is environmentally friendly, won't harm the strainer, and doesn't make your skin peel of in ugly sheets. (No connectiion with Ryd-Lyme, just a satisfied etc etc...)

Don't use muriatic acid - it will react chemically with the plastic and turn it opaque. There is no un-do button when this happens - don't ask me how I know!

I have no experience with white vinegar, but I believe it is dilute muriatic acid. Tread carefully if you decide to go this route.

Be careful using a scraper as it can/will score the plastic. The scraper may be soft, but calcium shells are harder than the plastic you are trying to clean.

I keep an old washing-up brush in the engine-room for cleaning muddy deposits from the inside of my strainers. The crank in the handle allows it to reach just about everywhere.

You do realize muriatic acid and hydrochloric acid, which is what Ryd Lime is, are the same thing.

"Muriatic acid is the historic name for hydrochloric acid."

http://www.apexengineeringproducts.com/assets/1/7/Rydlyme_MSDS_US_0812.pdf

I've been using diluted muriatic acid to clean out strainers for decades. And I have not seen it turn the strainer opaque. The trick is to dilute it. Like Ryd Lime does. Nothing wrong with using products like Ryd Lime. You're just paying for a lot of extra water.

Touché. Ya got me right where it hurts Cot Bill.socool:
Dead on with the wooden spoon/PVC with the Groco or Perco. When I have to play human pretzel I drop bromide tabs in the strainer, however I hope to remember to get a few inches of stranded copper for the long term.

I would not hesitate to use undiluted muriatic on plastic strainers, after all muriatic acid comes in a thin plastic container with no issues.

Greetings,
While we're on Chemistry 101, vinegar is dilute ACETIC acid (off the shelf it's about 5% acetic) NOT muriatic acid (HCl).

Capt Bill: I did know that muriatic acid and hydrochloric acid are the same thing. It is sold in hardware stores here cleaning concrete. I guess the dilution governs whether it damages acrylic plastic or not. I guarantee that mixed 50/50 with water it does.

Mahal: there are many kinds of plastic. The stuff the containers are made of is evidently different from the stuff Perko uses. YMMV.

I've read RydLyme's specs and it is about 10% hydrochloric acid. The other 90% is additives and, presumably, water. I didn't know this, but will continue to use it for flushing my engine and a/c heat exchangers.

RTF: Thanks, I didn't know that either, or if I did I had forgotten. Damn, my learning curve is steep today!

I cleaned mine up once. Perko 1.25" size No long lasting point. I had available a blast cabinet which very effectively removed all verdigris and brought back the nice bronze colour.
Sprayed it with clear acrylic paint. Looked good. Lasted about a year and then the verdegris slowly came back.

Heavy deposits? Whitish? Those are likely seawater weeps leaving salt deposits. Those should be dealt with by resealing the unit with new gaskets. Perko used to use cork which lasted only a few years before leaking again. I BELIEVE they now use rubber, hopefully nitrile or similar.

I modified mine to use fat O-rings. No more leaks but that darn verdegris still came back.

C lectric said:

No more leaks but that darn verdegris still came back.

Click to expand...

Thats a good thing. The verdigris is what protects the metal.

"Those should be dealt with by resealing the unit with new gaskets. Perko used to use cork which lasted only a few years before leaking again. I BELIEVE they now use rubber, hopefully nitrile or similar."

Perko's current production strainers use rubber gaskets but the older ones still require cork. I don't know why but Perko says you can't retro fit an old strainer with rubber gaskets. Both types of gaskets are still available.