Sea water strainer corrosion

Any merit to scrubbing off the sea water corrosion? Then coating with a corrosion blocker?
I rinse the strainer housings with fresh water after each strainer cleaning. This particulate one gets cleaned nearly weekly in warm weather/warm water.
Others not so bad.

Thanks!

Greetings,
Mr. S. That green corrosion is called verdigris. Other than being unsightly, a patina shouldn't cause any harm nor should cleaning it off and coating it.

It's the same phenomena as a copper roof. Cleaning it off would be purely for cosmetic reasons. Coca Cola works, but why bother?

That's a Perko. Don't worry about it. Let it go green. MANY years ago I took mine to work and sandblasted it to the bronze. SPray painted it with a clear finish. Within months of reinstalling it was going green again. Any flaws or scratches in the finish will start it again. It's now 40 yrs old and still works just fine.

THat green is the copper in the bronze protecting itself.

Ignore the green, it won’t hurt anything.

Carry spare bolts that hold the cap on. They are the one weak point on the Perko strainers. There isn’t enough metal around the pin that holds them in place and they will break eventually. Not a big problem if you have the spare on hand.

Replace the cover gasket once in a while so you don’t need to over tighten the wing nuts.

Those bolts helped pay for my retirement.

See the TF community is awesome. I was also wondering about my green strainers. They will now stay green and I can spend the extra time with a cigar and scotch.....

If you really want it to look good then get it cleaned and the gold plated. NOT.

Yes, I'm being ridiculous to a degree. I mention it because a couple I knew years ago had an absolutely beautiful classic wooden boat with brass dorade vents which drove them nuts with polishing as they, the vents, had to look sharp.

He finally thought about, or heard about, the gold plating. NO more polishing. He told me it was more expensive but not a huge amount more than the efforts and costs of the constant cleaning and polishing.

All the gold needed was cleaning and it always shone.



Not for the sea strainer though. Let 'er be green.

About 6 months ago I replaced both my strainers with this style of Perko strainer. Both were "new in the box" but one was identified as the old version (it has a cork gasket instead of the newer version rubber gasket). The old version has noticeably more patina and (to my eyes at least) the chamber display is less clear than the new version. Same location and maintenance approach. Possibly one of those rare examples where the more recent Perko model is actually an improvement over the original.

If the newer has the rubber gaskets, and the older the cork gaskets then that would likely be an improvement.
I have one old one that I modified 20+ years ago to use O rings. No more leaks.

I got fed up with the cork gaskets as they did not last long and they wept. Perko did not offer, to my knowledge, a rubber gasket at that time so I came up with my own solution.

It would likely be worthwhile to get the rubber gaskets and replace the cork ones if you have not done so already.

Never spent to long researching it but I assumed that the old and new gaskets weren’t interchangeable. Certainly Perko still sells both gaskets as separate part numbers. It’s probably the gasket but could also be the result of some better protective coating on the newer unit. Next time I’m cleaning them I’ll swap gaskets and see what happens.

I installed these Groco ARG models for the Lehmans, replacing some no-name strainers that weren’t in the best of shape. Wasn’t sure how I’d like not having a bottom casting, but so far these have worked beautifully.

(Parks, I thought I almost single-handedly enabled your retirement!)

A word to the wise.
I once got the bright idea to clean that same strainer, in my case, it was for both AC units.

It looked really pretty, all nice and bronze. I knew it would go back to green, but what the heck.

But then my air conditioners would run for about half an hour before first one, then the other would shut off.

It took me two weeks in the hot broiling Mexico sun to find the problem.

When i cleaned the strainer, I upset the seal on the old hose that went to rhe water pump. So the pump would suck just a little air that would accumulate in the highest point in the system and block all water flow after 30 minutes.

I only figured it out when i bypassed that strainer and used my engine strainer with a new hose do the water pump.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

Great point Richard......

angus99 said:

I installed these Groco ARG models for the Lehmans, replacing some no-name strainers that weren’t in the best of shape. Wasn’t sure how I’d like not having a bottom casting, but so far these have worked beautifully.

(Parks, I thought I almost single-handedly enabled your retirement!)

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You were a BIG help!

HopCar said:

You were a BIG help!

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As were you! If there were better prices out there I couldn’t find them.