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Old 01-25-2019, 11:18 AM   #1
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What valve to use

I’m trying to rig up a fresh water flush for my generator. Lately I’ve been leaving my boat for months at a time without running it, and I would like to at least flush and fill the generator and main with fresh water. I found an easy way to do it on the man using a flush cap on the sea strainer, but my generator strainer doesn’t have a cap. It’s a perko strainer with a spin off bowl on the bottom. Looks like a cheap plastic thing.

Anyway, my idea was to install a 3 way valve after the strainer so I could connect my flushing bucket to the open port on the valve, shut the sea cock off to the strainer, then open the 3 way valve and suck in the fresh water from my 5 gallon bucket.

My plan is to mount a hose connection in the bottom of the bucket so there is some slight water pressure going to the genny raw water pump, hopefully to prime the pump and eliminate any dry running of the raw water pump.

My problem is I don’t know what kind of 3 way valve to use. Would something like this work? Is it safe to use below the water line? If this valve fails it will be a problem, to say the least. Is there another way other than a 3 way valve? Maybe a 3 way “T” with a port I can block off with cap or something when not flushing, eliminating the problems with a mechanical valve?

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V075SL | Valves | Banjo Site - Liquid Handling Products

Or would this be a better valve?
http://www.discountmarinesupplies.co...SABEgJ7FfD_BwE

This is the generator strainer, with the bowl removed.
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Do these bronze (I hope) hose barbs look OK?
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This entire strainer setup seems very like a mess to me. When I first got the boat the old strainer was cracked and leaking. I had the yard in Indiantown install a new one, and this is what they came up with. Maybe I should replace this with a Groco ARG 750 bronze strainer? My main and AC strainers are Groco ARG 1000 models. If I go with a new Groco I can use the nifty flushing cap and do away with the valve idea.
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Old 01-25-2019, 01:06 PM   #2
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Don’t use a 3 way valve. Splice in a bronze tee with a bronze nipple on each end for the raw water intake hose. Add a bronze ball valve with a bronze hose nipple to the 3rd port on the tee. This will be for your suction hose from the bucket. Fisheries has everything that you will need. Did exactly what you are doing last year.

https://www.fisheriessupply.com/midl...ronze-npt-tees



https://image.fisheriessupply.com/f_...t-tees-ppm-tif
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Old 01-25-2019, 02:02 PM   #3
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Ahhh. Thanks. I like that better. Less to go wrong or break.
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Old 01-25-2019, 02:08 PM   #4
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CD: Have you looked at the freshwater rinse kit made by Groco?

https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=2755962
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Old 01-25-2019, 08:47 PM   #5
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I had not seen that before. It’s interesting but won’t work with the plastic sea strainer I have on my generator.
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Old 01-27-2019, 09:12 AM   #6
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What valve to use

Got the flush bucket system done and it seems to work well. FYI reason I wanted to do this is because my zinc in the heat exchanger depletes after only 2 months of sitting up in salt water. It’s doing its job I guess, but that seems to be a pretty fast depletion rate. Figured pickling with fresh water would be better for it. I don’t think the zinc will do anything protection-wise in fresh water when I pickle it, but does it matter?

Are there any disadvantages to pickling with regular old tap water with the slight levels of chlorine, or should I use store bought drinking water? Or, should I introduce some kind of “pickling fluid” instead?Click image for larger version

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https://youtu.be/g-W1sdlpYxw
I’m surprised how low the flow rate is on the generator raw water pump, but looking at the stern the discharge seems about the same as usual. It’s a pretty small RW pump on the generator. I’m also going to use this same bucket for the main and expect the flow rate to be quite a bit higher.
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Old 01-27-2019, 09:38 AM   #7
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The fresh water flush will go a long way in keeping your heat exchanger clean. If you are chewing up zincs look for dc voltage leak. Wires hanging in bilge water is a common cause.
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