[C320-list] Raw Water Strainer

[jonvez at comcast.net]

Mike,

No need to go through all of that. Simply close the seacock, put a plastic drinking cup under the strainer and back it off. The water will be rather smelly so you want to try and capture all of it. I've found that you can drop the strainer into the cup and it will capture all of the water. Be careful when backing it off as it can be a bit hard and you don't want to break the plastic strainer.
When through, just spin it back on and hand tighten--Open the seacock and you should be all set. There is plenty of water left in the system so you don't have to worry about the impeller running dry. The water pump will be full of water and will not drain out from the sea strainer being open...I've also found it helpful to mark the direction to turn it with a permanent marker so that in the event you have to do this quickly while underway you aren't thinking about it...

Regards,

Jon Vez

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: mike hunter <popotladreaming at yahoo.com> 

> Hello, 
> 
> I’m going to be cleaning my raw water strainer for the first time this weekend 
> and I could use some advice. The intake hose passes through the strainer and 
> then loops upwards to the top of the Yanmar and then back down to the raw water 
> pump. I understand the steps to close the seacock, drop the strainer bowl down, 
> clean it out, pre-fill with clean water, screw it back on, open the seacock and 
> check for leaks. My concern is when I drop the strainer bowl down, the water 
> filling the intake hose (which slopes up) will run backwards out of the strainer 
> lid and create an air pocket. I’ve read it only takes a few seconds without 
> water to damage an impeller; do I need to be concerned about this air pocket in 
> the hose? Is there an easy way to bleed the hose? I thought about 
> disconnecting the hose from the front of the water pump, have someone open the 
> seacock and then connect it again when the air is purged. There must be an 
> easier (dryer) way to do this as it seems like 
> something that might need to be performed often. 
> 
> Thanks! 
> 
> Mike 
> #637 
> 
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