Priming cooling water intake to avoid airlocks...
Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:56 pm
Priming cooling water intake to avoid airlocks...
When running on land, or when returning to the water after beeing on land?
On land, I've been holding an extension to the water inlet pipe aloft, while pouring in water from a jug, until it reaches the top of the pipe and doesn't go down any more, then putting my thumb over the end of the pipe and immersing it in a large bucket in the cabin... but if I hold the pipe too high while filling from the jug, it seems to never stop going in... I'm guessing it's actually possible to overfill this way with too great a head, and potentially get water right through the system and out the other side. Is there any way this might then go back into the engine? I'm unsure what kind of valve there is to stop this happening - I assume there's something?
My engine is a Volvo MD11C.
Also - when I first put my boat back in the water after a time on land, how do you prime the cooling system so that there's no air in it? Surely it's going to be hard to avoid a bubble in the intake pipe? Or is it just not a problem?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
When running on land, or when returning to the water after beeing on land?
On land, I've been holding an extension to the water inlet pipe aloft, while pouring in water from a jug, until it reaches the top of the pipe and doesn't go down any more, then putting my thumb over the end of the pipe and immersing it in a large bucket in the cabin... but if I hold the pipe too high while filling from the jug, it seems to never stop going in... I'm guessing it's actually possible to overfill this way with too great a head, and potentially get water right through the system and out the other side. Is there any way this might then go back into the engine? I'm unsure what kind of valve there is to stop this happening - I assume there's something?
My engine is a Volvo MD11C.
Also - when I first put my boat back in the water after a time on land, how do you prime the cooling system so that there's no air in it? Surely it's going to be hard to avoid a bubble in the intake pipe? Or is it just not a problem?
Thanks in advance for any advice.