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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why Do We Invest On Fresh Water Cooling?
Your boats engine represents the largest part of your investment. Cooling this engine with raw water can needlessly shorten its life. Eliminate this problem by installing fresh water cooling that protects your engine from corrosion and harmful mineral deposits.
Quality Construction & Compact Design:
Our Fresh Water Cooling Systems are built with the best pure copper and silver alloys. System are designed for compact installation and does not increase the height, width or length of the overall engine dimensions, allowing for installation in most existing engine compartments. All kits come complete, including step by step instructions, no special tools are required.
Benefits Of Using Fresh Water Cooling?
Longer Engine Life
Extend the value of your investment. Automotive engines are not designed for, or intended to be a cooled by raw sea water. The danger of damage from Salt and Rust to your engine's water jackets and other water cooled parts is eliminated by fresh water cooling.
Cabin Heat
A simple automotive type heater can be used with the Fresh Water System to heat the living area while underway. This is free heat! Also, with a small tank, hot water for the galley and washing can be enjoyed.
Permanent Type Anti-Freezing
Can be used for protection during freezing weather for an all season operations.
Lasting Value
When reselling or trading in your vessel, not only can the initial cost be recovered, but the vessel is always worth more because it has been equipped with Fresh Water Cooling.
Extending Engine Life With Fresh-Water Closed Cooling Systems
Every day, hundreds of people invest over $ 20,000 in purchasing a new boat without knowing that even with the best preventive maintenance program, they will be spending more replacing engine parts that are lost to the corrosive marine atmosphere. Perhaps the most common source of inboard or stern-drive I/O engine failure is due to factory-stock seawater engine cooling systems. These engines remove heat by pumping seawater through the engine's block, head and manifold systems. Incidentally, most engine parts are constructed of either cast iron or aluminum, both of which are susceptible to intense salt-water corrosion.
When designing and building marine engines, manufacturers follow a strict set of requirements, some involving temperature tolerances. Expansion of engine parts and loss of corrosion resistance due to high temperatures can eventually cause a catastrophic failure in a marine engine. Engines that are seawater cooled are expected to run at 140 degrees Fahrenheit or lower to prevent the corrosion and electrolysis effects. With freshwater cooling systems, engines can run closer to manufacturer's specifications, allowing for better performance without risking the probability of accelerated corrosion. With freshwater cooling systems, ethylene glycol (commercial grade antifreeze) is circulated in the engine's cooling system, which carries heat more efficiently, lubricates the circulating pump components, and acts as a rust inhibitor.
Seawater cooled engines are also susceptible to frequent clogging of water channels caused by the intake of sand, seaweed, and other solids present in a normal marine environment. Cooling system clogs not only cause water pump impeller and bearing failure, but can cause severe overheating of the engine, sometimes resulting in blowing a head gasket and seriously damaging the entire engine.
In a typical seawater-cooled engine environment, exhaust manifolds are usually the first components to fail. Continuous cycling to high heat loads stresses the metal, and allows corrosion to occur at a much faster rate. Eventually, the narrow passages corrode through, which causes the water to dump into the engine cylinders, resulting in major damage to the engine block, pistons, rings, and valves. With proper freshwater flushing of seawater-cooled engines after each use, manifolds can be expected to last anywhere from 3 to 6 years. Replacing a typical set of exhaust manifolds for a 4-cylinder engine would be anywhere from $250 to $450, and for a big block V-8 engine, the cost would be $800 to $1,200 per set plus labor.
When purchasing a new boat, the cost of a freshwater cooling system on a factory stock engine tends to run about $1,000 higher. However, there are several after-market systems that offer the same performance, durability, and reliability for half the price, and can be installed with minimal tools by the average boat owner in 1 to 2 hours. In any case, it's never too late to add a freshwater cooling system to an existing system to start extending the engines life. A freshwater cooled system has minor added maintenance, such as maintainizg the antifreeze coolant level, and draining the heat exchanger and oil cooler in storage areas that experience freezing temperatures. However, the added gain in engine life to 10 to 20 years, higher performance, and the higher resale value all suggest that the freshwater cooling system is the best option for many years of enjoyment in a typical marine watercraft.
Why We Do Not Use Shopping Carts?
The number of different marine engines and applications can make it difficult to select the proper kit.
Some engine models can only be half systems meaning cools block only. The year of engine may not have pre-drilled mounting holes in heads for brackets to hold heat exchangers. Locations of alternators and power steering change kit applications. Types of manifolds affect hose routing during installations. Engine compartment shapes and sizes have to also be considered.
Our 33 years involvement in freshwater cooling and 47 years of our manufacturer's production of these kits help you select the correct system for your engine. We prefer the one on one contact with you in the selection to avoid returns of improper selection.
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