Helia 44: Generator

[Cotemar]

Moderator's place keeper for Helia 44 thread

[Nasa]

Here are some photos of the hydro generator install on my boat. It is recessed into the bridge deck and lowering gear is accessed via the cockpit seat locker.

[yeloya]

The Helia displayed in Düsseldorf had this installed. I don't know how effective it can be (they claim 300 W at 10 kts of speed if I remember correctly) but remember Helia is already short of seat lockers both inside and outside and this staff also will take a bit of space..

By the way, the owner version of Helia was just fabuleous..

Cheers

Yeloya

[Nasa]

The Dusseldorf boat was my boat. It lands in Aust end March. As soon as it hits the water we will be able to supply true figures on hydrogenerator.

[Cotemar]

Helia 44 owners,

Here’s a few pictures of the factory 9.5 or 11.5 KVA
Model: 9.5MDKBM – 5872G Cummins Onan Diesel Generator

[StarryHorizons]

Our Onan genset has worked great, other than having a tendency to eat impellers... At least I can do an impeller change rather quickly now!

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by StarryHorizons

Our Onan genset has worked great, other than having a tendency to eat impellers... At least I can do an impeller change rather quickly now!

About how many generator hours before you do an impeller change?
Will have to buy a few spares.

[DavefromNZ]

On our Onan we chewed them up each 150 hours. Lots of blades jamming the heat exchanger. I seriously suggest the run dry impeller https://www.gcsmarine.com/content/impellers/impellers. So far no issues.


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[a64pilot]

I have found that if I put a strainer on the output side of my seawater pump on my engine it will catch any impeller pieces before they get to the heat exchanger, plus if I look at it when I'm checking oil, I can see an impeller needs replacement prior to noticing water flow diminish or engine overheat.

This is the engine, not a generator, but I don't know why it wouldn't work on a genny too.

[Steve_C]

I just ran across a YouTube video a few days ago discussing this problem. They basically removed the Onan impeller and used an external pump to supply water and completely eliminated the problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpRn...Zw1SA&index=60

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by Steve_C

I just ran across a YouTube video a few days ago discussing this problem. They basically removed the Onan impeller and used an external pump to supply water and completely eliminated the problem.

That would explain why FP would have added an extra Generator Seawater pump and strainer in the bulge.

[Steve_C]

It would seem to be a great solution, and the FP installation in the photo looks nice and clean.

My big concern is why Onan has such a poor impeller design, especially since it would seem that this is a problem that has been known for years. ??

[a64pilot]

Many of us have removed the impeller pumps on our generators and plumed in a 120VAC March pump or similar meant for airconditioners, I don't see the downside, but these pumps are not self priming, they have to be below the water line, but will lift water a significant height.
I connected mine directly to the generator output, if the generator is making power, the pump is running

[StarryHorizons]

Okay, I have another dumb question. (I was really hoping I'd be able to move past these at some point...)

Our Helia has the exact same generator seawater pump and strainer setup as shown. However, there have been a few times where I discovered we had a destroyed impeller when the generator gave me a Raw Water Flow alarm. Theoretically, if the seawater pump/strainer set up is basically the same as the one shown by Impi, shouldn't I always have enough water flow, even if the impeller has lost some/most of it's blades?

Originally Posted by Cotemar

That would explain why FP would have added an extra Generator Seawater pump and strainer in the bulge.

[a64pilot]

Well, the electric pump will not begin to flow water until after the generator comes online, so there will be several seconds of no flow, maybe these cumulative dry starts are getting your impeller?
But if you have an electric pump, why have the mechanical one too?


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