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Old 14-06-2014, 10:53   #1
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Angry Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

While motor sailing to the Isle of Wight we found water in the saloon!
The water was salt and warm and contained minced seaweed, so I assumed that it must have come from the discharge side of the seawater cooling circuit.
Although there was enough water to reach recesses which do not drain to the bilges, I cannot find any leaks.
The engine continues to run normally, water comes from the exhaust immediately on starting and there is no sign of overheating and no further flooding.
Has anyone experienced anything similar?
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Old 14-06-2014, 11:24   #2
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

Check the rubber exhaust hose. I've seen them rot out, especially in the lowest area's where they run along the hull.
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Old 14-06-2014, 15:39   #3
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

Thanks Gerry, I'll check it again but why does it not continue to leak whenever the engine is running? Very puzzling!
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Old 14-06-2014, 17:45   #4
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

Yep, I've experienced this little mystery on an MD2020. Your engine I assume also has proprietary rubber cuffs that fit over each end of the heat exchanger? Link to image.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...d=0CCEQMygFMAU

On mine the heat exchage element tubes got sufficiently clogged once to cause enough back pressure that seawater leaked out, and worse: leaked around the cuff into the coolant side of the system! The hose clamps on these ill conceived cuffs working lose can cause similar problems. Mine was a combination of the two I think.

If you got seawater in the coolant side, then remove the thermostat and flush the cooling system. Not removing the thermostat may trap saltwater in a portion of the cooling system...not good.

A similar account at the link below:


http://thegiddyupplan.blogspot.com/2...er-oopsie.html
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Old 14-06-2014, 18:02   #5
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

The only problem is that it sounds like it was raw water that flooded the saloon, not fresh. A blowby of the heat exchanger boot would cause fresh water coolant to flood out.

I favor a leak in the exhaust hose, a loose barb connection, raw water intake problem or water lift leak. I wouldn't put much emphasis on the leaked water being warm.

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Old 14-06-2014, 18:04   #6
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

Why was there "minced seaweed"? Isn't there a strainer?
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Old 14-06-2014, 18:07   #7
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

Quote:
Originally Posted by colemj View Post
The only problem is that it sounds like it was raw water that flooded the saloon, not fresh. A blowby of the heat exchanger boot would cause fresh water coolant to flood out.

I favor a leak in the exhaust hose, a loose barb connection, raw water intake problem or water lift leak. I wouldn't put much emphasis on the leaked water being warm.

Mark
Warm raw water blew by on mine.
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Old 14-06-2014, 18:14   #8
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

I beg to differ warm water may be important as the OP is in Nova Scotia and the sea water temps there are going to be COLD this time of year
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Old 14-06-2014, 19:23   #9
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

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Warm raw water blew by on mine.
That said, I was not of course actually in the engine compartment to see it happen. I discovered a lot of warm raw water in the bilge after anchoring. Visual inspection of the still running (idle) engine was normal ... no leaks.

Discovered salt water ingress into the coolant side the next AM on closer inspection. That seemed to point to a cuff related issue or element tube failure (but it was OK).

Cleaned the heat exchanger, flushed the cooling system, reinstalled the cuffs...never had the issue again (10 years ago).
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Old 15-06-2014, 07:22   #10
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

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I beg to differ warm water may be important as the OP is in Nova Scotia and the sea water temps there are going to be COLD this time of year
My point was that leaking cold water could have made contact with the warm engine. Assuming that the warmth was from the water having come from the hot side of the heat exchanger shuts off an avenue of troubleshooting reasoning.

I favor leaving all avenues open until one can definitively rule them out.

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Old 15-06-2014, 07:37   #11
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

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Originally Posted by colemj View Post
My point was that leaking cold water could have made contact with the warm engine. Assuming that the warmth was from the water having come from the hot side of the heat exchanger shuts off an avenue of troubleshooting reasoning.

I favor leaving all avenues open until one can definitively rule them out.

Mark
Yes, would have to come from hot side, so downstream cuff and/or exhaust issue.
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Old 15-06-2014, 08:00   #12
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

It couldn't have come from the cold side running down a hot engine? The one boot seal problem we had was actually on the intake boot.

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Old 15-06-2014, 08:15   #13
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

The rubber cuff on my Volvo 2040 heat exchanger leaked raw water into the freshwater coolant side. At the time the engine did not have a coolant expansion tank, so the diluted freshwater coolant leaked out of the coolant/ radiator cap bypass and into the bilge. After several hours of running the engine, the freshwater coolant was completely replaced by raw water and the resulting bilge water was removed by the bilge pump. This situation created a simple flow through raw water cooling system like the early nuclear reactors. An engine can be run "ad infinitude" this way as long as the bilge pump keeps up with the flow. However I would not recommend it due to the obvious engine corrosion damage.

It sounds like that what happened in your boat. I finally figured out the hose clamps on the heat exchanger cuffs need to be tightened. Needless to say the Volvo "cuff system" is stupidly designed, and is just another thing to worry about.
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Old 15-06-2014, 08:23   #14
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

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Originally Posted by Kashmir cat View Post
It sounds like that what happened in your boat. I finally figured out the hose clamps on the heat exchanger cuffs need to be tightened. Needless to say the Volvo "cuff system" is stupidly designed, and is just another thing to worry about.
In addition to just tightening them, one needs to also make sure the two components are seated properly in the cuff. If not, it will leak regardless of the clamp tightness.

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Old 15-06-2014, 10:19   #15
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Re: Salt water flood - Volvo Penta 2030

Thanks Guys,

you have given me plenty to investigate.

I bought the boat in October last year, and have been steadily fixing assorted problems. I hope that this is the last for a while!.

Happy sailing,
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