Trouble with raw water strainer

[bwindrope]

One of the most important and easily ignored parts of our boats is the raw water strainer. Aside from cleaning the screen once in a while, there is really not much to be done. Unless, that is, you snap off the head of the plug screw like I did. I did a blog post if you want to read more or see pictures.

Moral of the story: be careful with how much you tighten the plug. I really did not use much force and it snapped off. Maybe heat and time had degraded the plastic? Happy straining everyone!

[Boatyarddog]

Plastic raw water strainer?
Uhhhh.
Get a bronze one.
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com...t.do?pid=56742


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[bwindrope]

That's exactly what I have, and is standard as far as I know as every boat I've used has had that. The sight bowl is plastic and there is a plastic drain plug at the bottom. That is what snapped off in my hand. The head and top are bronze.

[Cheechako]

Just curious: Why does one need to drain the unit?

[bwindrope]

Over time you get an accumulation of small debris. Algae parts and such. Heavy enough to drop out of the flow, but small enough to not get removed by the strainer. I find I drain my system once or twice a year and it cleans this junk out.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by bwindrope

Over time you get an accumulation of small debris. Algae parts and such. Heavy enough to drop out of the flow, but small enough to not get removed by the strainer. I find I drain my system once or twice a year and it cleans this junk out.

Ahh I see, I just clean the whole thing out. Never seemed like much came out the drain but water and free stuff. Other stuff clung on to everything. Maybe put a small valve in place of the plug?

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Ahh I see, I just clean the whole thing out. Never seemed like much came out the drain but water and free stuff. Other stuff clung on to everything. Maybe put a small valve in place of the plug?

Same here, really never took that plug out to clean the thing.
Take it out, drill out the plastic plug and replace with a bronze pipe plug.
You may need to re tap the hole, not sure of the actual pitch of these.


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[svHyLyte]

We keep a couple of Turkey Basters aboard for the purpose of suctioning up and draining small/moderate amounts of water such as the bowl in the raw water strainer.



Suction out the dirty sea water, partially refill with clear water and a little cleaning solution/dish soap and use a bottle washing brush to clean, suction out and discard the solution, refill with clear water mixed with SaltAway and seal the thing up and you're good to go. The drain plug never needs be opened.