Entec West generator cooling problem

[thomaslong]

First, love this frum. It's the best.

My Entec West generator on my 1996 Albin 28TE that I purchased last November is having cooling problems and shots down after a few minutes running. I have replaced the seals and impellers at the advice of the factory, but the problem is not solved. Now my boatyard is advising that we pull the entire thing out, bench test it and search for a cooling leak somewhere in the heat exchanger or elsewhere.

Before taking such drastic action, does anyone out there have any better (cheaper) ideas or advice?

[Pitou]

First, love this frum. It's the best.

My Entec West generator on my 1996 Albin 28TE that I purchased last November is having cooling problems and shuts down after a few minutes running. I have replaced the seals and impellers at the advice of the factory, but the problem is not solved. Now my boatyard is advising that we pull the entire thing out, bench test it and search for a cooling leak somewhere in the heat exchanger or elsewhere.

Before taking such drastic action, does anyone out there have any better (cheaper) ideas or advice?

From what you describe, it sounds like your losing coolant and the coolant reservoir is emptying with no evidence of coolant in the pan. Most likely, as your yard suspects, you’re losing coolant through the heat exchanger. Unfortunately Mastry Engine just bought Entec West and they are not yet very familiar with the unit. Your best friend through this will be your yard and a top notch diesel mechanic.

Between the design of the Entec and its location in the 28TE servicing the heat exchanger beyond anodes, winterizing and a Rydlyme flush means taking the unit out of the boat. They’re great little units, but at times difficult to service. To remove the gen-set the sea strainers, AC pump aft of the Entec will need to be removed, the pan disconnected from the platform, the gen-set unsecured from the pan and the pan slid aft. They can the lift the gen-set up & out with a couple of lines. …. Ahh the memories! If it's your heat exchanger that would be the best and easiest fix. I hope for you that it is as simple as that.

Kudos to your yard for servicing the dual stage seawater/coolant pump while the Entec was aboard. Nice to have that checked off the list. It was probably time.

Nice thing is that your water temperature switch is working when you’re losing the coolant. It’s closing and sending current to the fuel control valve and that is opening, in turn shutting down the fuel to the pump and shutting you down. The Water light on your Control Panel must be going out at the same time?

I’ve had my times with the Entec too and most recently just replaced the Farymann engine. She now runs like a dream! By virtue of the limited space to work, most likely any gen-set in that space would need to come out to be extensively worked on.

Standing by if I can be of any further help.

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[thomaslong]

Kevin,

Thanks for the clear, complete analysis.

Everything you describe is exactly what my yard has told me. Doug Jensen of Entec West has moved to Florida after the purchase by Mastry/Ferriman and has been a big help. He agrees that the problem must be in the heat exchanger. And the only way to get to that is to pull the entire generator out of the hull.

The mechanic in my boatyard was able to remoe the entire water pump assembly by taking out the engine water strainer, the genset air filter and a few other parts. But the heat exchanger is on the bottom of the unit. Believe me, once this repair is finished, I will have a clean bilge and generator pan. When this runs, it runs great. We just need to solve the coolant problem.

What really upsets me (to put it politely) is that two surveyors and a boatyard in Galveston all misdiagnosed the problem before I bought the boat last winter.

[thomaslong]

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After three weeks in the boatyard with the generator out of the boat, the cooling problem was finally located--the hose leading from the coolant reservoir to the heat exchanger was leaking. Doug at Entec West told the mechanic working on my job at Sintes Boatyard here in New Orleans that it was extremely unlikely the heat exchanger was the problem, and he was right. It was just a $10 hose that led to a $2,800 yard bill for removal, repair, cleaning and reinstalling. While the generator was out, I had the entire pan and bilge below cleaned out. Might as well.

But once the generator was removed, I was shocked to find a transducer mounted directly underneath the platform, completely inaccessible unless the genset is pulled out again. Has anyone ever seen or heard of anything like this?