Do you flush your generator (salt water boat)


FTL_Alan

FTL_Alan

New member
My mechanic cautioned me to not fresh water flush my Kohler 7.3Kw generator. He said the impellers are so small that the water pressure from the hose could damage them. He said if I kept the water flow very low, it might be OK, but he said why take the chance, just don't flush. I don't use my generator heavily, only has around 30 hours and its a 2008 model. I'm the 3rd owner, so I have no idea if the previous two owners ever flushed it. Boat's always been in salt water. What am I risking by not flushing?
 
The impeller is the least of your worries. Pushing water under pressure can cause water to flow into the exhaust and possibly getting into the combustion chamber. when you try to compress water, the connecting rod will bend and you will have a big expense on your hands.
 
GSENT is right, you need to be careful about feeding hi pressure water to the cooling system. I guess if you really wanted to flush the generator you could close the sea cock and use a product such as "Sea Flush" to run fresh water through the cooling system, while the generator is running.
 
I do flush my generator with a product called salt away. I do have a strainer on the water intake that I open and put a hose in. With a valve on the hose I can control the water flo. You can disconnect the intake hose stick a large funnel into it. Run the gen and feed the hose to it and run controled water. The heat exchanger tubes are very small and will build up calcium deposits easily.
 
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