Generator Water Lift Muffler banging

[TheDory]

Good afternoon,

I just purchased a 2006 Camano Troll. The seller forgot to open the generator sea cock for the sea trial and fried the impeller. He replaced the impeller but still experienced overheating. I replaced the hose from the raw water pump to the heat exchanger today and the generator is running great, under load, with no overheating issues. The exhaust is spitting out nice amounts of water.

The problem is the water lift muffler is vibrating and actually hopping or banging on the floor of the lazarette. In the brief amount of time it ran during the sea trial, I definitely didn't notice this and can't imagine it just needs to be better secured. Any ideas on what might cause this? Possibly impeller bits obstructing something in the muffler?

Looks easy enough to just replace the whole thing but I want to make sure there isn't something else going on.

It's a WhisperPower 3.5 (MasterVolt, Kubota.)

Thanks.

 

[sailormike]

water lift mufflers are meant to be screwed to the deck to keep them from moving around. secure it and you should be good. the peices of impeller would get caught in the heat ex changer and you wouldn't have good water flow

 

[TheDory]

Thanks. So as long as I'm getting good water flow, and no overheating, I should be good? I'll get back down there and see how it's supposed to be secured.

 

[sailormike]

yes you should be fine ours has a base molded onto it and that is secured to the deck

 

[Simi 60]

water lift mufflers are meant to be screwed to the deck to keep them from moving around.

Not all of them
This is pretty much what our Genset has, no attachment points and it doesn't bang on the floor

 

[TheDory]

Simi, does yours vibrate or make any movement at all? Or does it just passively sit there?

 

[TheDory]

Update: I disassembled the water lift muffler today and found the central riser tube was melted closed. So that's definitely my problem.

 

[Simi 60]

Simi, does yours vibrate or make any movement at all? Or does it just passively sit there?

It just sits there
No movement from Genset or exhaust at all

 

[Juliet 15]

Update: I disassembled the water lift muffler today and found the central riser tube was melted closed. So that's definitely my problem.

If you haven't already, it's pretty important to check there are no impeller pieces at the intake end of the heat exchanger. That's where they collect. If replacing the hose allowed you to remove the pieces you're fine. But if not, there are likely several pieces of impeller floating around. They can block your heat exchanger at some point in the future.

 

[catalinajack]

If you haven't already, it's pretty important to check there are no impeller pieces at the intake end of the heat exchanger. That's where they collect. If replacing the hose allowed you to remove the pieces you're fine. But if not, there are likely several pieces of impeller floating around. They can block your heat exchanger at some point in the future.

I have an oil cooler in-line before the heat exchanger. Wouldn't be a place to look for pices as well. Just the other day I changed an impeller and found one vane missing. I found all the bits at the oil cooler.

 

[twistedtree]

Update: I disassembled the water lift muffler today and found the central riser tube was melted closed. So that's definitely my problem.

Nice job digging onto the problem and finding the real cause. It's all too easy to just ignore stuff, or brush it off as "normal".