Cleaning Perkins 4236 Heat Exchanger

Skuxx

Hi lads,

I would like to have a look at cleaning the heat exchanger on my Perkins 4236 engine! Where we have the boat there is a lot of silt that gets thrown up as we come in and out of our berth, and I was talking to a fella today who has had to clean his out twice this year already as it was clogged and was causing the engine to overheat!
I havnt had any such problems yet but I'd like to get it off and have a look if possible!
Any tips hints and ideas (even a few pics ) would be awesome!!

fergal.b

Is it the same as this http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/heat_exchanger

Skuxx

fergal.b wrote: »

Is it the same as this http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/heat_exchanger

Hi Fergal,

Yeah it looks fairly similar to that actually! I have an engine manual around somewhere for it but I havnt had a chance to look through it yet, I'm not even sure if there'll be anything in it!
I said I'd ask for a bit of local knowledge first!!

fergal.b

If your not overheating it could be fine, do you have an inline filter. Another option would be to flush it out onboard with a hose and a bucket or if you feel you have a build up of limescale put some descaler in it for an hour or two and then flush it out.




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Skuxx

Yeah chances are it is fine! It was just when a guy told me he had to do his twice in a year I thought I'd try have a look as in the 3 years I have the boat I havnt been near it, and who knows how long before that!!
But as you say if it's not over heating I may be best off to leave well alone for now!! I have no reason to think there's a problem with it!

fergal.b

If he has a buildup of limescale it will cause it to keep clogging up as the tubes become thiner and they will catch any small bits that get through the filter so even if he keeps cleaning it out he may not of descaled it causing it to block again.