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FWC Conversion

J

JJDebeers

Regular Contributor
Anyone have experience converting from RWC to FWC? If so, was engine scale / rust an issue? How did you mitigate it?

I'll be converting my RWC engine with barely 75 hours to FWC. Before winter lay-up I performed several rinses with fresh water and salt away. I'm wondering if it's worth using muriatic acid or some other treatment before installing the conversion.

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,
JJ
 
JJ, the issue is the rust scale that will dislodge (not maybe dislodge) and find it's way into the Ethylene Glycol side of the Heat Exchanger's tube bundle.
The E/G side of the H/E is not accessible by average Joe.

It usually takes a while before any issues come up.

Here's what I suggest to people who retro-fit a Closed Cooling System onto a previously Raw Water cooled engine.

Install the new Closed Cooling system.
Run it for XX hours..... let's say 20 or 30 hours.... your call.
Drain the H/E of coolant, and capture it.
Remove the H/E from the engine.
Flush it, and dump the contents into a clean white bucket.
Look for rust scale.

Re-install, and run for another XX hours, and repeat the test.

At some point, the rust scale should become minimal and manageable.

Of the systems that eventually cause issues, the rust scale has build up around the Ethylene Glycol side of the tube bundle. As this builds up, the H/E's ability to remove engine heat, diminishes, and we end up with over-heating issues.

The fix is always a Heat Exchanger disassembly and cleaning by a Pro........ but I believe that this can avoided if we are pro-active.



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