frish water cooling system/ atomic 4

[paulcolumbia2700]

Hi, any you good folks added or have experience with adding a fresh water cooling system to your atomic 4 engine? I 've looking at Moyer's kit/parts and am a bit confused. It appears sea water is still pumped into the boat, in a heat exchanger tube, and fresh water is cooled and recirculated back through the moter. Are there real advantages to this maybe $1000 add on? Help!

 

[kloudie1]

Paul, that is how all fresh water engine cooling systems work. The heat exchanger has tubes inside that contain the sea water. The tubes are inside the bigger pipe housing. The seawater circulates in the tubes and the engine coolant circulates inside the large pipe, touching the tubes so that the coolant is cooled and goes back to the engine. Two pumps are necessary, one to pump seawater and the other to circulate coolant (the original pump on the engine). The benefit is that the engine block and head does not corrode from contact with seawater.. The other benefit is that the engine is easier to winterize because ya just have to get antifreeze into the seawater side of the heat exchanger and not the whole engine block. Oh.. and it will provide much quicker hot water from the heater if you have a water heater with coolant pipes in it.
That said, the Atomic block and cylinder head is made of a high nickel cast iron and IF the anodes are maintained religiously, the block will have very low corrosion rates. You can get a good Atomic guy to pull the side cover and evaluate the condition of your block innards. That evaluation might tip you more or less toward the conversion kit. If you plan on keeping the boat a long time, the kit may be worth it for piece of mind.. it may add a couple of dollars to the resale price, but you wouldn't recover the whole amount by any means.

 

[paulcolumbia2700]

Thanks Qloudie. You really know your stuff concerning these moters. Think I'll have a reliable/honest? Service tech. Check out my moter when I put her back in the water, feel him or her out for more info. I like the basic idea of using frish water to cool the a4, I'm not sure I'm now crazy about having to maintain 2 water pumps to do it! I' ll definately be doing some investigative work tbhis winter. Paul

 

[Benny17441]

Pardon my being straight forward but if it is not broken, do not fix it. Save the $1,000 for something else for the boat or for an eventual rebuild job. Your current cooling system is simple and by adding a closed system cooling you would be bringing added complexity with more opportunities for things to fail. I do not have the same faith in the reliability of aftermarket components as I do for factory installed systems. Your A4 is likely quite old and its remaining useful life will not be improved significantly by such an expenditure. It will require more frequent maintenance and there is no need to complicate matters with added components.

 

[woodster]

are you doing this in order to use your hot water heater when cruseing ......

regards

woody

 

[paulcolumbia2700]

are you doing this in order to use your hot water heater when cruseing ......
Hi Woodie, thanks for your well thought out info. No, my 28 at present contains no hot water heater. You are correct also being a 79 model, I am doing my best to restore antiquity or maybe sometimes improve it a little bit, especially when it makes sense. This expense might not! I appreciate your view on the issue. What I didn't realize at first is this thing a basically just a condenser of sorts, requiring pipes, extra pump and clamps, whathaveyou. Looks like maintence city. Paul
regards

woody

from Paul

 

[Old Skool Neil]

Kloudie is spot on with his comments. It is true however that the one thing that will kill an engine sooner or later is salt water running through the block so when considering the expense of fresh water cooling compare it to a repower. All of a sudden it becomes a bargain.

Fresh water cooling is in my opinion the single best thing you can do for your engine. Not only will it arrest the rust progression but it will also increase the engine operating temperature to a much more efficient range. I converted mine a few years ago and I don't have a single regret.

Come on over to the Moyer forum and ask questions. You'll be glad you did.

 

[paulcolumbia2700]

Thanks Old School Neal. Apparently, and this boat and engine are new to me, but previous owner did a lot of work on her and kept up on her maintnance requirments as needed. So...I think I got a A4 worth preserving and whatever I can do to help her longevity I'll try and make happen. Origionally, my idea of fresh water cooling (my imagination) would be install a fresh water tank, close off sea cocks, allowing so seawater into the boat, and badda bing...you've got it. It doesn,t work that way! I got Moyers website and I'll be talking to them. One type require 2" clearance between flyweel and engine cover and I'm not sure I've got that. Still think I'm gunna have a marine machanic do this, if we do it. Thanks, Paul

 

[Old Skool Neil]

One type require 2" clearance between flyweel and engine cover and I'm not sure I've got that.

I have a Catalina 30 with zero clearance in front of the flywheel so the conventional belt drive there was out of the question. Indigo Electronics offers an Atomic 4 fresh water cooling kit that mounts the extra pump near the distributor driven off the auxiliary drive. I decided that was not for me because of a beefy alternator upgrade already being driven off that pulley.

I opted for the newish electric coolant pump system. I assembled my own system for roughly $350 and it has been trouble free for years. This is all described in detail on the Moyer forum.

 

[JonnyQuest]

+1 for checking out other install threads on moyermarine. I've read a bunch of threads, none with hassles or regrets afterwards. It's on my to do list too.

 

[paulcolumbia2700]

Ok will do. Thanks so much. Paul