Groco Strainer Clogged by MUD?

[Ward H]

I frequently pull the Groco SS strainer basket to clean grass but I've never noticed mud in the bottom of the bowl until I pulled the strainer completely out of the boat today. The mud wasn't readily visible looking through the bowl while it was in the engine compartment.

Twice this season I've lost raw water flow for no apparent reason. While troubleshooting the water flow started again.

Could mud laying in the bottom of the strainer bowl be stirred up in rough conditions and clog the strainer basket, then after a period of time settle and let water flow again?
Kind of like sludge in a few tank getting stirred up by rough conditions and blocking the strainer on the fuel pickup tube or filters?

My current Groco is a ARG-500-S model. I was thinking about switching to a ARG-750-S for more filter area. The ARG-750-S is 2" taller than the 500 or 755 model so I assume the basket has more filtering area. Make sense?

 

[dLj]

My question is where are you getting the mud. Changing the filter to a taller filter just sounds like delaying the problem. I wouldn't spend the money changing the filter system, I'd try to figure out where the mud is coming from, and I'd change how I do my filter maintenance.

dj

 

[jssailem]

The Groco systems are really "strainers" not filters in the sense of an oil or fuel filter. They are designed to capture large (relative sized) foreign material and stop it from clogging in the pipes and smaller orphicies of the engines cooling system.

Going to a larger size strainer may mean longer time between strainer cleaning, but it may just be a bigger job. It may also mean that you go for a longer period with diminished water flow before you observe an issue. This would be bad for your engine.

My thinking is to have a strainer size that is easy to inspect and easy to clean. I liked the ARG 750 for these reasons. I inspect it often and clean frequently. Not really a problem with mud, but ell grass and other floating garbage is an issue. There has been a build up of slime which for some reason can reduce water flow.

It is always something.

 

[smokey73]

Where is your boat slip? How deep is the water there? Has there been activity close by you that would have sirred up mud that collects in the bowl? Is it "mud" or "silt?" How deep is the mud in the filter housing? Is the water that muddy to the eye in Barneget NJ? I'd solve the source of the mud before I did anything else. Even if you can solve the accumulation in the bowl and/or give a longer time between cleaning I wouldn't want "mud" flowing through the raw water system routinely. The abrasiveness can't be good for the impeller or other parts of the sytem.

I would think it would stir up anytime the water was flowing through the filter and disperse through the system when the raw water pump started flow through the strainer so its hard to visualize how mud would stay in the filter housing once the engine was started. Like said earlier. Its not really a filter but a strainer and wouldn't be expected to "filter out" suspended silt or mud once it was stirred up by the flow unless it was big particles (really big as particles go). Look at the hole size in the stainer, they are not that big.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

The "mud" we have is a bit more sandy. We have very shallow sand bars every where in the bay where we sail. A lot of large power boats can also lift a lot of material off the bottom and put it in suspension. That said, we touch bottom with our keels more frequently than would be common for most. Last year, with a keel about 1' deeper than my previous boat, I was grounding at an alarming rate! I found on a few occasions that I lost water flow when trying to power off a sand bar. It seems that the material that was kicked up by prop wash was clogging the intake. Once in deeper water, the issue went away.

 

[Ward H]

I'd try to figure out where the mud is coming from,

The mud, actually silt is a better term, is coming from me pushing the low water limits at times. Earlier this year and a couple of times last year I’ve bumped into shallow spots and become lightly stuck. As the bay is mud bottom I’ve been able to power out and I do turn up a bit of mud doing so.

My new practice will be to flush the strainer when this happens again. On the BB, it’s not “if you get stuck” but “when you get stuck”.

 

[Ward H]

@Scott T-Bird just explained the conditions very well.

 

[JamesG161]

It is the Reversing off the "stuck" spot that stirs up the Silt.
Run you engine in idle after becoming unstuck and in clear water.
It only takes a few minutes to clear the silt.

Or you might try this new type stainer.
65-007 :: Apollo Valves

Fully visible.

Jim...

 

[All U Get]

Following a power boat on the ICW has the same effect. They stir enough mud to interfere with the depth sounder and load the strainer basket.