Heat Exchanger

[Alec]

I know there has been discussion about the mounting straps on Universal/Westerbeke heat exchangers cracking but has anyone successfully had them repaired? Mine is getting worse each year & I'm considering taking it to a radiator shop to get it fixed properly. However, I'm concerned creating more problems than I started with. I'd like to know if anyone else has done this & how it worked out.

 

[Tim R.]

My HE is mounted with SS hose clamps. Easy to work with, cheap and plenty strong for this application. See if you can use them on yours.

 

[Alec]

Thanks for the reply, Tim. Is your Heat Exchanger mounted on the engine? Mine is & apparently the mounts, which are soldered (?) to the heat exchanger won't take the vibration. I'm afraid if somebody resolders them that I might end up with leaks in the cooling tubes. If I don't get them repaired I suspect that eventually they will come off altogether & wear holes in the copper jacket.

 

[Tim R.]

Check out this diagram Alec. #12 is the type of bracket I have on mine. It is bolted to the top of the bell housing and the ss hose clamps go thru the slot and around the HE. The proportions in the diagram are a little off. I will try and get a photo this weekend.

http://www.westerbeke.com/mdtools/service_bulletins/sb_195.pdf

 

[Stu Jackson]

Different configurations

The C28 bracket you show, Alec, is different than mine, which is like Tom's, and as he's described. We removed our 2 inch HX from our M25 a few years ago and replaced it with a three inch HX. Both are without the welded on brackets you show in your picture. I would suggest you consider a way to use the hose clamps through the bell housing brackets as most of us have on our engines. You may be able to simply rotate your HX a little bit and get the welded brackets out of the way and use hose clamps; might have to "adjust" or replace some hoses to make this idea work. We also installed some bicycle tube rubber between the HX and the bracket before we tightened up the hose clamps.

What specific engine do you have, since you mentioned Universal/Westerbeke, which are two different engines.

 

[Alec]

That would be great, Tim. Since I'm still "on the hard" for a few more weeks theres still time to experiment.

 

[Alec]

Re: Different configurations

Thanks for the advice, Stu. This may be a solution that is preferable to welding the origional brackets back on. I'm sure it can be done but finding the right place to do it could be a problem. The engine is a Universal M25 XPA. I may have mistakenly assumed a similarity w/Westerbeke since Westerbeke supplies the parts for the Universal.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Re: Different configurations

Cut the engine side end of brackets off and use hose clamps with the rubber isolation between the HX and the bracket. Try that.

 

[Tim R.]

Here are some photos of my HE Alec. The bracket is flat where it bolts onto the engine. It has about a 1/4 round where it cradles the HE(see red circle). This is on an M25xp.