Sea strainer maintenance, Good idea or bad idea?

I have had similar problems and have tried threading copper wire thru the strainer this works to a degree, however with an alloy hull maybe thats a bad idea.

The link below may be worth checking out, and if anybody has actualy used this system, feedback would be cool. Am considering it myself for a new build next year.



www.cathelco.co.uk

Dhowdodger:

If I'm not mistaken, from the galvanic series, copper is cathodic to aluminum in which case the hull would see wasteage due to a galvanic couple with the Cu wire.

I know that slow-dissolving Chlorine tablets have been used in A/C condensation pans to fight algae for years. There’s a product called A/C Fresh, specifically made for the drip pans of marine air conditioning systems. It’s suppose to control algae, bacteria and odors with a time-release package. I've never used, so I can't vouch.

One thing that comes to mind is keeping the strainer in the dark, hidden from light. This should help discourage algae growth. Short of leaving a Clorox tablet in your sea strainer, what about using small pieces of the tablet to flow through the lines, so they don’t sit still in one place?

The one caveat to keep in mind with chlorine is its effect on stainless steel. It’s corrosive and will attack stainless. Over time, it will actually weaken the metal. Oh yeah, welded joints are particularly susceptible to damage too.

Still scratching my head on this, but I would think an a/c manufacturer would have some answers. An old friend is Jim Nall, from Aqua Air. His company has chilled everything from Gallant Lady to Limitless. Matter of fact, Jim's ex-girlfriend was hot enough to help Wexner fund Limitless!

Give him a call at 305-884-8363. Tell him I said to get a job!

I have no idea if this has any merit, but in climbing around in various engine rooms of larger yachts, I have witnessed a little blue light plumbed into the freshwater supply adjacent to the watermaker and was told that this UV light inhibited algae growth.
Dunno whether or not it's witchcraft or science...

Not to get too far offtopic, Carl, but Inquiring Minds are wondering how the lass associated with J.D. Nall helped fund Leslie Wexner's toy

Limitless = Victoria's Secret = HOT models = Jim's ex-girlfriend.

There are no micro-organisms known to be resistant to UV, unlike chlorination. UV is known to be highly effective against bacteria, viruses, algae, molds and yeasts, and disease causing oocysts like cryptosporidium and giardia. In practice, bacteria and viruses are the cause of most major waterborne pathogenic diseases. Of these enteric viruses, hepatitis virus and Legionella pneumophila have been shown to survive for considerable periods in the presence of chlorine, but are readily eliminated by UV treatment. For most microorganisms, the removal efficiency of UV for microbiological contaminants such as bacteria and virus generally exceeds 99.99%. Specifically, the following are moved to an efficiency of greater than 99.99%: E-coli, Salmonella typhl (Typhoid fever), Salmonella enteritidis (Gastroenteritis), Vibrio cholerae (Cholera), Mycobacetrium Tuberculosis (Tuberculosis), Legionella pneumophila (Legionnaires' Disease), Influenza Virus, Polio virus, and Hepatitus A Virus (better than 90%).

UV light has the same effectiveness in A/C and ventilation duct work.FYI its also HIGHLY recommended to install electronic air filter in the A/C ducts.

Thanks wdrzal, interesting info.

So Wdrzal if you had a UV light source located above a sea water strainer with a clear lid would that inhibit fouling and or barnacle growth in the piping of any of a yachts raw water systems?

I currently own A HVAC/R/E business and use uv to filter water and prevent orginasims from growing in a/c duct work. So I really don't know your answer for sure as to marine use, as it may not affect larger barnicles and sealife. But I know I would be giving it a try. The wave length of uv light can differ so you would have to experiment to see what worked the best. I guess one for starter could aquire a uv bulb and submerse it in sea water and see what happens. I see no reason why it wouldn't work unless sealife aquired a certian immunity to uv light.

I have no experience with uv in marine mechanical use but in marine aquaria the uv bulb must be submerged to prevent it being blocked by the surrounding plumbing, even a clear lid.

The watermaker people, such as Watermakers, Inc. and Sea Recovery, offer UV options and the latter company goes further with chemical & pH treatments.
They state that the UV kills bacteria, viruses, and microorganisms.

marine growth in strainers

Hi Guys

Im C/E on a 145 ft aluminum sports fisher
We have 7000 shp , butt your dirty strainers..... we have a "Cathelco " protection system for the hull.

A side effect is that we have NO mmarine growth in our stainers . Even after 4 months in a Fort Lauderdale boat yard there was no growth when we inspected stainers

They are a UK based company so email them
Clive

Bromine tablets work well and are not as corrosive as chlorine.