BMC 1500 weed filter

[karrier-bag]

Hi

We have just bought a Mk2 Norman 23 with a BMC 1500cc engine, it has raw water cooling a closed water system.

I am pretty good with old engines as I have a few perkins diesels in vehicles and have stripped down a bmc 1500 many years ago but never one that is marinised.

 

I need to know if there is just one weed filter fitted and is there a valve / tap to drain it before removing the filter and where is this filter?

I havent had a lot of time to look as we have had to take our maiden voyage the day after we bought her, through Torksey Lock, up the Trent and through Keadby Lock where the weeds are just mental.

 

I think the filter is right at the back, it feels like it has a nut / bolt underneath which you remove to drop the casing and pull out the filter, the top only has an inlet and an outlet pipe (This is deffo not part of the fuel system I double checked)

 

as we have been through so much weed I guess it would be good to clean out the filter.

 

Can anyone help me with this model / configuration?

 

Thanks in advance

[Tony Dunkley]

 

Can anyone help me with this model / configuration?

 

 

Not without some photo's. None of the cooling system parts and components were made or sold by the engine manufacturer, so there's no way of knowing what you've got, or how it's installed and piped up, without seeing it.

[Bee]

I wouldn't think its part of the engine at all, more likely to be in the pipework somewhere and usually accessible, I have a Vetus filter and I sometimes empty the weed and shrimps out of it a couple of times a day in weedy places.

[X Alan W]

Tracing the pipe work from the engine mounted cooling water pump to where it enters the hull will possibly give you a seacock & filter of some description, could be separate or combined, the usual method of clearing is to turn off the cock & unscrew/unbolt the top of the filter inside is a wire tube with holes & may or may not be a mesh tube to filter the smaller "crud", the more common set up for this type of cooling passes water (canal) around a section of the exhaust manifold containing the sealed engine coolant & exiting the raw (canal) water though a connection into the exhaust some 4/6 inches aft of the manifold, the signs of a blocked filter are no water exiting in the exhaust but beware don't run long if your exhaust pipe is a rubber one. Could be a separate exit for the water in which case a small bore pipe will be connected to the manifold & exit the boat's hull.

[Iain_S]

As Tony says, a photo is pretty essential, as raw water installations vary widely.

 

One thought, how big are the pipes in to and out of the filter you think is the one for raw water? I'd expect at east 22mm, and probably bigger.