Heat exchanger zinc location:
Yes, with the zinc collar located on the bottom of the exchanger, you'll
drip some water out every time you change zincs. That's a nuisance, but
there's a good reason for this geometry: as the zinc erodes, it often
sloughs off pieces bit and pieces of electrolyzed zinc, and when you install
a new one, these pieces will likely be washed out of the exchanger with the
draining water. If you rotate the exchanger, so you install the zinc from
the top, the eroded pieces will fall to the bottom--and stay there forever.
The inconvenience of dripping water is far outweighed by the scavenging of
the waste zinc. I suggest you stick with your current setup.

Dick Behan
LNVT "Annie"


"engsol" wrote in message
...
While sitting on my (new to me) boat yesterday, trying to figure out how
and where to mount a sea water strainer, it occured to me that the hose
routing would be a lot cleaner if I connected stuff like this:

Intake-strainer-exchanger-pump-exhaust

Any problems I'm overlooking with this arrangement?

Also, I noticed the heat exchanger zinc (pencil) is mounted on the
bottom. This means that whenever I check the zinc, I'm going to
have water in the bilge. Any reason I can't have a new zinc nut
welded to the top? Oh, it's a horizontal heat exchanger.

Thanks,
NormB