Fresh water washdown hose to flush engine?

[Freedom 205]

I know my Freedom 205 only has a 10gal freshwater washdown pump for showering off.
I often leave the boaf on a mooring. Is it ok to use the freshwater hose to flush my engine?
Any tips or trick would be appreciated.

 

[Sardinia306Bimini]

What is a 10gal freshwater wash down pump? I guess 10 gallon fresh water tank as 10 gph pump would be extremely strong.
Yes, better than nothing and as long the engine is not running. Check in your manual how to do it, usually with the outboard tilted up.

Keep in mind that much more than half of the outboards on our planet get flushed once a year as it's not possible to flush in-between and they don't show particular damage. Honestly I would not worry to not flush the outboard if I "often" leave the boat on a mooring, well it depends how often "often" is.
As you have to bring the freshwater for flushing you should find the softest water available to avoid building up lime deposits inside the engine, particularly when flushing with engine still hot or warm.

Chris

 

[seasick]

It is OK to try and see if the flush works. Do not run the motor, just attach the fresh water supply to the flush port on the motor. That may ne the hard part since your current gunnel mounted fresh water 'fauet' has no easy way to screw into the motor flush port. It is possible to tap imto the fresh water line at the pump outlet and terminate that in a fitting somewhere that has a hose male thread on it similar to what you would have with a raw water deck washdown system. Normally the fitting would be capped until needed for flushing. To flush use a short as possible length og garden hose to connect to the fitting and thee motor. Turn on the fresh water pump and it should work. If you actually see the telltale (pee) stream working, you are at least getting water into the power head.

 

[FREEDOM!!!]

I wonder if the fresh water pump is strong enough to pump water through the engine. My actual hose at my dock barely has enough pressure to do it. In theory it could work. If it doesn't, it's not a crisis. Like someone said earlier, probably half the boat owners out there don't flush on a regular basis.

 

[Fishermanbb]

I do it every time. I run the hose from the wash down faucet to the flush connectors. The pressure is not enough to give it a really good flush so I use salt-away when I do it. I connect the hose to the salt-away kit and then the kit directly to the flush connectors. 1 min of fresh water only, then salt away flush for 2-3 minutes. Works well and engines have been spotless.

 

[Freedom 205]

Thank Fishermanbb and Freedom
That what I would like to do. Any special connectors I need to get from the fresh water faucet to the flush connector?

 

[luckydude]

I wonder if the fresh water pump is strong enough to pump water through the engine. My actual hose at my dock barely has enough pressure to do it. In theory it could work. If it doesn't, it's not a crisis. Like someone said earlier, probably half the boat owners out there don't flush on a regular basis.

I know a 6 pack captain who replaced his Yamaha 250hp at 7000 hours. The engine ran fine. He was replacing because, well, 7000 hours is a lot. The engine was running very well, he sold it for $5000. I asked how he got so many hours out of it and he said "I flush it every single time it is in the ocean". It worked for him, so that's what I do. 70PSI water for 12 minutes.

 

[Sardinia306Bimini]

I wonder if the fresh water pump is strong enough to pump water through the engine. My actual hose at my dock barely has enough pressure to do it.

Depending on your wash down pump. I have a SeaFlo 5.5 gpm 60 psi pump and she flushed my F250 well.
Just do a test if your pump will do it, if not you may replace the pump with a more powerful one.

Chris

 

[DennisG01]

As noted above, they're designed to run in that environment so it's not really needed... but...

You should be able to get everything you need at the hardware store. Get a barb'd "T" to insert somewhere in the hose between the pump and the faucet. This retains the functionality of your faucet. Get whatever length of hose you need to get to the engine and then a barb to garden hose fitting for the end. Get a cap for the garden hose fitting to use as your "shutoff" for this hose. - or put an inline shutoff hose somewhere in the hose.

IF you don't drink the water, you could mix the Salt Away (or white vinegar or whatever brand you use) right in your tank.

 

[seasick]

As noted above, they're designed to run in that environment so it's not really needed... but...

You should be able to get everything you need at the hardware store. Get a barb'd "T" to insert somewhere in the hose between the pump and the faucet. This retains the functionality of your faucet. Get whatever length of hose you need to get to the engine and then a barb to garden hose fitting for the end. Get a cap for the garden hose fitting to use as your "shutoff" for this hose. - or put an inline shutoff hose somewhere in the hose.

IF you don't drink the water, you could mix the Salt Away (or white vinegar or whatever brand you use) right in your tank.

I wonder about the possibility of damage to the plumbing if a fresh water system is filled with a vinegar or saltaway type of product. Te reason I mention this is that I had a brand new pump garden sprayer that I added a 50/50 mix of water and regular supermarket vinegar (not the super strong stuff). I left some in the sprayer for almost a year and when I went to use the sprayer ,it didn't work. I took it apart and the flapper valve and piston seals had turned to a wrinkled mess. Honestly, I didn't expect that at all.

 

[DennisG01]

I wonder about the possibility of damage to the plumbing if a fresh water system is filled with a vinegar or saltaway type of product. Te reason I mention this is that I had a brand new pump garden sprayer that I added a 50/50 mix of water and regular supermarket vinegar (not the super strong stuff). I left some in the sprayer for almost a year and when I went to use the sprayer ,it didn't work. I took it apart and the flapper valve and piston seals had turned to a wrinkled mess. Honestly, I didn't expect that at all.

Yes, I've experienced that more than a few times. The less expensive sprayers have cheapie check valves/seals. The better ones have Viton valves/seals (you can get replacement ones, too).

It's a good question, though. I don't think there'd be anything to worry about with the pump... and probably not the faucet - but if anything, it'd be the faucet depending on what washers/seals are being used.

 

[Freedom 205]

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[Freedom 205]

Thank you for all the responses and advice.
Do you think it's possible to just unscrew the sprayer from the hose and screw the hose into the engine flush port?
Not sure of sizes maybe I need an adapter or extender?

 

[glacierbaze]

The FW washdown hose is going to be the size of a home shower head. But an adapter might be a simple solution. I would look for one that swivels, as you will be connecting in opposite directions. Maybe you can come up with a reducer/quick connect.

 

[DennisG01]

You can get the fitting I mentioned in various barb sizes.

 

[family affair]

Freedom 205, be sure to add to your annual maintenance pulling the thermostat. The flushing method you are considering certainly helps, but 4 cylinder Yamahas tend to get salt build up around the thermostats and corrosion quickly follows around the housing (power head). Not being able to run the engine while flushing makes it tougher to prevent deposits around the thermostat.

 

[Hookup1]

I doubt that you will get the water pressure you want to flush the engine. Try it!

 

[seasick]

I doubt that you will get the water pressure you want to flush the engine. Try it!

I would be concerned about that also.
The flushing need is more about volume and not pressure. When a washdown pumps says is produces 60 psi let's say, that static with no flow, In addition, all lengths of hose, fittings and faucets add loss to the actual pressure'
On MyOtherBoat, the motors at idle run on about 1 psi of water pressure. At cruise, the pressure may be 6 or 7 pounds. My point is that it doesn't take a lot of pressure to get the water circulating.
On Yamis if the pee stream is showing, you probably have sufficient volume to flush but I have to add that the pee stream is not super accurate indicator for all engine models.

One 'fun' experiment is to remove a thermostat housing and then flush the engine using the flush port and a garden hose. In some cases, you will not see water flowing out of the t-stat opening. So although you think you are flushing, you may be missing some of the more critical areas.. It's very much engine specific.

 

[DennisG01]

One 'fun' experiment is to remove a thermostat housing and then flush the engine using the flush port and a garden hose. In some cases, you will not see water flowing out of the t-stat opening. So although you think you are flushing, you may be missing some of the more critical areas.. It's very much engine specific.

Yup. There ends being too much volume (weight) of water above the flush attachment point and the pump being used doesn't have enough power to push all that water up. However, depending on where the pee circuit is located, water can pee out just fine, though. Best course of action for you, Freedom, is to do just that - remove the t-stats - and go ahead and use your fresh water pump and see what happens. You may find it's a somewhat useless endeavor and not worth the time.

 

[Freedom 205]

Thanks. Will check