Panda thru-hull pick up on 360

[Grandpapat]

Our 8kw Panda genie chews up impellers faster than a bear after hibernating all winter. Last one only ran 40 hours before loosing a couple of wings. Some others last 10 hours or less. We usually lose it while on plane at over 30 mph and suspect that the flush mounted seawater pick up is not catching enough water.

The pick up for the A/C and cooler pump has a scooped end that obviously catches water, but the genie's is flat and flush with the hull. The boat is currently in the yard for work so we are looking for advice on switching to a scooped pick up for the genie and adding some kind of system to prevent genie flooding if the engine fails while on plane.

A Houston panda tech says he has seen this before and installed scooped pick up and an auto closing valve that senses when the engine shuts down and closes the seacock. I think a loud alarm connected to the genie light at the helm would be simpler. The light is on when the genie is running but is easy to miss when it goes out. When the alarm sounds the operator then knows to stop and close the seacock to prevent flooding the genie engine.

Anybody got experience with this issue. thanks

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

I would not trust the auto valve, if it doesn't close one time your gennie is gone. What about moving the the pick up further back and in "cleaner" water?

 

[pablor]

i have had no such problems. Are you running in shallow water? mine is lasting all season (100 hours or so) without a problem. That part is a sacrificial part and they are supposed to be changed often depending on how much sand and other things are running through your lines.

I called Panda and they told me i can run with the seacock open without any issues. As a matter of fact i run with the seacock open whether the gennie is on or not most of the season. Never had a problem...

 

[Grandpapat]

The current seacock is already located against the aft bulkhead in the lazarette and I am not keen on putting anymore holes in the bottom of the boat in search of cleaner water. We run in Galveston Bay and GOM so bottom sucking is not really an issue for us.

The GW360 manual definitely says to close the seacock when running on plane without the genie operating due to potential water flooding. I know we have run on plane for a while after the genie quits and still not gotten it flooded but do not how long running because we did not notice when it quit. I now make a habit of scanning the genie operating light on the helm panel but not as frequently as the yami and nav monitors.

Pablor, do you have the original flush pick up or a scooped pick up? thanks pat

 

[pablor]

I specifically called Panda on the issue and they said it is not a problem. There are other inconsistencies in the manual too regarding winterization that the factory rep told me was not an issue...

in 4 years of running the gennie i have never had any flooding. I dont even check the seacock...

 

[georgemjr]

Although it may never happen, and has not happened to you, it is possible to flood out and ruin a non-running generator with the seacock open. I have certainly run mine that way, by accident, without any issue. I do, however, close it whenever I am running the boat, without the generator on. People have had forced water entry into their generator engine and ruined it. For the amount of effort it takes to close a seacock, I err on the side of caution...

 

[pablor]

i certainly would not go through the expense of an automatic seacock valve though...