To bucket, or not to bucket?

glennkil · Jan 23, 2006

This might be a weird one but my local dealer suggested I could damage a water pump on an early Evinrude (72) by running it in a 20 litre (5.5 Gallons) bucket. The bucket was deep enough to cover up to the extention housing. He said the the exhaust gas could come out of the outlet hit the bucket and be sucked back into the water inlet screen. Ten seconds is all it takes he says. Have to use a BIG drum or it will be toast. By the way the engine is only in neutral, you sure would empty that bucket real fast if you clicked it into gear! What do you think?? Has anyone heard of this??

Walker · Jan 23, 2006

Re: To bucket, or not to bucket?

The water pump is not a positive displacement pump and therefore cannot prime itself. The water level on startup needs to be higher than the impellor. Its probably not high enough in a bucket. That's what you need to worry about. Also, if you did get water to pump in a 5 gal bucket the water temp would climb pretty darn fast and you could toast your engine by running it in hot water. I don't see how exhaust gasses could cause a problem.

surlyjoe · Jan 23, 2006

Re: To bucket, or not to bucket?

I would say a 35 gal garbage can is about the smallest thing youd wanna run a motor in, why not just use muffs?

itstippy · Jan 23, 2006

Re: To bucket, or not to bucket?

I've run outboards in five gallon pails lots of times. I always have a hose going in the bottom of the bucket. The bucket sits on a cooler to bring it up high enough for the water level to cover the water pump. This works well to run my 18-20-25's that won't accept muffs in the driveway, plus it provides a bit of backpressure. I've never even thought about exhaust getting into the intake. I've always got an eye on the water spray out of the exhaust relief though. On a related note (exhaust in the cooling system). Is it true that a bad head gasket can let hot combustion gasses escape into the cooling jacket and cause a death-dealing overheat?

glennkil · Jan 23, 2006

Re: To bucket, or not to bucket?

" Why not use muffs?" I was told that if you are looking at water pump or cooling issues that muffs and mains water pressure pressurize your cooling system and can mask the correct observation of water out of various ports including pee holes. True or not?? Makes sense to me! Just hooking up the hose and turning it on is enough to have a pretty good water fountain going on in the driveway!! By the way my early Evinrude doesn't use traditional muffs and has an angle piece of aluminium that goes over the intake screen. the angle has a hose fitting and is held in place by two springs and a bracket..

Silvertip · Jan 23, 2006

Re: To bucket, or not to bucket?

Itstippy --If that were not the case an engine wouldn't need a head gasket. There needs to be a method of keeping the water out of the cylinders and hot gases out of the cooling system. That's the job of the head gasket. That applies to cars, trucks and any other engine that uses water for cooling.

itstippy · Jan 23, 2006

Re: To bucket, or not to bucket?

I've seen bad head gaskets on cars allow ignition gases to force their way into the cooling system - the coolant pressure skyrockets and you blow a radiator hose. If your lucky that happens. Usually it goes the other way, with coolant getting into the combustion chamber and nice white steam coming out of the tailpipe while the innards tear themselves apart in a fit of steam-cleaned friction. I just never thought it through on an outboard, what with the whole lake for a radiator. Cooling water getting into the cylinder, obviously bad, and indicated by a nicely steam-cleaned spark plug. But hot ignition gases into the cooling system - I didn't consider what happens then. Duh. Meltdown. Sometimes I'm a bit slow.

Scaaty · Jan 23, 2006

Re: To bucket, or not to bucket?

Back to the original question (how did this get to Headgasket Talk?)......5 gallon bucket is fine if it covers the water inlet. Period. I do it on my 5 and 5.5 all the time while they are hung off the kicker brackets to flush the salt. Bucket has a couple bungee's to go over the motor, and sits just about level in the water when filled with the dock hose. And the exhaust blowing back into the water pickup and frying the impeller is total nonsense. The impeller only needs a thin film of water for lubrication, and it will get replaced with more cooling water as it runs. Just watch you water outlets. If water comes out, it don't take a wizard to figure where it coming from.

glennkil · Jan 23, 2006

Re: To bucket, or not to bucket?

Sounds to me like common sense prevails! I'll sit the skeg on the bottom of the bucket, fill 'er up and stick the hose in the top for good measure.

R.Johnson · Jan 23, 2006

Re: To bucket, or not to bucket?

Walker: The pump is positive displacement, and at idle RPM's it is self priming, or I should say, start-up RPM's. As the speed increase's, the vane's bend back and it becomes centrifical, You can run the engine in any container that is large enough to submerge the gearcase, but on a small container, it is best to have the pump under water level. Did that dealer say how you could keep those exhaust bubble's submerged?

tashasdaddy · Jan 23, 2006

Re: To bucket, or not to bucket?

sea sense is now making an ear muff that is rectangular. available at walmart under $10. fits my 15hp 1955 great. Glenn haven't seen one of those alum flushers in years.

glennkil · Jan 24, 2006

Re: To bucket, or not to bucket?

Tashasdaddy, Ahhh Walmart.. If only in Australia. Cost me $30 for the antique version at my local marine store. Paid $42 for a head gasket as well. Ouch!!

bubbakat · Jan 24, 2006

Re: To bucket, or not to bucket?

This will give you a good idea how fast a impeller can deteriorate.

To bucket, or not to bucket?

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