Life span for the Volvo diesel impellar

[msu1966]

When should the impeller on the Volvo D3 - 200 be replaced, both by hours and by years?

Thanks,
Ken McCormack

 

[Red Raven]

The Volvo manual gives a maintenance schedule. Unless yours is different from mine (2014) the impeller should be inspected ever 200 hours or 12 months and replaced every 2 years. Since getting it out to inspect it is as difficult as replacing it I just replace it every year during my annual maintenance.

Curt

 

[Chimo]

I do the same as Curt and with a 5 year old boat now have 4 perfectly re-usable impellers as spares. I am thinking of getting replacement O-rings to go with them. 😉 Having said that I will urge caution with re-using an impeller except in case of emergency. I keep the boat in the water and run it year round, though with often only short excursions in the winter. That keeps many things, of which the impeller is a good example, moving. If you're going to lay up your boat and not use it for a month or so there is a good chance that the impeller will take a set into a certain shape. That makes the impeller less efficient and can lead to failure. It follows that an argument can be made for changing your impeller in the Spring, after the lay-up, rather than in the Fall. Food for thought.

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

The only thing I’d add is about how long do they last? You could put a new one in today and by this afternoon it could break down. I mention this because impellers fail because of either normal age but also if debris gets sucked up into the sea strainer, causing no or little water coming into the impeller housing and burning up the impeller. You could catch a plastic bag, sea grass or reeds or even sand if in shallow water. On the other hand this may never happen, that’s why Chimo has 4 used spares. Lastly it’s always a good idea to have a replacement impeller onboard and know how to change. I say this because when they go it usually is never in ideal conditions.

Jim F