Marine Heat Exchangers At A Glance
Heat exchangers are a common solution for capturing or dispelling heat, and are often given different names depending on their exact application. For instance, a car radiator is one of the most commonly known types of heat exchangers, while a car’s heater core is also a heat exchanger, though with a secondary role to play after the radiator cools the engine itself. For marine engines, the heat exchanger is referred to as a marine (or boat) heat exchanger. The main function of a marine heat exchanger is to transfer heat away from one medium to another while keeping the two separate.
Many devices, such as internal combustion engines, refrigeration units, and large electric motors, create high amounts of unusable heat. Water is an extremely efficient medium for exchanging heat, which is an enormous advantage for marine heat exchangers. While using raw water taken directly from the environment has some drawbacks (such as clogging, corroding, or otherwise damaging the inner cooling channels), it can be done effectively by using two independent conduit loops.
For combustion engines, separate conduits allow the use of specially formulated coolants, which resist freezing, reduce sludge, and prevent corrosion along the cooling conduit’s passageways. In this way, raw water can be safely circulated through a marine heat exchanger, while the other conduit loop is kept separate and contains only engine coolant. The raw water moving through the heat exchanger also keeps the engine coolant at a lower temperature, allowing higher engine operating temperatures.
Benefits Of A Marine Engine Heat Exchanger
Heat exchangers for marine engines provide essential functions in boat engines, allowing them to operate for extended periods of time without risking damage. The benefits of a marine heat exchanger are enormous because they can use readily available water for continual cooling, which reduces the need to treat water beforehand. Further, a boat heat exchanger is highly versatile, leading to widespread benefits:
- Fast and effective engine cooling
- Dual use for heating and cooling purposes
- Allows boat engine to be run at higher temperatures
- Greater engine performance and efficiency
- Minimal engine wear
- Lower fuel costs
- Ability to use raw or treated water
The Orca Marine Cooling Systems Difference
Designing a heat exchanger for marine engines requires close attention to related components, such as manifolds, cores, and tube stacks. This requires the ability to machine different tube sizes and materials while meeting tight tolerance ranges, all while maintaining a thorough understanding of how the marine engine functions.
ORCA Marine Cooling Systems is renowned for our ability to match marine heat exchangers to the exact requirements of specific engines. Our custom designs are suitable for virtually any boat cooling system requirement, and with 50 years of experience, we can design replacement heat exchangers for the widest possible range of marine engines.
General heat exchangers are also available, and we’re continually expanding our inventory of stock replacement parts. Even if you don’t see the exact part you need, contact us, and see if we’ve added it since the latest publishing, or we can determine the best match for your specific application.
Our engineering team and machining facility is capable of reverse engineering out-of-production or rare heat exchanger parts, including cores, tube stacks, and more. When looking for a part reproduction, you’ll find direct replacement parts, equivalent stock units, and functionally equivalent original designs included in our product lists.
Boat Heat Exchangers By Orca Marine Cooling Systems
Heat exchangers for marine engines are critical components for protecting the engine, and they must be built properly ensuring minimal long-term maintenance and to keep people safe in the open waters. Thanks to our world-class production team, Orca Marine Cooling Systems is a true one-stop shop for all things related to marine heat exchangers. Our marine and non-marine heat exchangers are built directly from high-quality raw materials to stringent other industry standards. To request a quote or learn more, contact us, and tell one of our experienced team members about your marine engine heat exchanger needs.