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electric oil change pump |
Changing engine lube oil has always been one of my least favorite chores. Two things contribute to this.
1. First of all, to facilitate the flow of oil from the oil pan drain hose, the engine must first be brought up to temperature. This insures that the Westerbeke supplied brass body hand pump will be very hot. Also one must make sure that the output hose from the pump does not jump out of the container you are putting the old oil into. If it should, you have a huge mess to clean up.
2. Secondly, the oil filter on the W-27 is horizontally mounted in a very tight location. This insures that I always will spill a good 8 ounces of dirty oil onto the side of the engine and into the pan beneath the engine.
The installation of a permanently mounted electric oil change pump will take care of the first of these problems. I intend to take care of the second problem this winter with the installation of a "remote off engine oil filter".
That will be the subject of another article on this web site as soon as it is completed.
Meanwhile, the oil change pump chosen for installation aboard "Early Light" is a Qwik Drain model purchased from Imtra in New Bedford, MA. In addition to the pump you must also purchase the oil pan drain fitting which replaces the original banjo bolt in the original Westerbeke drain hose. The pump comes with both input and output hoses and is powered by 12 VDC.
I purchased a circuit breaker that trips at 6.75 Amps and mounted it in a plastic "project box" that I got at Radio Shack. I also added a circuit breaker cover which prevents the breaker from being turned on accidentally.
The breaker was mounted in the plastic box and it was then mounted on the starboard bulkhead in the engine compartment just aft of the fresh water coolant recovery bottle. This can be seen in the photo below. Power was brought down from the DC panel.
The pump was then mounted to the same bulkhead below the coolant recovery bottle and just above the ice box drain hand pump as shown in the below photo.
The following parts were used in this project:
1. Qwik Drain Pump part # Q4929112 from Imtra $54.95
2. Drain Pan Fitting part # Q4212150 from Imtra $12.00
3. Circuit breaker 6.75Amp trip from Boater's World $15.00
4. Circuit breaker cover from Boater's World $4.00
5. Plastic "project box" from Radio Shack $4.00
6. Misc. screws (on hand)
7. 4 ft piece of #14 2 conductor wire (on hand)
8. Misc. wire crimp terminals (on hand)
Total cost of this project $89.95
The following tools were required for this project:
1. Assorted screwdrivers
2. Electric drill and drill bit set
3. Adjustable wrench
4. Wire strippers
5. Crimp tool