Article by Capt. Steve Katz
ElectroSea
Maybe you saw the ElectroSea name during recent fishing tournaments and wondered what it is all about.
ElectroSea is a new company with a new product for the marine market. They make a product called ClearLine, designed to reduce or eliminate marine growth in raw water systems on boats operating in saltwater. The most common application would be for a boat with a saltwater cooling system for on-board air conditioning and cooling systems.
If you happened to see one of the ElectoSea ClearLine units, you will see that it looks simple, with just a few components. So how does a compact simple system do so much work that it can keep the raw water lines clear of growth?
The ClearLine system is a biocide generating system for inhibiting bio-fouling within a boats water system. The heart of the system is the electrochlorinator. Using a small amount of electricity, the electrochlorinator produces a controlled amount of chlorine from seawater. This small amount of chlorine inhibits most marine growth in the piping systems without harmful chemicals.
Up until now, there was not a simple way to keep these seawater plumbing systems clean. Depending on the season and location, a seawater cooling system can become clogged in just a few weeks, requiring a descaling to keep the components operating properly. The descaling process can be complicated and expensive, using popular chemical products geared to boaters such as Barnacle Buster and Rydlyme.
Many of you may have heard the horror stories where a boat owner thought it would be a good idea to use Muriatic Acid or similar harsh chemicals to descale the cooling system and the acid ended up eating away or damaging the critical components of the cooling system.
If you have ever descaled your cooling systems, you know it is a laborious job taking hours and lots of costly chemical products. In Florida there are companies that specialize in descaling a boats system and could cost upwards of $1,500 for a large sportfish boat. Cleaning of these systems can be short lived depending on how often the systems are operated and other environmental factors, with many boat owners descaling their systems a few times a year.
Maybe you decided to drop a pool chlorine tablet into the sea strainer, a once popular idea to help eliminate fouling of the downstream water lines. This method does not allow you to regulate the amount of chlorine in your system and many have found out that excessively chlorinated water can damage plastics and metals used in onboard systems.
As with many modern products, technology is the key to the ClearLine system. The system monitors water flow and adjusts the amount of chlorine generated accordingly. The system is designed to operate continuously when there is water flowing throughout the system. It also carefully measures the amount of chlorine in the system, keeping it at predetermined safe levels at all times. If you are wondering if the chlorine is safe for your on-board systems, many municipal drinking water systems have a higher concentration of chlorine than the ClearLine system produces.
Incorporating a ClearLine system to your boat is simple and straight forward. You continue to use your existing intake, strainer and pumps. The ClearLine electrolytic cell is housed in its own strainer that is installed after the sea water pump and generates the chlorine. It is then dispersed at a controlled rate into the downstream components. A small computer controller, with status lights and a display provide real time system status. The system is automatic and only operates when seawater is flowing thought it. The controller has the ability to tie into other shipboard systems and can easily be temporarily stopped if you are using this seawater for livewells, etc.
The ClearLine system won’t descale your system. It is designed to maintain a clean seawater plumbing system. Before installing the system, a professional descaling is required. After that your boat should never need a full descaling. While this product is new, historical testing during the R&D stage has shown nearly all growth eliminated using this system.
There are an abundance of products designed to attract boaters and fishermen, from fishing lures and gear, marine electronics and appearance accessories, but this ClearLine product can actually save you money by reducing your maintenance costs and offer a better performing vessel. At the moment there are no other similar products in the marketplace and this patented system is destined to become a “must have” option onboard many boats.
Captain Steve Katz is the owner of Steve’s Marine Service and holds NMEA, AMEI and NMEA2000 certificates along with ABYC Master Technician certification and factory training from many manufacturers. To reach Steve, call 410-231-3191.
