water valve

[4604me]

I bought my boat last summer. there was no valve from the pump to the motor, so I installed a ball valve mainley for safty reasons.(leak at hoses ect.) I run the valve wide open, only becouse it has proubley run this way for 28 years. it runs cool about 140 at idle, as far as I can rember. so do I need to throttle this down to run a little hotter, and why, I don't think there was ever a valve there. also I have logs for exaust if that matters. thanks for any input. steve...

[Mighty Thor]

I run the valve for a couple of reasons. Our water here never gets much warmer than 70 degrees so my engine runs a little too cool without the valve. You want the engine hot enough to burn out any water that gets into the oil. Also the engine will run better at a higher temp. I try to keep mine at about 160 but lots of people go a little higher. I also want to be able to shut off the water from the outside if I need to. I also believe that it does act as a pressure reducer to some extent because by restricting the flow it will reduce the pressure on the down stream side of the valve. Having said that, I put in a 1/2 inch ball valve by putting in a step up coupling on the water pipe, then the valve and then a step down coupling to the nipple and water hose. That way I have the same size hole in the ball valve as the rest of the water system. If I ever had a need to open the thing all the way, there would be virtually no restriction.