1-805-484-2992
Quotes - Engineering - SalesHeat Exchangers by Engine
From the nameplate to a shipped cooler
Almost every call starts the same way. A jacket water cooler on a working boat has gone through, the tube bundle is scaled or the shell is weeping at the bonnet, and the engine is down. The fastest route to a replacement is the engine itself: model, rating and application tell us the heat load band, and the old cooler tells us the envelope. These pages organise the catalogue the way an engineer actually approaches the problem, by engine rather than by frame size.
The physical arrangement is the same across every model here. Seawater or raw water runs through the tubes, in copper-nickel or titanium, with zinc anodes in the bonnets to take the corrosion. Engine coolant or oil runs through the shell. That split is why a marine cooler is built differently from an industrial one, and it is why the option set on the part number matters more than the frame size when you are ordering a replacement.
What we need from you is short. The engine model and its rating in horsepower, a photo of the nameplate on the old cooler, the connection sizes and thread type, and whether the boat is on seawater, brackish or lake water. From that we work the duty against the engine data sheet and quote a replacement with the right shell length, pass arrangement and material set. Call 1-805-484-2992 or send it to Sales@HeatX.com.
How It Works
From Engine Model to Replacement Cooler
1.
Why We Index By Engine
A chief engineer looking for a cooler does not think in shell diameters. He thinks in the engine he is standing next to, the number stamped on the block, and the part number on the casting that just failed. Indexing the catalogue by engine removes a translation step that costs hours on a boat that is already down and losing charter days.
Underneath, the selection is still made on heat load. The engine model narrows the horsepower band, the horsepower band narrows the heat rejection figure taken from the engine data sheet, and that figure with the seawater inlet temperature sets the surface area. The engine index simply gets you to the right conversation faster.
2.
Jacket Water And Oil Are Separate Duties
The jacket water cooler takes engine coolant down against seawater and is sized from horsepower and the jacket water heat rejection on the data sheet. The lube oil cooler is a different problem: oil is a poor heat transfer fluid, viscosity changes the film coefficient sharply with temperature, and allowable pressure drop on the oil side often drives the selection more than area does.
On many installations both hang off the same seawater line, so the flow available and the pressure drop budget have to be shared between them. When you send a nameplate for one, tell us what else is on the same raw water circuit. See Oil Cooling for the oil side and Flow and Pressure Drop for the arithmetic.
3.
Materials For Raw Water Service
The default marine build is 90/10 copper-nickel tubes, bronze bonnets and zinc anodes. That combination has decades of service behind it in clean, cool seawater at sensible tube velocities and it remains the right answer for most vessels. Zincs are consumable and are the cheapest insurance on the boat.
Titanium tubes are the option when the raw water is warm, sandy, polluted or chlorinated, or when the vessel sits in a marina berth for long periods. Titanium is effectively immune to seawater corrosion and erosion at the velocities these coolers run. The comparison is set out in Titanium vs Copper-Nickel.
| MAKE | MODELS COVERED | WHAT THE PAGES COVER | START HERE |
| Caterpillar | CAT 3406, CAT 3408, CAT 3412, CAT 3508, CAT 3512, CAT C-Series | 3400 series, 3500 series and the C-Series | Caterpillar page |
| Cummins | 6BT and QSB, 6CT and QSC, NT855 and N14, QSM11, KTA19, KTA38 and KTA50 | B and C blocks, N14, QSM11 and the K family | Cummins page |
| Detroit | 6-71 and 8V71, 8V92 and 12V92, 12V71 and 16V71, Series 60, 149 Series | From the 6-71 to the 16V149 | Detroit page |
| John Deere | 4045, 6068, 6090 and 6135 | 4045, 6068, 6090 and 6135 | John Deere page |
| Other Marine Engines | Volvo Penta, MAN, MTU, Yanmar, Perkins, Mitsubishi | Replacement coolers for imported blocks | Other Marine Engines page |
The Engine Sets The Duty
Horsepower and heat rejection from the engine data sheet set the surface area; the seawater source and the piping set the material and the connections.
Replacing A Cooler You Already Have
Old part numbers, discontinued lines and unmarked castings
Most of what we ship is replacing something. Sometimes the nameplate is legible and the part number decodes cleanly. Sometimes the plate is gone, the shell has been painted over six times, and all you have is a tape measure and the piping. Both cases are workable, the second just needs dimensions: shell diameter, overall length, connection sizes and positions, and mounting centres.
Discontinued lines are routine here, including ITT Standard units that have been out of production for years. We work from the geometry and the duty rather than from a cross-reference table, which is why an unmarked casting is not a dead end. See ITT Standard Replacement and Replacing an Existing Cooler for the dimensions worth taking before you call.
Common FAQs
Start with the engine model and its rated horsepower, then send a photo of the nameplate on the cooler you are replacing. Those two things put us inside the right frame range immediately. Connection sizes and the space envelope settle the rest, and we confirm the selection back to you before anything is built.
Yes. The engine index covers the models we see most often, but selection is done on heat load and geometry, not on a lookup table. Send the horsepower, the heat rejection from the engine data sheet if you have it, and the dimensions of the old cooler. Call 1-805-484-2992 with what you have.
Usually yes. Jacket water and lube oil are different duties with different fluids, different pressure drop limits and different sizing methods. Some smaller installations combine them, but on most marine diesels you will have a jacket water cooler and a separate lube oil cooler, often sharing one raw water line.
The frame is the same but the option set is not. A marine build uses copper-nickel or titanium tubes, bronze bonnets and zinc anodes. Running a copper-tube industrial build on seawater will not last. Tell us the water source when you order so the right option codes go on the part number.
It depends on the frame size and the option set. Common marine builds in the smaller frames move quickly; large shells and titanium tube bundles take longer. Tell us when the boat has to sail and we will tell you honestly what can be met. Call 1-805-484-2992 for current lead times.
