Tell-tale w/ a pressure gauge?

[rich_kildow]

1990 1208x90B Force 120. A while back I added a pressure and temperature gauge to help monitor my motor. I just stumbled across the threads for adding a tell-tale, but with a well functioning pressure gauge is this even necessary? Would it mess up my readings on my gauge?

The gauge works very well, usually reading at the 1/2 way mark. I put a new impeller in yesterday and it reads near 3/4 now at throttle. The impeller was worn and had taken a set, but was still functioning nicely, so I was able to detect a fairly minor decrease in performance.

 

[gm280]

rk, any time you provide another port to allow the water to exit, it will drop the pressure in the system. It is just how such things work. JMHO

 

[jerryjerry05]

Myself!! I think I'd rather have a telltale and a working overheat alarm that you can hear before the rest of the stuff.

​A gauge: I'd get sea sick watching the gauge all day.

99% of the alarms aren't loud enough to be heard over a running motor.
The tiny buzzey is usually under the dash or console and can't be heard unless you have your head close.

​Now if the gauge came with a flashing light????

 

[dingbat]

I have a tell tale and a pressure gauge with alarm. Having said that, I'd take a pressure gauge over a tell tale any day and twice on Sunday.

A tell tale is a yes / no device. There is no differentiating between 2 psi and 4 psi which is my criteria to change the water pump.

Much easier to look down than to turn around And try to locate the tale tell stream under.

 

[gm280]

I read a lot of comments concerning tale tell streams and pump pressure gauges and whatnot. I did install all those things on my Bass Boat. Why? Because I wanted to make certain I was pumping water every time the engine was turning. But in reality, after a while, you simply neglect the gauges and use the tale tell as a quick go by, and travel on.

And thinking back, the gauge was merely another interesting looking add on that looked impressive, but really unneeded. And then it came to me, how many water impellers has anybody ever heard about that simple quit when running the lake or water? And I personally can't think of even one story like that. If at the dock you see a good tale tell stream coming out of the engine, you are good to go.

And with the way inlets are designed on engines, it would extremely hard to block off all the inlets to stop water entering. So I stopped worrying about that. But that is just me! If I see a good tale tell stream, I carry on and enjoy the water. JMHO

 

[dingbat]

Sucking up a plastic bag or similar object is a very real possibility. It's happened to me a number of years ago.

Apparently accounts for 1% of all insurance claims

http://daviscoltdweb.com/Engineering...t_syndrome.htm

 

[jerryjerry05]

When I lived in Md. and boated on the Chesapeake.
The "Picked up a bag" was a real problem.
Back then the bay was full of crap and people Just threw everything they didn't want overboard.