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Quick question regarding the Shurflo livelwell pump on my boat. The mechanic rotated my seacock to the off position this spring, and I need it back to the flow through position. The darn thing is at the bottom of the pump, and seems to be frozen. The boat is moored out so I'd rather not crank on the thing and then water comes flushing in. Is that a possibility? Seems like if I break it, the valve will stay in the off position. Any thoughts??
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I have the same model and year. I've found the seacock to be very stiff to operate. I would continue to exert as much force as your able which probably wont damage the seacock nor the through hull fitting.
If you're able to break the handle it should be no big deal.
Another approach would be to remove the hose from the seacock, and put some penetrating lubricant directly on the valve ball and let it soak for awhile. I have no idea what penetrant would work on the valve without damaging it but I suspect some WD40 might work. Before reinstalling the hose it may be worthwhile to see if you can operate the valve just a wee bit. If it opens unexpectedly a face full of water could result but you should be able to close the valve even if it's messy.
I had exactly the same situation a week ago (frozen seacock on the live well feed) on another boat, also kept on a mooring. I elected to not mess with it until the boat was hauled. There's the potential to break something and be open to the sea - even if it's only a tiny chance, not worth it. The seacock is the last line of defense - once that gets busted things can get ugly.
Similar issue on my 1999 21 Outrage. I just replaced the valve, but when removing the valve the top portion of threads that were in the valve broke off. Then while trying to remove the nut the through spun in the hull.
I was just able to use a small 12 volt sawzall to get the old part out.
Before trying I would have an appropriate size plug handy, just in case.
