FATE came with a Speedseal installed and it works fine. Does anyone have experience with the newer Speedseal Life? That has a PTFE disc mounted in a recess of the cover. Supposed to greatly reduce wear on the impeller if it runs dry and substantially increase the amount of time it can run dry without failing.
Mine has a PTFE and a bronze disc. Have not had the pleasure of running it dry yet. Makes changing the impeller a 15 - 20 minute job vs 4 hours…
But I can confirm that the “blue” supposedly run dry impellers do not work with my pump. They do not develop enough suction I suspect, Every time we sailed in reach or running conditions where there was some wave action they would not pump when we went to start the engine . After a couple of “events” like this the Captain made the decision and I was informed of the decision to go back to the standard ones. The black ones work fine. No issues.
That said I have a friend with a Universal 25 and he has no problems with the blue ones…