Double whammy to start the weekend!

J3ff

Spending the weekend on the boat just for fun during a tropical storm. Last night at 11:30 the cabin feels warm and the air conditioning is making a weird noise. When it usually is just quiet making the same noise this time it's getting louder and louder and then clicks off. Investigate quickly and notice the circulation pump is not kicking on. It was one of the projects to address this weekend as it had been making some weird noise anyway, luckily I had already ordered one weeks ago and it was on the boat ready to go. Took about 20 minutes to swap that one in, button everything up, push the power for the AC and the same result. 

Took the panel off of the control box for the AC where all the wires go into and noticed some kind of oily substance on the control board and wires in there. Okay time to abandon ship. It's only about 15 minutes to home so I hop in the car and about 30 seconds later realized the front tire is flat! Luckily had a tire inflator in the trunk and drove home White knuckles and went to bed. Add one more thing to the list for the weekend that's going to be nearly impossible to get fixed!

Just can't make this up. After the Storm passes if I go to the dock and the boat is completely gone out into the Atlantic it will not be a surprise at this rate! 

Contacted the air conditioning company as I had just bought it in June. We'll see what they say. Happy weekend. 

Willhound

Did you loosen the lines before you left her? Insured?

aero3113

Any chance the AC ran for a while without the pump working and it overheated?

PickleRick

The ac usually has a low flow sensor which kills the ac before damage can be done.  I trailer launch so ive set mine off a few times before i started to prime after each launch.


What brand ac do you have? 

J3ff

Marinair. It did kick off because of no water flow.. as designed

J3ff

6 to 10 inches of rain coming... Looks like the windshield resealing worked. Guess we'll find out

Handymans342

Capacitor blew up. Replace

J3ff

The new circulation pump had a regular plug end, so I've got it plugged into a regular outlet, runs fine as expected... removed wires from controller box of course. Plugged in the pump to the outlet, turned on the AC, seems to be running normal for now. Am I going to cause a problem running it like this for the weekend? Wont be sleeping on it while it has an electrical issue like this.. 

laureniac1

The oil is from the circulation pump I had this problem several times with the Cal pump. Switched to the March pump and zero problems. If you have a Cal pump it is definitely low quality lol. They just don’t last. I had that oil residue several times until I found it was the oil from the pump. Ac is all about flow - if the pump is pumping water zero problems. I chased this problem for years. 

J3ff

laureniac1 said:

The oil is from the circulation pump I had this problem several times with the Cal pump. Switched to the March pump and zero problems. If you have a Cal pump it is definitely low quality lol. They just don’t last. I had that oil residue several times until I found it was the oil from the pump. Ac is all about flow - if the pump is pumping water zero problems. I chased this problem for years. 

Did the oil go from the pump up through the wire to the control box? (about 6 or so feet of cord.) it is really weird but where I cut the wire closer to the pump was oily and then I noticed on the other side of the cord in the control box it's oily as well.. 

I've since removed the old pump and the old cord. If that's the case and it had nothing to do with the control box, why wouldn't it work with the new pump? that's weird. 

Replaced with this. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YGLRBA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Good/bad? 

laureniac1

The oil runs down the wire- it does not drip- 

laureniac1

No not a good pump call me - March pump 

J3ff

Well, I bought this one back in june, too late to return it now  . Have to deal with the flat tire now and get ready for a nice tropical storm... 

Couple questions:
Is it needed for oil to be in the power line? Wtf.
So now I guess since there's oil where I tried to splice it and oil in the control box, specifically there was oil on the power lines TO the pump dripping down... can we assume that this caused whatever the failure is? 

Ie. how does it run just fine if I plug the pump into a regular outlet... I'd think if there was a problem with the controller board it wouldn't run correctly...where it seems to be running normally...

davidbrooks

@J3ff they say that bad luck comes in threes. Hold on for what's coming up.

J3ff

davidbrooks said:

@J3ff they say that bad luck comes in threes. Hold on for what's coming up.

Well, can the drive oil leak count as #1? that was 3 weeks ago... or does it have to be closer together than that?

J3ff

Did a little more digging. 

- The fan will not do 3 speeds anymore, just 1. 

This doesn't look normal..does it? Is that a popped capacitor? 

PickleRick

When i prime my ac i plug my circulation pump into a regular outlet as to not overheat my compressor while getting my lines primed.  I ran my wash down pump off a t to the ac line to help bleed the system a little more quickly but I'm still stuck bleeding the line from the t in my engine hatch all the way to the v berth. I realize my ac has a low pressure switch but its a pain doing the 5 min wait after it sets off and things get too hot to touch so I don't think it's a good thing to do often.



Luckily for you the circulation pump is a very heavy duty pump designed specifically  for continuous running so keeping it going all weekend shouldnt have any ill effects.  When water temps hit 85 plus and air temps have a low of 80 plus it's not uncommon for my AC to run continuously nearly all night (9 to 10hrs)  i had to install a themro resistor in order to force it to shut off before the lines freeze.  The circulation pump keeps going but my compressor is kicked off until the line temps rise back above freezing. 


This cycle repeated one to two nights a weekend every weekend all summer long.  

Handymans342

Jeff, let me know when the toilet bowl is over your head. 

J3ff

Lol... 

So far so good... 

randy56

Looks like ETA is going to miss the Key's

Handymans342

randy56 said:

Looks like ETA is going to miss the Key's

It’s going right over the Keys and it’s nasty here

J3ff

The $hit is hitting the fan right now... Holy cow. 

Ian

Handymans342 said:

randy56 said:

Looks like ETA is going to miss the Key's

It’s going right over the Keys and it’s nasty here

Thats what I saw was to happen on the news tonight

Stay safe guys.

J3ff

Was in the eye just now, saw stars...was def. the strongest winds this boat has ever seen while in the water... lines across the canal held though. Waiting for it to pick back up again. 

Handymans342

We are getting slammed with rain right now but still have power. 8 inch of rain and still coming down hard

J3ff

Yup, your turn! That was an interesting night on the boat for sure. Thank God for friendly canal neighbors that let people run lines to their davits.. Without them there would be some damage, but thankfully they helped keep the boat off the dock and it came through with no problems. If that was a Tropical Storm/Cat 1...well...anything more than that and it wouldn't be good!! 

J3ff

1. Company says that pump probably burned out the relay on the circuit board. As @laureniac1 said the stock pump that came with rinkers are deemed "improper" for this AC system. Instead - going with a magnetic pump vs whatever it is. Unknown if the oil caused this. However the company says that they actually put a second relay for this situation on the circuit board, so it should be a simple switch over to the new one to see what happens. If it burns it out a new board is 98 bucks. Willing to swtich it over and see what happens as a new pump to replace this NEW pump I just bought is close to 300 bucks. 

2. Tire is still not fixed. Getting anyone to look at your tire in the keys when a TS is approaching has proven to be impossible. Maybe tomorrow. Who knows. Have just had to pump it up each morning. 

3. Sleeping on the boat during a TS was "fun" however it would have been a disaster if not for marina friends and great canal neighbors.  Once again it proves this boat is just too much for me if I can't figure it out on my own. Going to be a bummer to let it go in the spring but I just don't see it lasting long term. 

J3ff

@Handymans342 , storm is coming to you man, get ready! 

Handymans342

Yup round 2 today!!!

halifax212

 Stay safe guys...2020 is almost over. Batten down the hatches!

redlightning

Sometime you will see a silicone type adhesive on a capacitor.  Is it solid like silicone?  Also that heat sync could be the source.  There is a substance that is put on the heat sync and back of transistor attached to it.  It promotes heat transfer.  May just be messy left overs from the board build.  Canister capacitor will generally blow out the top or bottom.  Not the case here.