AC not drawing water 2006 FV270

luvinlife

So yesterday my air conditioner seem to have lost prime? We used it last weekend with no problems. Clicked it on yesterday and it is not drawing water. I disconnected the hose to the sea strainer and it is freely letting water in. What should I try next?

YYZRC

Go for a boat ride with the seacock open!

Liberty44140

If you need to prime at the dock, disconnect the hose on the exit side of the pump and turn it on. Prepare for a major shot of water, then once you see water put the hose back on and re start pump. Yyrc method is cleaner.

johnny44

Whenever I clean out the sea strainer this happens to me. A trick someone taught me is that when you are putting the sea strainer back on, don't tighten it (leave it loose), then open the seacock. Let the water flow through for a little bit, then tighten the strainer. As the water fills, it seems to get rid of all the air. So far, it has worked every time for me.

PickleRick

I used to fight with priming my ac pump every weekend when I'd launch.  At the recommendation of another member here I close my seacock every time I pull out of the water so I no longer need to prime.   Every now and again I'll forget.  Pretty sure it was the same forum member told me to squirt water into my ac water outlet thru hull.  I open my seacock and tell my kid to hit it with the water hose until I hear water hitting pavement then cut it off.  This forum kept me from setting my boat on fire

skennelly

The pump should have a plug on it you can remove and bleed the air out.

luvinlife

All set.  Backflushed through the exit port and it worked! 

J3ff

luvinlife said:

All set.  Backflushed through the exit port and it worked! 

That is what I was getting ready to type

PickleRick

The back flush saves another boater!  

J3ff

when your water gets over 90 degrees - lmk if it still works.

I have flushed with barnacle buster 2 times for more than an hour.. thing wont run over 90 degrees water inlet temp. 

PickleRick

Day temps mid 90s, nights low 70s and water temps 86.4 Friday night and 87.2 Saturday night.   We haven't hit 90 degree water temps here in several years. I have mentioned before I had the same issue with our 2859 our first season.   The AC would work fine after dark but as soon as the sun peaked it's head over the trees we lost all cooling power.   A roll around house portable 9000btu ac did better.  My fix was removing the less than 1 season old 9000 BTU mermaid ac that I was recommend by the mermaid sales rep and installing a 16,500 BTU ac by Marine Air.  They suggested a 12,500 but the price difference was negligible.

We turned on the AC last night as I was finishing dinner.  By the time dinner was done and Ace Ventura pet detective 2 call of the wild was rolling credits it went down from around 93 to 72 degrees.  We keep the thermostat set at 70... because I'm a dad and that's reasonable. The best part is how low of amps it draws.  My genkins 3800 watt inverter generator ran from approximately 10pm night until 5:30 am before running out of fuel.  This was running 3 battery chargers and two fans.   The genkins holds @2 gallons of gas.   I go through maybe 6-7 gallons of gas a weekend running the AC.   We run it around 12 hours a night 


Have you by chance asked your dock neighbors if their ac was still working?  On my last trip to the rock all the live aboards were still running their AC during the day despite 90 degrees water temps killing coral, conch and crabs and near 100 degrees daytime temps.   


I question the sizing your system as my home heat pump and less than ideal quagmire of an vw/Toyota hybrid ac system still perform well even as air temps surpass 95 degrees. 

J3ff

Called the company today.. they said my water pump is about 1000 gallons per hour too much and not magnetic. I do have the correct one already, just not installed.. Guess I know what I'm doing this weekend...

PickleRick

A magnetized water pump?   Please explain what that does?   

YYZRC

I assume magnetic drive.

J3ff

This is what they want me to use: https://www.marinaire.com/pump-p/mfp300kt.htm

This is what is currently installed: https://www.amazon.com/Fountain-Stainless-Bronze-Compatible-FCP517011-20/dp/B09G5WG296/ref=sr_1_25?crid=2KPXRXY4RN1GQ&keywords=Little+Giant+1200+gph&qid=1691453921&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=little+giant+1200+gph,lawngarden,101&sr=1-25

Dunno what difference it makes or why you'd want slower moving water... but like I said, I already have the first one, will give it a shot. 

Hate going into something knowing it's prob not going to work. 

YYZRC

Slower moving water has more time to absorb the heat to take it away. I’m sure there’s a tipping point where it can be too slow but I would trust the opinion of someone in the marine AC business. 

Liberty44140

Jeff, you are supposed to circulate barnacle buster for 4 hours. I saw a significant change in performance after 4 hours circulating.

J3ff

Liberty44140 said:

Jeff, you are supposed to circulate barnacle buster for 4 hours. I saw a significant change in performance after 4 hours circulating.

Yikes. It said an hour on the bottle. Sigh. 

J3ff

YYZRC said:

Slower moving water has more time to absorb the heat to take it away. I’m sure there’s a tipping point where it can be too slow but I would trust the opinion of someone in the marine AC business. 

Sure that kind of makes sense, but so does zip "cold" water through it and getting it out of there fast. Will change it over this weekend. 

PickleRick

I'm pretty sure you're running a marine air unit?    I'm running mine on the same pump that shipped with the install kit that came with my much smaller mermaid ac.   


How is the tap water? 


I've mentioned in another thread that I will run my ac on a garden hose when having to do cabin repairs in the heat of the summer.    Maybe try to do that and see how it works.  I doubt the ground temps from the tap water is more than 80 or so degrees.

Liberty44140

https://rinkerboats.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/12723/air-conditioning-flush