A/C drain

frenchship · October 2014

Looking at the A/C unit will winterizing I notice that the pan under the unit was rusting and there was no drain pipe attached to the pan. There is actually rubber grommets attached to the pan marked drain but nothing attached to any of them. Should it have a pipe attached to it or it just overflow the pan when full.
300 Express 2007
Thanks

Michael T · October 2014

My 2013 EC 310 and my 2014 EC 360 both have factory installed hoses in the side of the pan going to an overboard drain in the front hull. However the drain plug installed by the HVAC manufacturer are in a stupid position in the pan - the side wall - which allows 1 or more inches of water to accumulate before it starts to drain, meaning that 1" or more of water always sits in the pan - STUPID design. My plan next year is to remove the side drain, plug it and drill a hole in the bottom of the pan to let it drain right away. This is not a Rinker problem - Rinker even tried to fix it by putting the pan on an angle in the factory to help draining. It is a stupid design from cruise air (dometic). MT French - I'd install a through hull fitting and drain your pan or it will rust away. MT

frenchship · October 2014

Thanks MT as usual you come up with good ideas .

pepmyster · October 2014

I checked mine and the whole unit is tilted to the drain hole. A hose is then connected and the over flow goes into my bilge. Anyway, I am replacing the whole unit in the spring, and this time, the drain will go into our shower sump pump, not in the bilge.

Michael T · October 2014

Pep, check the prices of the units (same as Rinker installs) at US sellers, like Defender. Same units as here, often half the friggin' price!!!!! Steve, my friend retrofitted his HVAC by installing a through hull and then got rust stains (from the old pan rust) on his hull. He took some CLR, wiped the pan down, dried it, sanded it, shop vacced the dust, and sprayed it with a white water based epoxy. I helped him. It look us less than an hour to prep and paint the pan. We cut a hole in an old sheet and fitted it around the HVAC unit, also covering-up the coils and electronics and to keep the spray off other areas of the boat and ran a 5 gal shop vac to grab any overspray. His Admiral was woprried we'd make a mess. Didn't. Worked great. MT

Michael T · October 2014

Steve, I have heard that Dometic also makes a fiberglass pan for the unit. My new one came with a white powdercoated pan. In fact the entire unit was powdercoated. Anyway, I'm still going to change the location of the drain because I don't want an inch of water sloshing around up there before it hits the drain hole - stupid engineering by the HVAC manufacturer. MT

frenchship · October 2014

Did anybody knows about this system.

CONDENSATOR : MERMAID CONDENSATOR

Condensation Removal Device

The Mermaid Condensator is the solution to water in your bilge! For anyone looking to preventcondensation from reaching the bilge or the sump pumps, Mermaid has your solution!

Working the the "Venturi" principle, the Mermaid Condensator is installed in-line with the marine air conditioners water discharge line. As the marine air conditioner and sea water pump are running, the device creates a vacuum effect and literally pulls the condensation water out of the drain pan, merges it with the discharge water, and you condensation is now overboard! The principle here is to leave your boat a "dry boat" by removing all condensation from the marine air conditioners drain pan, bilge, and/or sump pump.

Michael T · October 2014

It looks great but I still have to move the drain hole down because it is too high (by about an inch) on the side of the pan wall tr even pull the water out!

frenchship · October 2014

Took A/C unit out of the boat because of rust of drain pan. Rinker 300 2007 bought new in 2010 fresh water use. Really poor design for draining .

Black_Diamond · October 2014

I'm sure mine looks like that too. So I don't look. lol Looks like yours was not even draining well by the height of the water mark. All that said not a good design, it should drain from the bottom. I believe the new units are eith fiberglass or SS pans with better drain options.

MarkB · October 2014

If they wanted a side entry, they should have a recessed area in the pan to ensure everything gravitates to the lower section of the pan and out the side drain. This would ensure the condenser isn't sitting in water. You definitely don't want those condenser coils corroding and leaking gas.

Black_Diamond · October 2014

Makes for good replacement sales though.

That mermaid device would work well: IF....IF...IF you can keep it clean. Scum, dust, dirt etc mess these things up.

Cableguy Greg · October 2014

Does anyone have the part number for the fiberglass pan? The surveyor told me that mine was starting to rust and I needed to address it. Guess I have a winter project on my hands.

Black_Diamond · October 2014

I would just call them and see if they offer a retrofit pan.

http://www.dometic.com/enus/Americas/USA/Marine/

Michael T · October 2014

Good ideas Mark B. that would actually make sense - go figure! .....Frenchship, that's bloody awful and I don't blame Rinker. They put a well-installed factory shim under mine and it still doesn't drain. The water in the pan of my 2014 EC 360 sits EXACTLY like yours. When I leave the boat for a few days I have to use a full sized beach towel to soak it up. Maybe I should get a turkey baster tyo drein it (after all the pan IS a turkey!) LOL or maybe not LOL as the joke is on me! :-( Anyway - IMO I can't expect Rinker to modify every product they buy, particularly when Dometic is the biggest manufacturer out there. It looks like this has been going-on for 7 years! BTW I think BD has hit a homer with his comment! .....and yes, Steve, the compressor does sit in the water along with some of the coils. Nice - real nice! THIS is exactly the kind of cr*p that makes boating unnecessarily expensive. MT

frenchship · October 2014

Back to the boat today to check the drain pipe and found that the drain pipe itself is sitting level or even a bit higher than the pan on my boat.......

askessel · August 2018

I have a 2006 342, and just replaced the AC with a Dometic 16,000 BTU. However upon install, there was no hose attached to the previous condensate drain pan and after running it for a few weeks, mold etc. has started to develop. Has anyone had experience running a hose to drain the condensate pan in a 342? The AC sits up front in the bow, under the bed. Wondering if there is a thru-hull drain to tie into up there, or if it needs to go all the back along the port side to the bilge?

Handymans342 · August 2018

Thru hull about 12 inches away

Dirtythirty · August 2018

I too, have a rusty pan, but as you can see, the drain is on the side (not bottom) and the hose exits below the water line on my port side. Because my fitting is on the side of the pan, the pan never fully drains. Hence, standing water and rust.

Handymans342 · August 2018

Wow Dirty, that looks like the drain hose goes up and there should never be a drain thru hull below the water line. I installed some additional shims on the opposite side to really elevate one end. Eventually the bottom of my compressor rusted out leaking out the freon. My new unit has a plastic pan.

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