Mrichardson
New Member
- Nov 28, 2009
- 22
- Boat Info
- 1989 Sea Ray 340 Express Cruiser
1977 Century Arabian - 17'
- Engines
- Mercruiser
All
I've gone through a couple more air conditioning problems over the past few weeks and I thought that I would add them to the forum in case anyone needs problem solving in the future.
My boat: 1989 Sea Ray Express Cruiser 340
Air Conditioning System: Marine Air
Problem 1: Loss of cooling
I noticed this problem almost as pure luck. I came in the cabin from the outside and thought that the air did not feel as cool as usual. I looked to see if the compressor was running and it was not. I switched the system from heat to cool and there was no response from the compressor. I could not get it to come on. So, I turned the sytem completely off and after a few seconds I heard a 'click'. When I restarted it, the compressor came on for a moment but then stopped. I went outside to check the water flow for the cooling water and found that there was no water being pumped through the system. I then knew that the compressor was overheating thus the reason that it was not running.
I got down into the bilge and checked the strainer and found that it was dirty but not plugged. I then disconnected the water line from both sides of the cooling water pump and I saw that water was running in through the strainer just fine. I hooked up my water hose to the other side of the tubing and a friend told me that water was flowing out the port on the side just fine. Therefore I knew that there was something wrong with the water pump. When I touched it, it was very hot. I then disconnected the water pump from the electrical system (turned off all power before disconneting) and then unscrewed it from it's mount. I took it out and took it apart and found no problems. My pump is a magnetically coupled pump and I found that the rotor would turn but I could not figure out why it would not pump. After cleaning I found that it still would not pump after reconnecting the electrical. An old timer watching me on the dock that day helped me see that the pump itself is cooled by the water that it is pumping. There are two small tubes that run from the water pump turbine back into the motor itself. I managed to take apart the pump housing so that I could get to the two tubes and just as a guess, I blew into one of the tubes. Turns out that the return tube was right in my eye and I got a face full of brown mud. It seems that while sitting in my marina running the AC, the pump had collected a lot of muddy water and had become clogged with mud. Once I had free flow through that cooling system for the pump, I hooked it up and it ran just fine. It saved me a lot of cash because I was getting ready to spend a couple hundred dollars for a new pump. It's run perfectly since then and all in all it was a simple fix. All total it took me about 2 hours to figure it out, clean it and reinstall it.
Problem 2: Cooling air not quite as cold
I noticed this problem one day when I was in the cabin and I could sense that the air was not quite cold enough. It seemed kind of sticky in the cabin and when I put my hands in front of the vent, the air was cool but not cold. Normally it is as cold as a meat locker in my cabin but on this night it was just kind of cool. It was one of the hottest days of the year and the night was rather warm. In the morning I started investigating it after I had thought about it all night. The compressor was running, the cooling water system was running and all in all, things seemed fine except it was not cool enough. I have a fresh load of refrigerant from a switching valve replacement from earlier in the year so I knew the system was fully charged. The next morning I got access to my AC unit and I could immediately see that it was covered in ice. Nearly half the cooling unit was covered in a thick block of ice. I turned off the unit and proceeded to use a hair dryer to start melting the ice. I spent most of an hour trying to warm the unit but ultimately I decided to just turn off the AC and let the ambient warm air melt the ice.
Once all the ice was gone, the unit began to cool again as usual and I have had no problems. Now whenever I am gone for a few hours on a hot day I will turn off the AC so that it has a chance to defrost. It always cools the cabin quickly so I would rather have an hour of waiting while the cabin cools - rather than an AC unit that is suffering wear and tear to cool a cabin when I am not around. Plus there is always the risk of a mud clog mentioned above or a tube failure which could flood my bilge. To me, it is better to be safe with a warm cabin while I am gone - than to have a massive water leak or an AC failure which is at least a $300 service fee.
Hope this helps anyone.
Michael Richardson
I've gone through a couple more air conditioning problems over the past few weeks and I thought that I would add them to the forum in case anyone needs problem solving in the future.
My boat: 1989 Sea Ray Express Cruiser 340
Air Conditioning System: Marine Air
Problem 1: Loss of cooling
I noticed this problem almost as pure luck. I came in the cabin from the outside and thought that the air did not feel as cool as usual. I looked to see if the compressor was running and it was not. I switched the system from heat to cool and there was no response from the compressor. I could not get it to come on. So, I turned the sytem completely off and after a few seconds I heard a 'click'. When I restarted it, the compressor came on for a moment but then stopped. I went outside to check the water flow for the cooling water and found that there was no water being pumped through the system. I then knew that the compressor was overheating thus the reason that it was not running.
I got down into the bilge and checked the strainer and found that it was dirty but not plugged. I then disconnected the water line from both sides of the cooling water pump and I saw that water was running in through the strainer just fine. I hooked up my water hose to the other side of the tubing and a friend told me that water was flowing out the port on the side just fine. Therefore I knew that there was something wrong with the water pump. When I touched it, it was very hot. I then disconnected the water pump from the electrical system (turned off all power before disconneting) and then unscrewed it from it's mount. I took it out and took it apart and found no problems. My pump is a magnetically coupled pump and I found that the rotor would turn but I could not figure out why it would not pump. After cleaning I found that it still would not pump after reconnecting the electrical. An old timer watching me on the dock that day helped me see that the pump itself is cooled by the water that it is pumping. There are two small tubes that run from the water pump turbine back into the motor itself. I managed to take apart the pump housing so that I could get to the two tubes and just as a guess, I blew into one of the tubes. Turns out that the return tube was right in my eye and I got a face full of brown mud. It seems that while sitting in my marina running the AC, the pump had collected a lot of muddy water and had become clogged with mud. Once I had free flow through that cooling system for the pump, I hooked it up and it ran just fine. It saved me a lot of cash because I was getting ready to spend a couple hundred dollars for a new pump. It's run perfectly since then and all in all it was a simple fix. All total it took me about 2 hours to figure it out, clean it and reinstall it.
Problem 2: Cooling air not quite as cold
I noticed this problem one day when I was in the cabin and I could sense that the air was not quite cold enough. It seemed kind of sticky in the cabin and when I put my hands in front of the vent, the air was cool but not cold. Normally it is as cold as a meat locker in my cabin but on this night it was just kind of cool. It was one of the hottest days of the year and the night was rather warm. In the morning I started investigating it after I had thought about it all night. The compressor was running, the cooling water system was running and all in all, things seemed fine except it was not cool enough. I have a fresh load of refrigerant from a switching valve replacement from earlier in the year so I knew the system was fully charged. The next morning I got access to my AC unit and I could immediately see that it was covered in ice. Nearly half the cooling unit was covered in a thick block of ice. I turned off the unit and proceeded to use a hair dryer to start melting the ice. I spent most of an hour trying to warm the unit but ultimately I decided to just turn off the AC and let the ambient warm air melt the ice.
Once all the ice was gone, the unit began to cool again as usual and I have had no problems. Now whenever I am gone for a few hours on a hot day I will turn off the AC so that it has a chance to defrost. It always cools the cabin quickly so I would rather have an hour of waiting while the cabin cools - rather than an AC unit that is suffering wear and tear to cool a cabin when I am not around. Plus there is always the risk of a mud clog mentioned above or a tube failure which could flood my bilge. To me, it is better to be safe with a warm cabin while I am gone - than to have a massive water leak or an AC failure which is at least a $300 service fee.
Hope this helps anyone.
Michael Richardson
