Marine Air 16000 BTU pops breaker after hours of use...

Pyrojodge

Pyrojodge

Well-Known Member
TECHNICAL Contributor
May 1, 2011
4,248
Lake Erie Ohio
Boat Info
1989 Sea Ray 340 DA
Engines
twin 454 Mercs
Greetings all,

I have a Marine Air 16000 Btu reverse cycle unit that runs and cools great. I have noticed in the past few months that every once in awhile (once a month) the unit will trip the main breaker in the panel. I cleaned the.unit and have great water flow. I looked in the archives but didn't find my particular issue. It does not trip instantly.

Any one have ideas of how to trouble shoot?
 
Jason, get an A/C man out there ASAP!!! I'm going through the after affects of it right now. I'm currently looking for a compressor, might have found one from Beard Marine, I think he (AL is his name) is a sponsor on here. I called them earlier and talked to a guy named Jacob. Very nice and very helpful. Just weighing my options. Good Luck to you Jason.
 
Well folks,

After 3 hours at $95 an hour we have nothing! The HVAC guy checked everything he could think of and all the amperage and current checks good. It blows good cold air but he did experience my breaker tripping. His suggestion replace the breaker. He tells me as this will be a tough chore because of how the breaker was wired.



as you can see in the attached photo there are two breakers for the AC the one on the left is the one that is tripping. The tech told me that this one is a 30 amp breaker but it's not just a plain breaker. Doe's anyone have any ideas on this. I will check it out in more detail on Friday. He told me that as far as he could tell the amperage is spot on, the voltage is not excessive. It kicks on and acts like it should. So do you think the problem really is this breaker? Thanks for any and all help guys.
 
Greetings Jas,

Swap the 30A AC breaker with the 30A cabin breaker.
See if the problem follows the breaker or if there really is something wrong with your AC...
My guess is the breaker bi-metal is just showing its age.

-Mike
 
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Jason
you could also have a cycling switch with an intermittant glitch turning off the compressor
momentarily and then back on before the pressures equalize causing a high amp draw on the restart
try this... get it running then turn it off then immediately back on and see if the breaker pops
if it does ...put an inductive ammeter at the compressor and see if it goes high amp when the
problem occurs again...intermittant electrical can be a nightmare to track down.
 
moparlvr4406 said:
Jason
you could also have a cycling switch with an intermittant glitch turning off the compressor
momentarily and then back on before the pressures equalize causing a high amp draw on the restart
try this... get it running then turn it off then immediately back on and see if the breaker pops
if it does ...put an inductive ammeter at the compressor and see if it goes high amp when the
problem occurs again...intermittant electrical can be a nightmare to track down.
Click to expand...

Greetings Jim

I've personally done this. When we come back to the dock after running the AC on the genny for a while and switch back
to shore power, we usually wait a couple of minutes. If you restart the AC compressor with 'a head' on it - it will trip the breaker.
 
northshore said:
Greetings Jim

I've personally done this. When we come back to the dock after running the AC on the genny for a while and switch back
to shore power, we usually wait a couple of minutes. If you restart the AC compressor with 'a head' on it - it will trip the breaker.
Click to expand...
as have I
but you can get a baseline of what amperage is required to pop the breaker also
if it goes when the meter hits 20 the breaker is weak... sorry ...didn't include that in my line of thought above.
 
Anything from a little arc to corrosion to lost spring pressure can cause a breaker to become intermittent. Maybe it is because I would rather be boating than fixing my boat, but I wouldn't swap the breakers for the cost of a new breaker. The photo shows 2 screws in the top of the breaker so it is at least a 4 pole and maybe even a 6 pole breaker. Changing the Carling B series breaker is easy if you label the wires and keep up with what you are doing. Remove the old breaker, put the new one in its place then switch the wires on the lugs one at a time.

Those breakers are all over Ebay for $7 tp $29:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_n...eaker Marine Boat RV NEW&_itemId=261335883492

It isn't a big job unless you 1)don't have the breaker, 2.)don't know what it is or where it comes from, 3.)don't want to do the job anyway. For a boat owner it shouldn't be but 15 minutes after you get the panel open.
Good luck with it..........
 
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Thank all for the replies. The tech measured everything he could think of amperage wise. The most he ever saw was 18 switching back and forth heat to cool. I would be happy to just replace it but I'm having a hard time getting the correct breaker. The tech has spent time looking. I talked to my local marine max with no help other then it's unavailable. I do know it's a single switch 2 pole breaker. The first one that Frank has seems right but the price has me concerned....
 
Jason, is there a number on it? Make? Amps? You can also take a photo of the wires on it so you get it back together OK. Want me to look at mine? Do you have 2? I have on that comes off the dock, then there is one that goes to the A/C. If you want I n take picture an email it to you.

Mike
 
I think.... haven't seen the breaker in person... but I think it's a newmar 089-0301-2. Need to find if I can source it locally.
 
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