Air conditioner water discharge

[Tampa Tug]

Since I got my 2011 R29, I've had numerous people tell me that the AC water discharge from the side of the boat is not normal. It does not come out in an even flow but sprays out about 3 - 4 feet like if you had your thumb over the end of a garden hose. It sprays in all directions. It also makes a quite a noise when it starts up..I don't know if that is normal but I have not heard this from other boats. I saw that the fittings on the inside of the hull were "L" fittings and after sticking a finger inside both outlets from the outside, I noted a protrusion of some sort on the inside of the fittings at the 12:00 position. The other three fittings don't have that. I was wondering if the "L" fittings were causing this or if that protrusion was causing the AC to spray like it does. I have no idea what is "normal" for the R29. Hoping you can advise. Thanks

 

[GlennD]

We just received our 2010 R29 and it acts the same way when the A/C is on. I've noticed that it's different from the other boats, but haven;t looked into it as a possible problem yet.

Glenn
Peregrine

 

[Jerold Geisenheimer]

I have an R-29 and have noticed the same spray pattern from A/C cooling outlet. I guess this is "normal" since it seems to be common. Jerry Geisenheimer

 

[Commander Ed]

For you Big Ranger guys. I have the R-25, and my AC discharge is a nice smooth flow. No Spewing - just a steady solid stream of water. Could be an R-29 specific issue??? Additionally, the AC on Sea Dragon is very quiet as it regards the pump. The Fan is a little noisy, but not the pump.... Cdr. Ed

 

[Levitation]

No spewing of water, steady solid discharge to about a foot away from the hull... Andrew needs to chime in on this for the 29 owners...
Yes, the AC compressor is relatively quiet... The fan is obnoxious at any speed...

Previous owner added a tee fitting and a valve to operate the AC when boat camping in an RV park, etc... Thought it was a good idea until the first time I saw how much water the pump moves through the unit... You will get tossed out of the park if you try it...

 

[wefings]

Its normal for the new Marine Air systems on the R 29s . The pump is supplying two compressors and the fitting has 2 splines on the inside to allow tightening the fitting . They skew the spray pattern and the flow seems stronger than the 25s and original 29s .
Marc

 

[GlennD]

Yay! We're normal. Thanks Marc

Glenn Dietz
2010 R29 Peregrine

 

[Tym]

Hi. We recently had our 2010 29' Tug, Circle T, out of the water. When she was relaunched, the air conditioning units would run for a while (before we got an error message on the controllers) but there was no water coming out of the port side discharge. Looking at the manual, it seems we just need to somehow prime the water pump that feeds the compressors.

I talked to Commander Ed over dinner about how he does this on his 25' Sea Dragon, and he showed me how he feeds a garden hose to the discharge side of his water pump. Looking at ours, I see our 29's pump is different and not nearly as easy a chore.

Since these boats are trailerable, I'm thinking there must be some easy way to prime the water pump that feeds the two compressors since they might become unprimed every time the boat's out of the water. But I don't know what it is... I'm afraid to assume they're self-priming as I don't want to burn anything up. And I've tried loosening the small plastic strainer to let water fill the intake line, but that didn't work. So I'm stumped...

Can anyone help? Thanks very much...

 

[Stella Maris]

Tym,
Karma's AC has only lost the prime once, I tried like you to get it primed by everyway I could think of. I primed Solitude's the same way as Commander Ed did. On the R-29 though, this can prove difficult when they are in the water.

Finally I gave up for the night and decided to give it a go in the morning. Then I just simply waited until we were underway, fired up the AC and she started to pump. It seems the water flowing past the intake was enough to break the air lock. (Make sure the through hull is open..... I am sure you did but.....)
David

 

[Tym]

Thanks for the reply David. I appreciate it.

I have tried it both underway and tied up in the slip, on different days, with no success. The thru-hull is open, and we've loosened the clear plastic filter to allow air out and water in. So far, nothing is working. I'm afraid to run it too much without water running through it as I don't know if the pump can run dry without damage.

Anybody else have any experience with this, or any ideas?
Thanks again.

 

[Ainokea]

I have this issue occcasionally on the 25 when she has been hauled. Back feeding through the discharge did not work for me. What I did was close the the through hull for the A/C and then remove the hose going into the A/C pump. Make sure this is not pointed at the engine or electrical items. Turn on the A/C run back and open through hull for A/C and then put hose back on to pump . The additional pressure of the water running from the hose plus the pump operation seems to over come any air in the inlet line. Not sure where the A/C pump is located on the 29 or if this will work as it is feeding two systems.

Frank

 

[Stella Maris]

Tym,
This was Andrew's reponse about two years ago as to how to prime them:

I have not ecperienced the priming issue myself including on your boat Darrel. This seems to be happening for people that load and unload off of a trailer. If you are on a trailer then try turning the ac on with the boat backed in the water on the trailer. This will keep the nose high and help with priming. If that doesn't work then I will run the boat up to planing speed and try forcing the water in the scoop, and it usually primes by then. Let me know if that works for you!

Hopefully this will work!

 

[Tym]

David, thanks again. I'm glad you're so organized !! And I'd like to thank Frank for his reply also.

I'm leaving town now and won't be able to try the high speed method until next week, but certainly will as soon as I can. If that fails, I'm thinking I could have our diver hold the garden hose to the outside of the through hole with it turned on full blast while I turn on the a/c unit inside. We don't own a trailer so can't try the tipping method.

I'll let you know next week how it worked. Thanks again very much.
Best Regards

 

[RProffer]

That is why I keep a mask and snorkel in my boat, for time like this.

 

[Stella Maris]

Tym,
If you are a bow in Starboard tie, do a stern in Port tie and you should be able to reach the outlet from the dock. You could then do the garden hose trick yourself. That worked on our R-25 when I had this issue. The difference was, Solitude was sitting in Lake Mohave in 85 degree water. I just got in the water with the fresh water washdown hose and held it to the outlet. Not trying that in Puget Sound though!

Good luck!

 

[doke01]

When I have this problem I loosen the hose on the exit side of the AC water pump in the engine compartment with the pump running. Once the water starts to flow I tighten up the hose and off she goes. I am thinking of adding a valve that I can open on the exit side of the pump so I don't have to use a screwdriver any more.

 

[Tym]

Success !!

I got my younger friend set up with the garden hose, goggles and snorkle, turned the garden hose on full blast, and before he went into the water I went inside the saloon and turned on the air conditioning so it would be trying to pump. Well, darned if it didn't immediately start pumping water out the side -- before he had to go in the water !! I guess we scared it into working!

Next time I'll know to close the thru-hull valve before the boat's taken out of the water and hopefully avoid this whole problem.

Thanks everyone, for your suggestions and good wishes !!

 

[Tampa Tug]

Since posting the original problem here, the stock "L" shaped through hull fittings have been replaced with straight through hull fittings. The result?...no noise whatsoever when the water starts to discharge and the flow has been reduced from 3 feet to about a foot from the hull and comes out like a garden hose. Problem solved! For those wanting a fix this is the way to go.

 

[Andrew Custis]

The fitting used is a 90 degree fitting that will cause some unusual spray pattern. This is not an issue with your Air Conditioner and is completely normal. The fitting used also has a notch on the inside of the thru hull so we can hold the thru hull in place while installing. This will also create the strange spray patttern.

David,

Thank you for finding that post from two years ago! Forgot about that one! 😀

 

[Bart Keil]

We replaced the small plastic strainer with a Groco bronze strainer with a clean out basket. Now I just close the through hull clean the basket and replace. Open seacock and good to go. Old system let water drain out losing prime.