A/C pump lost prime?

Z-Worthy said:
UPDATE:

So the garden hose trick did not work. I don't know if it's just too long of a run on my boat, or if there was too much back pressure, but I had water going EVERYWHERE except into that outlet. I tried it multiple different times, and never got it to work.

It's blowing 25+ and I didn't feel like dealing with all that, so I just took the laborious route and removed the 20yo hose from the outlet on the pump. Apparently this is the first time it's been removed since it left the factory, because it was all sorts of fun. But after managing that, I actually heard the air bubble gurgle up and out. Reinstalled and voila!

Note to self: clean out the strainer BEFORE the boat comes out of the water next year. :smt017
Click to expand...
Glad it worked. Hope the pump was easy to get to.
 
SCORPIO said:
Like JVM, my 300 DA doesn't prime from a ride. I usually use the garden hose on the thru hull and back fill it. It's quick and easy and always works.
Click to expand...

Same hull and model.....hmmm....thought it was just mine. Maybe it wasn't the strainer. Maybe it's just the location of the intake itself.
 
Z-Worthy said:
UPDATE:

So the garden hose trick did not work. I don't know if it's just too long of a run on my boat, or if there was too much back pressure, but I had water going EVERYWHERE except into that outlet. I tried it multiple different times, and never got it to work.

It's blowing 25+ and I didn't feel like dealing with all that, so I just took the laborious route and removed the 20yo hose from the outlet on the pump. Apparently this is the first time it's been removed since it left the factory, because it was all sorts of fun. But after managing that, I actually heard the air bubble gurgle up and out. Reinstalled and voila!

Note to self: clean out the strainer BEFORE the boat comes out of the water next year. :smt017
Click to expand...

Sorry the "easy" way didn't work, but glad you got it working. :thumbsup:
 
I use a shop vac and suck the water into it from the thru-hull. Maybe that will work. A change in vac pitch means the prime worked.
 
JVM225 said:
Same hull and model.....hmmm....thought it was just mine. Maybe it wasn't the strainer. Maybe it's just the location of the intake itself.
Click to expand...
It looks like it should self prime since strainer and pump are below the waterline, but it won't. Even running boat with seacock open won't prime it. Last year, we were out running for a day with seacock open. AC pump was working in morning before trip but on return to slip, prime was lost AFTER running all day!? No idea why.


I like the Shop Vac idea, I may try that this year.
 
SCORPIO said:
It looks like it should self prime since strainer and pump are below the waterline, but it won't. Even running boat with seacock open won't prime it. Last year, we were out running for a day with seacock open. AC pump was working in morning before trip but on return to slip, prime was lost AFTER running all day!? No idea why.

I like the Shop Vac idea, I may try that this year.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem priming mine when launched at the beginning of each season over the many years I owned that boat. It never primed simply by going for a ride no matter how long the ride. But I don't remember ever losing prime during normal operation over a season.
Is it possible that you have a small leak somewhere between the pump and the a/c unit? That might cause you to lose prime.
If the hose is pretty old you may want to replace it and use fresh stainless clamps as a precaution anyway. You could attach the new hose to the old with a barbed nipple and use the old hose to pull the new one through.
I did it as a maintenance item with the help of an assistant feeding the hose in from one side (the dinette) while I pulled it from the other (under aft berth) side years back. The original hose was looking a little tired and I didn't want to have a problem.
I remember getting a cheap plastic barbed nipple that was really tight and cutting back to a fresh section of the old hose to make sure the nipple was in tight, then wrapping the joined sections with tape for added safety so I could pull it through without using clamps.
I didn't want to use clamps that might get caught on something, or risk having the joint come apart before it was all the way through.
Overall, it was a pretty easy job and I don't remember the hose being expensive.
I also changed the hose on the other side of the pump while I was at it.
 
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I changed that hose when I bought the boat in 2008 for the reasons you mentioned. I did it the same way except I had no helper and I pulled from the aft cabin to the dinnette, but same idea. I don't honestly know why she lost prime after a run, it never did it before or since, just that one time. I'm not in the habit of closing the seacock prior to a run so I was surprised it lost prime. It did easily prime with the hose in the thru hull trick. I have to tape a hose to my boat hook and use that to get the hose to the fitting as my dock finger doesn't go out far enough to reach the fitting any other way.
 
SCORPIO said:
I changed that hose when I bought the boat in 2008 for the reasons you mentioned. I did it the same way except I had no helper and I pulled from the aft cabin to the dinnette, but same idea. I don't honestly know why she lost prime after a run, it never did it before or since, just that one time. I'm not in the habit of closing the seacock prior to a run so I was surprised it lost prime. It did easily prime with the hose in the thru hull trick. I have to tape a hose to my boat hook and use that to get the hose to the fitting as my dock finger doesn't go out far enough to reach the fitting any other way.
Click to expand...

Since your finger doesn't go out that far and you'd have to rig a pole and hose to get to the discharge, then you may want to try the other way first since your a/c pump is easily accessible.
With the a/c off, loosen the clamp and remove the hose from the discharge side of the pump momentarily.
As soon as water flows out of the discharge side of the pump shove the hose back on and re-tighten the clamp. Should only take you a few seconds to do the whole thing.
Turn your a/c on and you should be good to go.
 
Glad to run across this discussion, for we experienced the same problem yesterday (our first Sea Ray which is a 280 - 2007) with the AC/Heating in the cabin.

We just launched the boat and drove it no wake zone a short distance to to our slip after being shipped to us 300 miles + by a transporter. Once we turned on system we noticed no water coming out of the discharge front port side. This may sound like a dumb question but should the water also discharge when the heating is on? I knew it should for A/C but had never checked for discharge during the hearing stage. I checked the sea cock and it was on. I am thinking it may have easily have lost its prime during transporting; as it was working fine last week during our sea trial; which we latter spent the night on it and it all worked fine.

I will try all the other info posted thus far. Thanks all!


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I had same problem last weekend with mine when we launched. I read this thread and went with the remove discharge hose suggestion. It worked like a charm. Thanks
 
JVM225 said:
I remember getting a cheap plastic barbed nipple that was really tight and cutting back to a fresh section of the old hose to make sure the nipple was in tight, then wrapping the joined sections with tape for added safety so I could pull it through without using clamps.
I didn't want to use clamps that might get caught on something, or risk having the joint come apart before it was all the way through.
Overall, it was a pretty easy job and I don't remember the hose being expensive.
I also changed the hose on the other side of the pump while I was at it.
Click to expand...

:smt021 Tape instead of double hose clamps on a water hose below the water line?? :smt021
 
66pony said:
I use a shop vac and suck the water into it from the thru-hull. Maybe that will work. A change in vac pitch means the prime worked.
Click to expand...
That's how I winterize mine. With the boat on land, I open the seacock and stick the shop vac hose over the discharge port and let it suck all of the water out of the system. I never use anti freeze in the AC circuit.

As to priming. I have used all 3 of the methods above with success. Get the boat on plane, use garden hose at the discharge port, and remove the hose from where it attaches to the AC pump inlet.
 
I was in the bilge yesterday looking at that hose and it dawned on me that if I added a PVC tee with a couple of barbs on each end, and a ball valve on the 3rd connection, I could simply open the valve to let the air out.

There would never be a need to remove the hose or prime it through the through hull. I might just give it a try. I can't see how it would cause any problems. There's not much pressure in that line, is there?
 
skibum said:
I was in the bilge yesterday looking at that hose and it dawned on me that if I added a PVC tee with a couple of barbs on each end, and a ball valve on the 3rd connection, I could simply open the valve to let the air out.

There would never be a need to remove the hose or prime it through the through hull. I might just give it a try. I can't see how it would cause any problems. There's not much pressure in that line, is there?
Click to expand...

I was thinking on doing the same thing. It should work. Now what size PVC to buy?
 
Three boats with AC. Running the boat and starting the AC while underway always works for me to prime the pump. Why crawl into the ER and mess with hoses when this method is so easy?
 
JimT said:
Why crawl into the ER and mess with hoses when this method is so easy?
Click to expand...

I keep my boat on a rack. There are some days when I have the marina put my boat in the water just to dockalounge. I do not plan on going anywhere. Getting underway isn't a convenient way to prime a pump. The AC outlet is on the starboard side and the dock is on the port side, so getting a hose to the outlet isn't convenient. Hitting the toggle switch on the dash and reaching into the bilge to turn a valve would be pretty convenient.
 
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