A/C high pressure error

[280 Gator]

my 2008 280 DA air conditioner giving me the high pressure error--three start trys and shuts down. I have made sure the strainer is clean and checked the pump. I have water flow in the tube from the pump to the A/C under the dinette seat. Anything else I can check before I try to find an A/C guy. thanks

 

[280 Gator]

my 2008 280 DA air conditioner giving me the high pressure error--three start trys and shuts down. I have made sure the strainer is clean and checked the pump. I have water flow in the tube from the pump to the A/C under the dinette seat. Anything else I can check before I try to find an A/C guy. thanks

So i still haven't exactly figured out what is going on, but all this time I have been running on dock power. The pump was flowing but I got the high pressure error like it was a lack of water. This weekend I turned on the engines because I noticed the batteries were low.I went ahead and left it on dock power and tried the A/C with engines on and dock power. I could immediately see that the water flow was much higher, and the A/C ran fine. So looking around in the engine compartment I noticed that the AC converter voltage output was 0.0 and not charging the batteries from dock power. My guess is the water pump for the A/C is on DC power and without the engine on the batteries weren't strong enough to run the pump completely. Just my latest guess. Now I have to try to fix the converter. I need to check the converters internal fuses but the screws to the access plate are stripped!! One more to overcome.

 

[beachcombersc]

Pump is AC....

 

[280 Gator]

Pump is AC....

thanks. Im stumped... i spent three evenings trying to flush the water pump lines etc and the pump wouldn't flow much. As soon as i turned on engines it worked great.

 

[ZZ13]

The pump needs to be below the water line to push the water through (it doesn't suck water like the genny pump - I found that out the hard way when winterizing the a/c line). Could be you are right on the water line and somehow when you start the engines the stern is dropping just low enough to get your pump below the water line (I have no idea why that could possibly happen - just trying ideas).

One test you could do is rig up the intake hose at the seacock to a bucket of water and hold the bucket above the pump to gravity feed the pump. If all works that way my guess is your pump is not consistently below the water line.

 

[Art]

thanks. Im stumped... i spent three evenings trying to flush the water pump lines etc and the pump wouldn't flow much. As soon as i turned on engines it worked great.

As you reason I suspect you are not getting enough water flow. Since you flushed the A/C lines I suspect you have an obstruction in your thru hull. With the seacock open momentarily remove strainer cover, you should have a good flow of water overflowing the stainer. If not you probably sucked up something and have a partial obstruction. I don't understand how running the motors helps except perhaps the engines might be drawing the culprit clear. Good luck.

Art

 

[280 Gator]

The pump needs to be below the water line to push the water through (it doesn't suck water like the genny pump - I found that out the hard way when winterizing the a/c line). Could be you are right on the water line and somehow when you start the engines the stern is dropping just low enough to get your pump below the water line (I have no idea why that could possibly happen - just trying ideas).

One test you could do is rig up the intake hose at the seacock to a bucket of water and hold the bucket above the pump to gravity feed the pump. If all works that way my guess is your pump is not consistently below the water line.

As some of you have indicated I think this was my problem. engines had nothing to do with it and was a coincidence. The pump is not DC power so a good theory that didnt hold water!. the pump apparently has no suction lift at all, and I dont think the boat was all the way below the water line. I thought the boat was off the lift last night but no combination of power would pump water. the generator ran fine also. i lowered the lift even further and it worked. I must have been border line below the water line the first time. the lift must have been just holding the back up.Lots to learn. Ill see if it works two nights in a row!
now, on to the AC converter as still no [power out from it.
Thanks everybody.

 

[KP49]

If you are on a lift make sure and turn the AC seacock off when you lift it up, if not it will get an air pocket when you drop it down and sometimes it will take a long time to get water flowing again until you start moving if you have the scoop inlet. Like you said the pump has very little suction, it varies with pump/inlet strainer height and some boats are pretty hard to get primed.

 

[JimFromMD]

Sucking up a jelly fish is one sure way to block the flow and cause that error... having seen it happen too many times on raftups!

 

[280 Gator]

If you are on a lift make sure and turn the AC seacock off when you lift it up, if not it will get an air pocket when you drop it down and sometimes it will take a long time to get water flowing again until you start moving if you have the scoop inlet. Like you said the pump has very little suction, it varies with pump/inlet strainer height and some boats are pretty hard to get primed.

good idea,thanks

 

[Vida]

280 Gator- If continue to have problem take a look at the A/C evaporator grill. This is next to the compressor it looks like a radiator. This get's dirty and air flow is restricted creating high pressure. Use a A/C coil cleaner and hose it down. Also place a new filter. Vida...