A/C issues

[MonacoMike]

I'm with @sbw1 and I'd be SHOCKED if you had any growth in your system. I was speaking to @MonacoMike last week and he told me about his bromine tablets...I realized it's been a while since I checked my A/C strainer. I took a peek this past weekend - nothing in it. No debris, no slime, no growth. Water temps aren't that warm on Lake Michigan...I'm just up the coast from you. I used to slip in Portage, no growth issues there either.

Solid flow out of my thru hull discharge (stick a small piece of clear plastic tubing in there to prevent the drips).

Did you buy the boat locally or out of a warm climate?

Current boat is a Lake Michigan boat. I have done that for years, my 270 would have to be backflushed to get the growth out a time or two a summer. I just moved up my bromine tablet rotation to once a week. There is nothing in my strainer usually (excepting the schools of tiny fish I get occasionally) bit there will be a coating of slick slime that would reduce efficiency and eventually restrict.

My marina was built over a swamp. I and the water is not that clean.

The bromine keeps it very clean...

 

[They call me Tim]

This marina is pretty dirty and there is a lot of gunk in the water. I also have an algae line on the side of my boat, so I would suspect it's algae.

I put a bromine tablet in the strainer this morning (bought hot tub bromine tables from Walmart) and everything seems to be working well so far. The a/c has been running for an hour so far and no issues. Hopefully, this will fix it.

Of course, it's pretty cool today, so this probably isn't the best test.

I have it turned down to 70 and the cabin feels like a meat locker. It's uncomfortable.

 

[sbw1]

Interesting how people look at ac. Some folks feel cold at 70 and others think it is stuffy at 70. Our 1993 SR Express had the best ac of any boat we have owned. It would hold 55 degrees during 100 degrees outside temperatures in Leland with no shade. We would read in the cockpit and then go down below to cool off when we got too hot. Our Tiara would hold 67 degrees in the same conditions, so not as good. We were able to get it down to 51 degrees at night which is good for sleeping.

 

[Maggieiscrazy]

He’s having a high pressure error. Reduced air flow over the evaporator would cause a low pressure error. If water flow through the condenser coil is good it’s likely a thermostatic expansion valve issue.

 

[ttmott]

The controller countdown then shutdown and recycle is a refrigerant pressure switch failure in the evaporator / condenser. Get the service rep to check it out and replace.
I had the same exact issue on a brand new 27000 BTU unit on my boat and it ended up being a defective pressure switch.
Your system due to the lack of maintenance was probably cycling the switch and it ended up failing.

 

[archinbalt]

My AC is so gummed up that I can't get much water flow when I try to backflush with a hose through the thru hull fitting. A couple months ago, the strainer was completely full of muck, and I cleaned it out and backflushed the system until it was completely clean - it took a while! This time, the strainer had a fair amount of gunk, but not nearly as bad. I'm in the Chesapeake, so I picked up some barnacle buster, but how can I force it into the system?

 

[They call me Tim]

I finally got this thing fixed. I figured I might as well post here so someone may be helped from my experience. My water pump was bad. It was starting up and working for awhile, then would shut down and cause the high pressure situation. So, new water pump and a recharge on the A/C (not really sure it needed it) and I have a very cool cabin again.

 

[Korkie]

My AC is so gummed up that I can't get much water flow when I try to backflush with a hose through the thru hull fitting. A couple months ago, the strainer was completely full of muck, and I cleaned it out and backflushed the system until it was completely clean - it took a while! This time, the strainer had a fair amount of gunk, but not nearly as bad. I'm in the Chesapeake, so I picked up some barnacle buster, but how can I force it into the system?

archinbalt - I just make a loop using some old garden hose, some fittings, a 5 gallon bucket and an old bilge pump. Hook an extension hose to the one coming off raw water pump and attach to bilge pump and put in bottom of bucket. Then run a piece of hose from thru hull output to the bucket. My hose just fits nicely into my thru hull. Fill the bucket with Barnacle Buster and power up the bilge pump and let her circulate for about an hour.