Best way to get water pumping on Air.Cond?

If you lost prime you can take the boat for a ride. Make sure the strainer is open and turn on the A/C. It should self prime. The other two ways are to turn it on and force feed water into the discharge opening or you can stick the hose of a shop vac to the same discharge opening.
 
If you have the thru hull open and take the boat out for a cruise that will do it or you can put water in the AC water discharge fitting on the outside of the hull with a garden hose while you are at the dock. You said easy and these are, plus they usually work. If you have easy access to your thru hull sea strainer for the AC pump pick up raw water line, you might also want to make sure it's not blocked. I have an adaptor that I winterize my boat with that attaches to the sea strainer (spare modified lid) that also works to put water through everything.

Hope this helps. I'm sure others will add to their quick fixes on this problem.
 
What was said above. :thumbsup:

Only thing I might add is that the AC does not need to be on. My old boat didn't have a generator so the AC could not be on while underway.
 
Please clarify, does the A/C need to be "On" while either forcing water into the discharge or going for a ride? I recently went for a ride and tried the A/C at the dock with no luck. I don't have a Generator so I cant turn it on while underway.
 
highlife34 said:
Please clarify, does the A/C need to be "On" while either forcing water into the discharge or going for a ride? I recently went for a ride and tried the A/C at the dock with no luck. I don't have a Generator so I cant turn it on while underway.
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Yes, the A'C needs to be on so when you're forcing water into the water pump it will prime. Since you don't have a genny do this at the dock. Have the hose ready and turn on the A/C. Then put the hose into the discharge (outside hull of the boat) and force the water into the system. After 30 seconds pull the hose away and it should be pumping. Make sure you close the seacock before you put the boat on a lift or hi n dry. This way you won't lose prime.
 
highlife34 said:
Please clarify, does the A/C need to be "On" while either forcing water into the discharge or going for a ride? I recently went for a ride and tried the A/C at the dock with no luck. I don't have a Generator so I cant turn it on while underway.
Click to expand...

In my experience, the AC does not need to be on for it to prime while under way, backflush with hose method, or brief shop-vac suction method. That said, I've never tried any of the above with the AC on, so it may work that way too.

If you look over the side of your boat (or better to have someone else look) next time you are running on plane, you'll probably see a wind-splattered stream of water blowing back on the side of your hull from the discharge port. Spooked me the first time I had someone running my boat and had a chance to look around while under way.
 
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highlife34,

I went back to the beginning of this thread and saw that garmett had started it and just wanted to make sure you were having the same problem. It appears so, prior to taking the boat out for a cruise did you make sure the AC thru hull was open and also check to make sure the sea water strainer was not clogged?. If so, the cruise should have done the trick. Did you hear the pump come on at the dock, if not maybe you have an electrical issue (circuit breaker off/tripped, no signal from the AC unit, etc.....)

Just some more things to think about.

AAK
 
I've primed my pump all the above ways except the shop vac thing but on mine the easiest is to do none of them. The pump on my boat is below waterline and if I put mine in the water by the next day it has primed itself just sitting there.
 
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