Cruiseaire Question

[Soulshine]

Hey folks,

I have an old 16,000 BTU system with the 3 dial setup.

Despite its age (30+) years, it has always performed well until last night. When I got to the boat it was off and the breaker was tripped.

There was plenty of water flow present so I tried to restart it. It starts fine, immediately produces cold air, but within 30 or 40 seconds shuts down with a spike of the ammeter and rattling sound.

I tried this a couple of times with the same result. It usually draws about 20 amps running, but the ammeter pegs just before the breaker trips.

Any thought as to where to begin a diagnosis?

Thanks.

 

[bahamabreisus]

Sounds like compressor is locking up. Its probably not worth trying to fix. We just replaced ours with a Webasto unit, its so much more quiet than the the old one, and only pulls around 10-11 amps.

 

[gdavis67]

Two quick items. There is a "hard start" capacitor on the unit that ups the power to the compressor. They are cheap and easy to replace. After 30 years, yours may be on it's last leg. Second is to check the charge of refrigerant (Freon) in the unit. Low levels can produce many different symptoms leading to shutdown. Check at least these two items before throwing it overboard.

 

[Soulshine]

Sounds like compressor is locking up. Its probably not worth trying to fix. We just replaced ours with a Webasto unit, its so much more quiet than the the old one, and only pulls around 10-11 amps.

If the compressor is locking up, would it start up again in a few minutes? It seems that locked up would mean locked up once and for all, no?

 

[bahamabreisus]

If the compressor is locking up, would it start up again in a few minutes? It seems that locked up would mean locked up once and for all, no?

My thinking, for what it's worth, with amps going way up, like they are. The compressor is really the only thing that can pull that kind of amps. I am by no means a pro.

 

[Soulshine]

Well all is right with the world.

About 4 times a season I have to blast silt out of the water circulation lines and have done so twice already this season. The signal is less water coming from the through hull for the smaller, forward unit. It’s a common system with 1 pump circulating through both units regardless of which one is running.

After the flush the aft unit started and runs perfectly. The pump is about 5 feet from the aft unit and no matter how snotty things get, that unit always has good water.

It’s the 30 feet of tubing feeding the forward unit that clogs.

I know they sense lack of flow and shit down, but does that sensor detect back pressure as well?