Sea flush and barnicle buster

G

Georgia SeaDawg

New Member
Apr 30, 2009
613
Savannah, GA.
Boat Info
270 Dauntless
Engines
Twin 225 verado's
I hate to admit it, but I suffered from low flow.... On my AC discharge that is. I don't want to sound like a commercial, but I used the SeaFlush kit and some Barnicle Buster and she was as good as new. I paid my marina twice as much for this service last year. And now that I have the SeaFlush kit, it is really very easy. Money well spent.
 
Georgia SeaDawg said:
I hate to admit it, but I suffered from low flow.... On my AC discharge that is. I don't want to sound like a commercial, but I used the SeaFlush kit and some Barnicle Buster and she was as good as new. I paid my marina twice as much for this service last year. And now that I have the SeaFlush kit, it is really very easy. Money well spent.
Click to expand...

How much of the solution did it take to perform that service? I see it comes in quarts (will make 1 gallon) or gallons (will make 5 gallons). Not sure how much to order.
 
Did you recirculate it through the system or did you just fill it up let it sit and then flush?
 
I purchased the 1 gallon of concentrate and put half in a 5 gallon bucket. I then filled the bucket half full with water and ran this through the AC strainer with the SeaFlow attachment. I let this sit over night, about 14 hours. Then when I started the AC, it sputtered for a few seconds, then full flow.
 
I'm glad I asked. I would have gone with the quart. Is 14 hours a normal soak time?
 
Ordered the Sea Flush last night, it shipped today. Will pick up the Barnacle Buster from WM. Project in a few weeks. Thanks again for the details.
 
It really was very a very simple process. Close seacock to AC, open strainer, insert SeaFlush, pour in barnicle buster mixture while someone turns on AC. Turn off AC when you are about empty, close up strainer and let it sit overnight. Next morning open seacock and turn on AC. Also you may want to check Amazon versus WM for Barnicle Buster. Good luck!
 
Sea Flush is great for those jobs. Just get intake hose high enough to be above highest hose in the boat. Only problem is the Sea Flush can leak if you are not careful.

I got the Rydlyme circulation pump to do big cleans. That is around $500-$600 with a 8? Gallon bucket and all hoses needed. I attached it to AC inlet - and then return hose from A/C outlet. First I sent air through the system - with a wet shop-vac - that sent out a LOT of crud. Then I flushed for 4 hours with Rydlyme - and my A/C was back on full circulation.
 
Airconditioner maintenance.

I've done the barnacle buster circulation system cobbled together with a 20 gallon Rubbermaid tote, a spare bilge pump, fittings, clamps and some hoses I had laying around.

(Hey, there's a difference between being cheap and being broke ;)

Works great but, I started with running the dock hose right to the raw water inlet connected with a simple fitting and hose clamps.
Let that run for a while.....this alone cleared tons of black crud and slime from the lines.
Then, I hooked it back to the through hull and the discharge water was GREAT!
This can get you by, until you take the time to acid clean it fully.

Hope it helps,
 
Last edited:
electricaldoctor said:
How much does the Rydlyme cost and where did you source it out?
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Im in the UAE so Rydlyme sorted me out with the hardware in the US - and I bought the acid locally from the rydlyme distributor. The distributor here is slightly useless for the marine market so shipping of the pump would have taken 8-10 weeks and cost twice the US cost. :)

The pump (12v) is available multiple places. It is an acid safe pump - and I got the hoses I needed with it. So $600 for the kit was not too bad. I could have assembled it slightly cheaper myself - but things are hard to find in the UAE.

The Rydlyme is stronger than the Barnacle Buster concentrate (absorption potential / gallon) - I think 25% "better"
 
All in for me was $150. And I bought the concentrate, which will give me 1 more service with remaining BarnicleBuster. Next service will only run $75 for 1 gallon of concentrate.
 
Old thread, but like Chris, my forward a/c unit got its flow mostly clogged. After a whole bunch of trial and error diagnosis I isolated the clog to the line running from the pump to the unit. I ended up disconnecting at the unit and attaching a garden hose there (ran the hose it through the head window) connected to a dock faucet. And I disconnected the same line at the pump and connected a second hose there and ran it outside to the dock unconnected. I turned on the hose and backflushed and all sorts of garbage came out consisting of pieces of barnacles, oyster shell pieces and bunch of other stuff. Cleared it out good and all is now well. Turns out I think I sucked in all the debris the diver cleaned off the bottom at last months cleaning. Going to make sure the a/c is off for the day whenever a cleaning occurs.

By the way, if you forget to tighten the clamp where you mate the garden hose to the cooling line at the unit, it will break free when you turn on the water and water will spray all over the compartment where the unit is under the v-berth. Ask me how I know...
 
Agreed! I've found that if I turn my AC off when the diver is cleaning the bottom, my AC strainer and system function much better during the month. During the summer months I have to clean the AC strainer every 10 days. However, the day after the diver cleans the bottom, it looks as if you put a hand full of sludge in the strainer.
 
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