The A/C pump is a magnetic impeller pump that spins at high rpms. Once they get air from the strainer, they immediately cavitate until you close off the air supply. To run antifreeze into the system, you have to pump it in. You can do it through an adapter that allows you to put antifreeze into the strainer lid or you can remove some of the fittings on the inlet side of the strainer and replace them with a "T" that allows you to inject antifreeze. You can put the antifreeze into a bucket and let it run in to the strainer while you run the a/c pump, but it takes a lot of antifreeze. The best way to do this is with a pump up garden sprayer filled with antifreeze.

The a/c pump impeller free-wheels until the motor comes on. When the motor comes on, the magnet on the flywheel turns the impeller. Since the impeller free wheels, with the A/C system off, you can pump antifreeze thru the system. Make your plumbing connections so they are liquid tight and don't leak too much, then pump antifreeze through the system until it begins to come out of the a/c cooling water exit on the side of the boat.....then you are done.

I realize the language difference may make this hard to follow, but give it a try and let me know if I can help further.

 

Thanks Frank!

You are fantastic!

The problem is that you never got a question, so we never can do something back..

I understand your explaining perfect, I only have sometimes a little problems with the writing..
But you guys understand me I think, so that's ok!

I already thought that is something like this, but I didn't know what kind of pump the a/c system had, so I didn't know for sure.

I go with the "T" on the inlet side of the strainer and inject the antifreeze, no problem.

I do them with gas tape and use the right material

Thanks again Frank.

Peter

 

Peter,

Thank you...........

Since you grasped the explanation so easily, here is chapter 2. I removed an "L" on the inlet side of the strainer and replaced it with a "T".....all threaded fittings. I then put a ball valve on the extra end of the T after which I put a regular 3/4" hose fitting. I put a 3/4" hose fitting on a pump up garden sprayer so I can inject antifreeze if I ned to, or acid when the A/C cooling coils need to have marine growth cleaned out of them. A side benefit is that you can also hook a hose with fresh water up to the a/C system and let it run that way . We are in salt water, and if you run freshwater through the system occasionally (anytime you can) you keep marine to a minimum since barnacles , algae, etc cannot stand chlorinated fresh water. With the added ball valve and the sea cock you can change from salt to fresh water and back with minimum effort and without climbing out of the bilge.

Good luck...................!

 

Ok Frank,

Thanks for chapter II.
I will do it this way, and post some photos!
I am not in salt water, only when we are on holiday.
So I will go with a hose connection that I can easily connect to a pump sprayer.

Peter

 

Frank
I too had the same problem as Peter when I went to winterize my A/C's this past fall.
Are you saying that the antifreeze needs to be pressure fed to the A/C's?
I wasn't too concerned as the boat is inside heated, but would like to add a system such as yours for the future.
Can you post a picture or drawing?
Thanks
Dan

 

Daniel,

You either have to pump the antifreeze into the cooling coils or provide a large enough reservoir of antifreeze to feed the pump from. A lot of people try to do this with the strainer open pouring antifreeze in to it out of a bucket, but its messy and as soon as you let the impeller run dry, the pump loses prime and you are not sure if you filled the compressor coils or not.

I think it is better to do it slowly with the pump off until you see antifreeze coming out of the side of the boat where the A/C cooling flow exits. If you pump it from the strainer forward, the entire system, (including the strainer, if you vacuum it out before beginning) is protected against freezing as long as you see antifreeze coming out of the side of the boat.

I have no drawings.......I "invent" as I go and besides, every application can be different. I may have a photo and if not, I'll try to take one next week and post it later.

 

Thanks for the info Frank
I tried to feed the system through the strainer while it was operating.
Thus I must have lost the prime.
How did you use pressure?

 

I use a pump up garden sprayer with a hose fitting on the outlet tube, but my situation is a little different than just winterizing. We are in salt water and have to periodically clean the compressor coils with acid. Trying to pour an acid solution into the strainer is a recipe for disaster, so I made up the garden sprayer for that purpose, but we also use it on friends boats that do winterize.

Another approach that is about the same cost is to buy a Beckson hand pump.....there should be one on every boat anyway......and make a hose fitting attachment for its outlet tube, then just hand pump the antifreeze into yourt cooling lines.

 

Check toward the bottom of page 1 on the "getting pink into the dockside water inlet and beyond thread". My technique as well as RonDDS' for winterizing the A/C is discussed. I like Frank's "chapter 2" discussion. Would be less messy than mine just adding a threaded "T" to the A/C raw water inlet. Never a shortage of "a better way" around here. I love it!

 

Mmm.. Have a little question right now.

I didn't have the time to make the "T" right away.
And the temp is going up again so I only vacuum the water out.
Yesterday I went to the boat, to run the reverse cycle A/C heater to get a little temp in the boat.
After 15 minutes the air from the vents still was cold.
So I walked out of the boat to look if the cooling water come out of the side.
But the cooling water stopped, so I went back in the boat, stopped the heater, and take a look on the A/C system.
Then I see ice on the cooling tubes...
Is this because the temp of the water is so cold that you can't run the heater???

Peter

 

Good question......Frank?

 

ac pump

I thank you also, I had the same problem this year as well. I couldn't get the hose off the outlet side of the strainer, so I tried to feed antifreeze into the strainer like Peter. I ended up just draining the water from the pump head and feeding as much antifreeze into the strainer as I could. Although no pink came out the side. I hope I will be ok, and it's too late now anyway. I will try to make the "T" for next year. Pics would be awesome.

 

Re: ac pump

I thank you also, I had the same problem this year as well. I couldn't get the hose off the outlet side of the strainer, so I tried to feed antifreeze into the strainer like Peter. I ended up just draining the water from the pump head and feeding as much antifreeze into the strainer as I could. Although no pink came out the side. I hope I will be ok, and it's too late now anyway. I will try to make the "T" for next year. Pics would be awesome.

I think draining the water is also a quick way to winterize the a/c system.
Because the pump and strainer is much lower than the A/C unit, the water flows out automatic.
When I read the manual from Cruisair, they advise also to drain for winterizing.
It is ok to put pink in your strainer.

I also read that is "normal" that you can't operate your Heater below 38F, because than your condenser freeze.

Peter

 

a/c

Just bought a spare Perko strainer cover for the A/C strainer. I am tapping a hose connection on the top. I got this suggestion from a previous thread. Perko sells a cover with a flush system, but I couldn't find one for the A/C strainer. It should be an easy way to winterize the system.

 

A/C

Also, a previous thread (I forget who posted it) suggested to use the boat's fresh water pump to winterize the system. After pouring antifreeze into the fresh water tank, attach a garden hose from the transom faucet to the A/C strainer connection, or "T" connection, whatever one you have. Sounds pretty logical. I will try this next year.

 

Jackson
Where did you get the Perko Cover?
Can you post notes and pictures on youir project?
Thanks
Dan

 

Re: A/C

Also, a previous thread (I forget who posted it) suggested to use the boat's fresh water pump to winterize the system. After pouring antifreeze into the fresh water tank, attach a garden hose from the transom faucet to the A/C strainer connection, or "T" connection, whatever one you have. Sounds pretty logical. I will try this next year.

Here is the post you mentioned.

Peter.

http://www.byowneryachts.com/forums/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=770&highlight=pink

 

perko cover

I ordered the cover through boatersdiscount.com for about $20 with shipping, but I haven't recieved it yet. You just have to know the size of the strainer. It goes by pipe size. Mine is a 3/4 for the A/C. Rondds steered me in the right direction. He tapped a threaded pipe with valve into the top of the cover and uses it only for winterizing. Once I get the cover I am going to have a friend who is a machinist take care of it for me. I will post pics when it is done. This is similar to the thoroflush covers, but they went out of business. I don't know why Perko doesn't make a cover like this. They have a cover that has a hose attachment, but it is for the flushing strainer and I don't know if it will fit a regular strainer.

 

post

Thanks Peter, I knew that post was there somewhere. It sounds like a good idea.

 

The last time I winterized the a/c on my Searay I used a two gallon plastic bucket with one gallon of pink antifreeze in it. I drilled a hole in the side of the bucket almost at the bottom and epoxyed a hose barb in it. I used clear tubing that fit tightly inside the a/c water outlet. Then drilled a hole in the lid and poped in an automotive tire/wheel air valve. I pressurized the bucket through the schrader valve with my portable air pig and forced the antifreeze through the a/c till it ran out the water intake in the bottom of the boat. No, im not an engineer, just love to do things myself.

I have noticed that if you pull the boat from the water for any reason without closing the a/c water intake seacock the pump will loose prime and you have to take the boat out and get it nearly on plane to force all the air out of the pump and lines as the water pickup is scoop shaped. I figured out a way around this is to use a fresh water hose from the dock and back feed the system from the through hull fitting where the water comes out.

 

I usually pull the hose off of the inlet valve and use a funell to pour the pink stuff in as the admiral turns the a/c on. When it starts comming out the side pure pink I know we are done. I clean the strainer prior and then reinstall the hose.

 

a/c

That's what I have done in the past, but this year I could not get the damn hose off the strainer. So I'm trying the hose attachment. It's at the local machine shop now. Daniel, I will post pics when I get it back.

 

FWIW, my technique last year was to attach a shopvac to the outlet side, and suck out all the water (with seacock turned off). Then I fill the strainer with pink stuff, and go back to vacuum that out. Fill the strainer 3rd time and then a QUICK shot with the shopvac to get it through the lines.
I'll know this weekend as to whether this worked or if I have busted the thing over the winter... :smt018

 

Just confirming my shopvac technique worked across the board. I put the vac to every above water through hull opening as part of winterization. Idea was to pull water through the various hoses, then send the pink stuff through. Did this to the genset outlet as well. No leaks or busted piping. Saved me some time for the AC winterization. I also routinely shopvac the water out of the bilge. OK, so maybe I have a compulsive disorder but I SURE DO like my shopvac. May be one of the most underutilized tools for a boatowner...saved us big time when we had one of those damn sanitary pad thingies clogged in the vflush system last year. :thumbsup: :smt043