A/C water pump

[ssardone]

It appears my a/c water pump is going out. I came to the boat and the a/c was running but no water was pumping out and the breaker on the a/c had popped. I pulled the pump and tested it and it appeared to work. I reinstalled it and still no water. I checked that it is getting electricity and watched the impeller spin but no water. It is possible that is dying and spinning so slow that it won't pump water? Anyway I am having a hard time finding a replacement-it is marked TEEL model # 1P808A. Anybody have a source or a similar replacement?

thanks

I re-googled this pump number and found a lot more info than I did the first time??? I went ahead and ordered a March pump replacement. Still wondering about the impeller spinning but not pumping any water.

 

[corky]

Did you check hoses and seacock for obstructions. This is the common cause of poor or no raw water flow.

 

[ssardone]

Did you check hoses and seacock for obstructions. This is the common cause of poor or no raw water flow.

Yes- I had a good flow of water coming into the pump directly from the seacock and I had the out hose off the pump and no water flow.

 

[corky]

1. Visually inspect hoses for obstructions.. All hoses, raw water strainer. I then run a hose from the in and observe flow overboard.
2. Check all connections not sucking air.
3. does it need a prime.

After buying a new pump my problem was 1 and 2. And I had checked... not well enough.
Just my experience.
The pine needle kind of debris I had allowed a garden hose to give good flow, but under pump suction it would become an obstruction. After I found that half into a hose I took them all off and ran a wire thru. Primed the pump and ran ok after tightening a couple of clamps that were sucking air. That was 3 years ago and still runs fine and I still have a spare pump

 

[Alex Dare]

Usually, if it spins it should pump. They are not self priming pumps however. Depending on the pump and the installation it's often easiest to prime the pump by disconnecting the cooling inlet hose on the compressor and just sucking on the intake hose till you get water.
If you end up needing a new pump, the March pumps are very good.

 

[ssardone]

I have done all that but I'm a little confused about not self priming. There is water pressure from the seacock into the pump. Are you saying if there is water sitting in the pump it will not pump water unless I help it?

thanks

 

[Monty Miller]

I believe all marine AC water pumps are magnetic drives and so from the March manual.

"Pumps are not self priming and will not produce a suction lift and must

be installed with a positive flooded suction. We rely on the liquid being
pumped to lubricate the Impeller Assembly spinning on the stationary
shaft. If the pump is run dry for longer than 60 seconds, the plastic may​

“freeze” onto the shaft."

Also, from my Mermaid manual if the pump is properly primed, water should be flowing through the discharge side with the hose off when the pump is not running.

"To prime the pump, open the sea cock and view the water flow through the clear red

stripe hose. If the water flows into the input of the pump with no air bubbles in the
strainer or hose, the pump is primed. However, if air bubbles are present you must
loosen the hose clamps on the pump discharge hose (blue stripe or black reinforced) and
momentarily remove the hose. Water will immediately flow from the pump breaking the
air lock. Quickly replace the hose and retighten the hose clamps. The pump is now
primed. If you have installed the optional "Bleed Off" valve, it is usually not necessary
to remove the discharge hose from the pump. Open the "Bleed Off" valve until water​

flow is observed and then close the valve."

Also, dive on your intake scoop and make sure there is no blockage. A plastic bag got me once.

 

[Alex Dare]

priming

"There is water pressure from the seacock into the pump. Are you saying if there is water sitting in the pump it will not pump water unless I help it?"

Yes, just having water flowing to the pump inlet side is not enough. You have to get all the air out of it. The reason I generally remove the hose at the compressor is that it's generally not a barbed fitting and is therefore much easier to remove and replace. Trying to remove the hose from the pump discharge side can de difficult and you risk cracking the hose barb or breaking the pump housing trying to pull it loose. If your pump has a set of wing nuts on the end-plate, you can loosen them till water pours out, re-tighten and you should be good to go. (this is assuming your pump is mounted below the waterline)

 

[ssardone]

Re: priming

Monty and Alex,

thanks for the clarification. I will try one more time with the current pump.

 

[Benny17441]

Don't follow how tha A/C was running if the breaker had popped out. Check the water flow as a restricted intake opening may cause that problem. It is common for a plastic bag to get sucked in and then act as a flap valve; you look at the intake valve and there is water flow but then when suction is applied the water flow stops. The system is designed to trip the breaker to prevent overheat damage to the compressor.

 

[Rxman47]

My discharge hose had a dirt-dobber nest in it, ran a flexibe wire thur it and it works fine. (lot of mud came out). YMMV

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Dirt daubers love thru-hulls...

My discharge hose had a dirt-dobber nest in it, ran a flexibe wire thur it and it works fine. (lot of mud came out). YMMV

Your ac discharge prob'ly isn't the only one they filled up...so check all your tank vent thru-hulls.

 

[Dan Johnson]

RE: AC Pump...

Last weekend I helped my dock neighbor get his AC working again by finding where there was an airlock in his intake hose. Once we burped that it worked fine.

On a 90 degree day in July several years ago, my AC cooling water pump "failed". The pump would run, but no water was being pumped. The AC would go into thermal shutdown after about a minute of running.

The Admiral declared it was either a new pump or a motel for the night! I found a replacement pump at another marina and got things working again as soon as it was hooked up plumbing and electrically.

As Monte pointed out, these pumps use magnetically driven impellers. When I tore the old pump down, the cone bearing that the intake side of the impeller spins on had disintergrated and froze the impeller from moving. There was no repair kit available from the mfgr.

 

[ssardone]

Don't follow how tha A/C was running if the breaker had popped out. Check the water flow as a restricted intake opening may cause that problem. It is common for a plastic bag to get sucked in and then act as a flap valve; you look at the intake valve and there is water flow but then when suction is applied the water flow stops. The system is designed to trip the breaker to prevent overheat damage to the compressor.

I guess that was the wrong terminology-the fan was still running but the breaker on the unit had popped.

 

[ssardone]

Last weekend I helped my dock neighbor get his AC working again by finding where there was an airlock in his intake hose. Once we burped that it worked fine.

On a 90 degree day in July several years ago, my AC cooling water pump "failed". The pump would run, but no water was being pumped. The AC would go into thermal shutdown after about a minute of running.

The Admiral declared it was either a new pump or a motel for the night! I found a replacement pump at another marina and got things working again as soon as it was hooked up plumbing and electrically.

As Monte pointed out, these pumps use magnetically driven impellers. When I tore the old pump down, the cone bearing that the intake side of the impeller spins on had disintergrated and froze the impeller from moving. There was no repair kit available from the mfgr.

well I reinstalled the old pump on saturday and did nothing different than the last time I reinstalled it and this time it worked fine??? Obviously I did something different but I don't know what. thanks for all the help and I will be installing the new pump when it comes in.

 

[Monty Miller]

That's good news and now you have a spare. Before you install the new pump you might want to contact the AC manufacturer and ask them if a larger capacity pump would result in better cooling. Lake Travis surface temperature is now 86 degrees and our unit has to work very hard and is not handling the triple digit temperatures very well. I'm assuming Grapevine Lake has similar conditions and your new March pump has the same capacity as the original. Just a thought. Good luck.

 

[Andy1237]

Easy way to prime AC pump-use wet vac! When our pump won't re-prime (due to excessive heeling usually), I put the wet vac on the exit of the through hull and turn on the
AC. This creates enough suction to make it start pumping.