I see. Very well. Thanks again, I would have never went out on a limb and connected a household thermostat to this unit without the advice here.
A.C. temperature controllers.
- Thread starter Chris Patterson
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Chris here's a real short quick course in checking it's operation.
- connect a water supply to the condenser make sure it's flowing when you start the machine.
- When you have it set to "cool" and it comes on you will need a thermometer; Not a laser type because your sensing air, not surfaces for this check out.
- AT the cooling coil and after it's been running a good 10--20 mins AT the cooling coill you should read air around you (ambient) and the discharge air At the cooling coil should be15-20 cooler then the ambient.
- Now, on the water side; the water in and out temps should be about 10 degrees warmer in cooling. and about 10 lower in heating. you DON'T want to run it without water flowing through the condenser!
When units sit a long time the refrigerant will mix with the oil and slowly separate from it as it runs, which is why some seem like they are low on refrigerant when started up from a long "sleep" and why it's necessary to run it for awhile.
Hope this helps!
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Guess you could say that Tim, Thank You! Been around the trades all my life, dad was a plumber and heating contractor. When I found me single some 40 years ago I "went for it" and became one of the only HVAC ladies in the biz that owns the biz. I'm retired now but still have a few people that call now and then.
Well Denise, thank you very much for the tutorial. I see now where I did about everything wrong on my test fire. Wrong thermometer, didn't run long enough, etc.
And again, I get a new lesson every day that makes me realize how LITTLE I know about most things. I'm reaching a stage of enlightenment that borderlines utter stupidity..
And again, I get a new lesson every day that makes me realize how LITTLE I know about most things. I'm reaching a stage of enlightenment that borderlines utter stupidity..
At work (back WHEN I worked) we had a wall sign that said, "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about".
Aaah! Don't go away just yet. Another field test has occurred, this time with a very nice oil encapsulated industrial thermometer. Seriously. Anyway, the outside temp was 85 deg., and I had it set up in the sunlight, why not? So my reading would hover back and forth between 68 and 69 deg consistently.
I also let the unit run for over twenty minutes, and it didn't vary. I have learned just enough about AC's to just irritate the living crap out of the pro's, but it would seem it should get a little colder than basically 15 degrees. My compadre here on the yard gave it a two thumbs up, said I couldn't expect that kind of unit to get any colder. Is he right? And are you right as well? My reality is singular.
Please, comments?
I also let the unit run for over twenty minutes, and it didn't vary. I have learned just enough about AC's to just irritate the living crap out of the pro's, but it would seem it should get a little colder than basically 15 degrees. My compadre here on the yard gave it a two thumbs up, said I couldn't expect that kind of unit to get any colder. Is he right? And are you right as well? My reality is singular.
Please, comments?
Chris, remember that the AC unit will continue to produce a consistent temperature differential. As your boat gets cooler, so does the output of the AC unit until it reaches the set point. By running this in a large open space you are asking it to work pretty hard. Once installed it will work perfectly to cool down the boat.
Seems it's cooling ok to me Chris.Aaah! Don't go away just yet. Another field test has occurred, this time with a very nice oil encapsulated industrial thermometer. Seriously. Anyway, the outside temp was 85 deg., and I had it set up in the sunlight, why not? So my reading would hover back and forth between 68 and 69 deg consistently.
I also let the unit run for over twenty minutes, and it didn't vary. I have learned just enough about AC's to just irritate the living crap out of the pro's, but it would seem it should get a little colder than basically 15 degrees. My compadre here on the yard gave it a two thumbs up, said I couldn't expect that kind of unit to get any colder. Is he right? And are you right as well? My reality is singular.
Please, comments?
Is the large refrigerant line coming back to the compressor cold and sweating?
You DO have water running through the condenser?
The water should be around 10 +- degrees warmer. If it's not a good volume it will cause a higher temp differential. You may want to acid clean the condenser. (white vinegar works)
Did you make out what refrigerant is in it the unit?
Where did you take the temp reading? It has to be right where the air comes off the cooling coil. You can use your infrared thermometer to read the temp of the coil, see what that reads.
When the machine is out of the boat it will have larger volumes of air moving across the cooling coil which could give you a slightly higher temp at the coil.
Yes, I do have water. I'm running it off of a hose here on the yard, and even experimented with flow rates. I couldn't make it vary 1 degree with slowing down or speeding up the flow, but I was just curious.
The unit takes R22. I was convinced it needed gas, but from what I'm hearing, (mainly here, I don't take a lot of stock in my bud's opinion), it seems ok. I guess I'm thinking auto A.C.'s, where 40 degree differential is what I shoot for. And yes Denise, the lines were sweating as I would expect, and I think that's another thing that threw me, expecting exponentially colder air, when the reality is, that may be about it. At least that's the intel I'm running with at this moment.
So back to the boat with ol' Mermaid. A cool boat is a happy boat.
There was simply no WAY that I could sit in that hot boat and watch Oprah Winfrey in that heat. Oh the suffering and inhumanity of it all...
Thank you very much again Denise and Tim. I would certainly be at square one without this incredibly informative tutorial.
The unit takes R22. I was convinced it needed gas, but from what I'm hearing, (mainly here, I don't take a lot of stock in my bud's opinion), it seems ok. I guess I'm thinking auto A.C.'s, where 40 degree differential is what I shoot for. And yes Denise, the lines were sweating as I would expect, and I think that's another thing that threw me, expecting exponentially colder air, when the reality is, that may be about it. At least that's the intel I'm running with at this moment.
So back to the boat with ol' Mermaid. A cool boat is a happy boat.
There was simply no WAY that I could sit in that hot boat and watch Oprah Winfrey in that heat. Oh the suffering and inhumanity of it all...
Thank you very much again Denise and Tim. I would certainly be at square one without this incredibly informative tutorial.
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