A/C Winterization Question

[shemandr]

All right I should have done this 2 weeks ago when it was 80 degrees; but, my A/C system isn't pumping water through itself based on the lack of water discharge overboard. If its not pumping water I can't get it to pump antifreeze.
1) The thru hull is open and water comes in, tested by removing the filter basket and opening the thru hull
2) The pump seems to be turning. The impeller is fine and the pump and feed lines are clean of debris. The feed line is below the water line so if the seacock is open the pump is primed.
3) On heat, the system is heating the cabin.
4) I think its cooling but its hard to tell.
5) The display shows no error codes.
Any suggestions?

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

#2 is an assumption. Just because you have water in the filter and to the pump, it is not necessarily primed. You want to ensure water is present both at and in the pump and the only way to do that is to remove the water line after the pump to make sure there is no air in the pump.

 

[Deadhead]

My system has a petcock with a small diameter hose attached. It is located on the discharge side of the pump. I open the petcock and bleed the air out of the system when I clean the strainer. The pump then circulates normally.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

My system has a petcock with a small diameter hose attached. It is located on the discharge side of the pump. I open the petcock and bleed the air out of the system when I clean the strainer. The pump then circulates normally.

Great idea!

 

[Gunni]

Great idea!

It's the Beneteau way! That seawater discharge burp-valve is OEM. Every AC seawater cooled system should have one.

Try Don's idea. You have to prime the pump by breaking loose a discharge point near the pump. (or add a valve!)

 

[Andy1237]

Or, while the heater or AC is running put a wet vac on the discharge outside the boat. As soon as the water is flowing remove. now that water is flowing, switch to Pink stuff.

 

[Velero49]

I had a similar problem last spring. The problem was a plastic bag partialy blocking the thru hull.

 

[Benny17441]

We had an ocurrence one time where we sucked in a plastic ice bag into the water intake for the A/C. What threw us off is that we removed the hose at the trough the hull and saw water coming up but once we connected the hose back up and turned on the pump it seems the plastic bag was acting as a flap valve and shutting down the water intake. It took us a while to figure out what was happening. You may get a compressed air tank and blow out the through the hull to insure there are no obstructions.