We have a Beneteau 331 2003 with Air Conditioning. The intake port is an open thru hull and protected by a strainer before the pump. The area that we have our boat docked has problems in the summer with nettles and last week we continued to have issues with the nettles clogging the raw water stainer. Does anyone have any experience with this and is there a solution to this problem? One suggestion I received from another boat owner was to install a heavy duty pump with a stainless steel impeller, remove the strainer from my system, and let the impeller grind the nettles and push them throught the system. His retrofit has worked well for him for years. This sounds ok on the outside but there is usually more to it than that.
AC Cooling Pump
- Thread starter RedStripe
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Sounds like a trade-off. Lose the strainer and risk other stuff being sucked in destroying an even more expensive pump.
Try a sea chest. Example back in day on my m26 classic I installed a mermaid a/c unit under the v-beth. Plumbed it to the water ballest tank. It worked fantastic!!! Never had to clean raw water strainer. That because it was always fresh clean water from the ballast tank.
Good luck with your now new project.
RR
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Do you have a high-capacity strainer like a Groco? Typically the A/C installers put some silly little plastic strainer that isn't up to the job. You don't need a fine strainer, just something to catch the coarse stuff. And you do need to regularly clean any A/C raw water strainer.
When my A/CHeat pump slows down, I take my hose and squirt it into the exhaust thru hull. This helps clean the mud and stuff that clogs it up. Also, clean the strainer often. A power boater showed me how to do this, and it works. It will not bother the impeller. Take Care, the Bum
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