Air Conditioner

[NYSail]

Hello all..... So making my spring check list and wanted to know about air conditioners. I have a manual for units but nothing is said regarding spring commissioning. Is there anything complicated about spring commissioning. I assume all that has to be done is to put boat in water and bleed air from the strainer to ensure water can flow through unit.

Thanks!

 

[BigEasy]

If you didn't flush out the raw water (cooling water) circulation plumbing, you might want to do it now. There are solutions available to remove scale and possibly zebras that sometimes grow near the intake line. Check online & in the forums, some use a home made solution that can be used instead of commercial products.

 

[capta]

If you turn it on "start" the unit will pump water without the compressor starting. That way you can check the water flow without danger of damaging the compressor. As the pump is centrifugal, you must have water in the line as it will not self prime. However, running the pump "dry" will not harm it, so there's no need to worry while you are getting the circulation going.
To clean the lines I've used everything from muriatic acid to white vinegar but have found the best and safest to be the hull & deck cleaner called MaryKate "On and Off". Put your intake and overboard lines into a bucket of the cleaning solution and circulate the water for a few minutes. No magic refer magic here.
Of course, if you'd rather, you can pay a refer tech several hundred bucks to do the same thing.

 

[Davidasailor26]

In addition to the priming procedures above, the only other thing we do is check the filters on the intake and condensate lines, and clean the air filter in the return.