Air Conditioning Drain Pan

[goofeyfoot]

Hello All:

I have a 33' sloop. I have an air conditioning unit under the starboard lazarette.

The thing really works great but whoever installed it didn't install a drip pan or anything under the unit. So water just drips its way over some plywood and wends its way donw into the bilge.
Can someone explain what I need to do to rectify this? I know literally nothing about any of this.

One guy told me I needed a completely new through-hull which seems a little excessive for the minimal amount of water we are talking about.

Thanks for your assistance.

Michael

 

[Gunni]

ID the manufacturer and determine if a drain pan is available. If that fails you can have a metal shop bend and weld a custom pan that fits your space and equipment. Specify stainless steel. A mermaid condensator plumbed to the pan will draw your condensate out with the A/C cooling water.
http://www.mmair.com/marine_division/accessories/mermaid_condensator

 

[goofeyfoot]

Gunni:

Thanks for your help.

I will get on it.

Muchael

 

[woodster]

you should have a drain for condensation on the unit ...make sure your drain hose is setup to run downhill all the way to where the water exits the hose ...also make sure you have some insulation under the unit base...that stops the condensation under the unit ......also you can insulate the accumulator by wrapping insulation on it ...that will also help try these things first and see before you get a pan made...

 

[Anonymous 121765]

Goof,

On your drain pan, there should be a drain tube or round opening for a drain fitting.

Now, I do not know what your limitations are but, if possible, see if you can run a flex drain hose to your bilge.
The installer should have seen to this. If you can run a hose, just make sure you don't have any high points. A drain hose should be a simple downward angled hose. Minimum drainage slope is a 1/4 inch per foot in most applications. If you can get your hose to an area that freely drains to the bilge, that should work for you pal......

CR

 

[goofeyfoot]

Thanks folks!

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

You don't want AC drain condensate to go to the bilge...it'll stagnate and turn your bilge into a smelly swamp. I rerouted mine to drain overboard through a thru-hull on the side of my boat well above the waterline...but mine was powerboat...powerboats don't heel. So that prob'ly isn't practical on a sailboat. The simplest and least expensive solution would be to route the drain into your shower sump, which actually accomplishes the same thing without the need for a new thru-hull. If that's not practical, a new small sump and pump. That would require a new above waterline thru-hull, but if your fridge or ice box drains into the bilge too, that would kill two birds with one stone.

 

[Pat]

The Mermaid Condensator works like a champion Gunni is right!....it will exit your boat about 2 ft. above the water line..

 

[goofeyfoot]

Pat.

Yes I was looking at that and it looks very nice. It really is what I would prefer to do.

If it is a small boat, 33 feet, and the air conditioner is only maybe 10,000 BTUs, will the Mermaid item still work or is that too small a boat for it?

Never was much at plumbing!

Thanks.

Michael

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Save yourself $100 or more and buy any simple Venturi tube for less than $25, some hose and a couple of fittings.
Any hardware store, Amazon (from where this picture comes), etc...

 

[Gunni]

Pat.
If it is a small boat, 33 feet, and the air conditioner is only maybe 10,000 BTUs, will the Mermaid item still work or is that too small a boat for it?

Michael

Yes, it only needs 1 gpm to work, no moving parts. Dometic also sells one: Here
Easy, DIY project.

 

[Jerry Clark H356 SV Persi]

I routed mine from the condensate pan to the shower sump as Peggy recommended. It was easy and works off the float switch for the shower sump when enough condensate develops.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Gunnii and Peggy are correct not to run that water into the bilge. Both have good comments on how to do it but the Mermaid Condensator effectively was used on air conditioner condensation pans which worked well for me as a dealer. I was concerned if you put an overboard drain into the side of the hull when heeling over, would the water come up thru into the pan if it was too low to the water line.

 

[kloudie1]

It can be run to bilge but ya have to think it out.. Mine has been going to bilge for over 25 years ..but... the pan drain is piped to the bilge and not allowed to run into the structural grid.. and .. I use the unit for a dehumidifier so it runs every four hours year 'round.. which prevents any stagnation. The pan is below the water line so some kind of pump is necessary to get the condensate overboard.. might as well be the bilge pump.
If you are considering a jet pump (also known as an educator or an ejector) just make sure that the suction side has a check valve in it so that if the mixed discharge plugs, the high pressure side will not flood the boat from the AC raw water pump. The amazon one pictured would flood the boat if its discharge side got restricted or plugged. The Condensator has a check valve in the suction side.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

. The amazon one pictured would flood the boat if its discharge side got restricted or plugged. The Condensator has a check valve in the suction side.

Although virtually impossible for anything to block the flow, one can add a check valve for very little extra cost to eliminate your concern and still save lots of money over a $200 mermaid unit which won't be as bulletproof as something you can build in little time by choosing quality products. Your choice...

 

[kloudie1]

Not trying to start a whizzing match here, Don.. but the one pictured has an open suction (takes suction all around the space at the bottom) and cannot be fitted with a check valve.. There are many small ones that can be fitted with check valves in the suction side .. some made to empty water beds for instance.. that are very inexpensive compared to the Condensator.. my point is that if ya decide to use a different one from the Condensator, be sure you can fit a check valve to the suction side of the ejector..
EDIT: like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blue-Magic-...403be2f&pid=100005&rk=2&rkt=6&sd=370543259690
Has a closed suction off to the right in the picture where a check can be installed

 

[Pat]

It is a very simple installation. If I can do it, 'nearly' anyone can......there is a fitting on the condensate pan that the condensator hose connects to and this runs uphill to the condensator fitting inside the hull, which then goes via a 1/2 dia. drain hose to a thru hull fitting similiar to the 'vent' fittings for the holding tank.....when the unit is running, and water from the AC pump is going to the compressor, the condensate pump fits into the water pump hose as a fitting and the fitting uses the pressure from the water pump hose to activate the suction / fitting from the condensate pan...the two fittings tie into each other about 1-1/2 feet above the AC unit and then go to a small thru hull about 2 ft. above the water line.....slick as a whistle....this way you are not filling up your bilge all the time or listening to the pump come on in the middle of the night.....the condensator is very quiet. I don't know anything about the after-market units spoken of above. If the above sounds confusing I probably have a drawing from the Mermaid installation guide I could email or fax to you. Just let me know here how to get it to you....
Patrick or my email address is pcoulter2@cox.net. Pat

 

[MitchM]

the 'pro' at one of the biggest marinas in CT installed a MarineAirr AC for the previous owner on our present boat. S/he did so without using the hole in the drain pan to connect the exit hose. I guess hooking up the drain pan exit hose and running the hose into the bilge was just too complicated. .and the additional cost of $1.80 of plastic hose would have pushed the $5K bill too high.