Ocean Marine AC Problem

[David Copeland]

Hoping that someone can shed some light onto my problem and will welcome any suggestions.

I recently purchased a 1999 Beneteau 321 (our first sailboat) and have been finding new and exciting things every day.

One of them is the fact that the AC / Heat Ocean Marine is not working up to par.
Specifically, the heating will not kick on. AC portion works fine.
No matter if I select the Automatic position or the specific Heat option, nothing but cold air comes out. Believe me when I say I could have used some heat Friday night.

Anyway, as I mentioned above, it is an Ocean Marine (found out they are out of business).
It is a 12000BUT running 110 volts. The model number is SCL5012,OR

I know that when I had a similar situation with our home heat pump system, the cause was a faulty switching solenoid. I am hoping this is the case here as well

Has anyone else had a similar situation, and how did you resolve it (without going to an expensive AC service tech)?

I do have pictures I took of the unit, as well as the internal control panel / electronics to detail the layout. I could put them in this post (if I can do that) if needed, or I could just email them directly.

Also the schematic sheets I was provided serve me no good, they don't reflect exactly the model I have.

Thanks for any help offered.

David

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Re: Beneteau Ocena Marine AC Problem

David
If your A/C is electric heat, ignore the following -
Is Freeport in Maine? Is your A/C a reverse cycle unit meaning it draws heat from the water? If yes to the above, there isn't enough latent heat in the water to produce ambient heat.

 

[kloudie1]

Re: Beneteau Ocena Marine AC Problem

Ahhh Freeport Texas.. Plenty heat in the water right now to pump into the boat. Sounds like you've got the problem.. a bad switching solenoid coil.. or solenoid valve. You can check the coil with an ohm-meter your wiring diagram may have the resistance noted..Usually, you can hear it click about 5-15 seconds after the air conditioning shuts down.. and you should be able to make it click when you switch the unit to "heat" mode. If you are not hearing that click, ya probably have a bad coil. If it is bad you can probably get a new coil and replace it without having to mess with the pressurized parts of the system.. If it is the valve itself, you'll probably have to pull the self contained unit and take it to a shop for repair.
Pictures of the unit would be good.

 

[David Copeland]

Here are some pics of the control panel (circuitry) with compressor and motor.
I suspect the culprit is that unit directly in the center of picture number 1 (img_0021)
Square black box on a slight slant with two very bright yellow wires connected to it at the top

 

[Chuckbear]

David, I suspect your reversing valve is either not working or the wiring is faulty. You can check the connections but I doubt you will get much results from a forum. You need to get an AC guy on board to check it out. Chuck

 

[kloudie1]

Looks like the reversing valve and coil are on top of the compressor. Some units used yellow and white/black for the reversing coil circuit. The slanted box .. is it hooked into/ part of the reversing coil circuit? Ya might have to trace back from the coil connections on top of the compressor to figure out where its wires go to/come from.. The reversing valve itself usually is normally in the "cool" position, so it needs power to shift to "heat" and stay there. A bad coil, or relay, or wiring to the coil , or control logic failure will stick it in the cool position..

 

[Tim R.]

David
If your A/C is electric heat, ignore the following -
Is Freeport in Maine? Is your A/C a reverse cycle unit meaning it draws heat from the water? If yes to the above, there isn't enough latent heat in the water to produce ambient heat.

Don, I am in Portland Maine and the water is in the upper 40s right now and I can keep my boat at 65° using my reverse cycle AC/Heater. It cycles a lot but it does produce heat. I am currently working to install a Hurricane II hydronic heating system to get us through the winter when the water will be in the low 30s.