Do you turn the water intake off on your AC

[DavidJ]

I'm nearing the day for the DIY installation of AC in my Sealine S37 (in the Med). The instructions warn against getting air pockets in the water inlet which will prevent cooling of the unit. They advise that the intake valve be turned off while 'on the way' to prevent this. The location where I'm planning to locate the water inlet valve is not easily get-at-able. I'm sure all you guys with AC just leave the valve open all the time .......do you??
David

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[Renegade_Master]

Dont think I've closed it since getting the boat in March. Used the AC last three days not probs yet.

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[byron]

never used to close mine.

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

Thats a new one on me. I've had a few boats with a/c and never thought about closing the valve. I guess it may be a problem if you have the a/c on at planing speed when I suppose there's a chance of drawing air into the system

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[c_j]

Musr go and see where mine is!! nm

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chris@stone.uk.com


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[ArthurWood]

David - I only turn mine off when I clean the strainer, which should be done frquently if you use the AC a lot. Even if there is not a lot of c--p in the strainer, a film of something, I'm not sure what it is, can form around the basket and inhibit water flow. Which system did you choose?

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[tcm]

Some inlets are in interesting places like under the aft berths.

Our new boat has a shared inlet - for genny, engine, aircon. Not sure if this is possible. Whatever, you should have a cleanable strainer with valve. It'l have to be a bit accessible to install it tho?


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[DavidJ]

Arthur
Since my boat is based in Rome (well just outside) I was heavily biased towards Italian makes. I chose Veco http://www.veco.net/ because they have a lot of sympathy towards DIY. The web site gives some excellent detail about boat AC as well as them having an enthusiastic UK agent.
I'm budget constrained at the moment so have gone for one 12,000 BTU unit which will reside in the saloon with closeable vents so I can guide the AC towards forward and aft cabins as required. The design requirement is for 14,000 BTUs for all areas for my 37 footer. You may ask why I didn't go the extra 2,000 BTU but the ratings, even in Europe, are based on 60Hz so a 12,000 unit will give about 10,000 with our 50Hz (strange (sly!) bit of marketing me thinks). Maybe next year I'll fit a second unit of about 7,000 BTU's.
thanks for help
David

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[DavidJ]

tcm
The shared inlet is not possible with stern drive configurations which is a bit of a pain because it means a crane out and drilling a hole in the bottom of the boat for me. I have two huge mid ship lockers with large removable containers (full of stuff of course) so although when removed reveals lots of bilge space to work with, does not lend itself to daily dismantleing to switch on and off.
cheers
David

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[tcm]

that would be fine. You only need to access once a year to clean a filter basket or strainer. What about generator-is that being sne at the same time?

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[qsiv]

I've certainly heard of this pretty often. I guess it depends on where the inlet is sited (whether it's in a high or low pressure area), whta speeds you do etc.

I know of a number of local boats that have solenoid operated valves - when the kit is on the valve opens, when it's off it closes.

For a while my boat was on a drying mooring, and it was certainly a pain to have to bleed the system before using.

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[jfm]

nope

We never close ours. No problems suffered. We use the aircon while underway, so would not want a system where inlet had to be closed while underway. Our inlet is very aft, so in solid water even when planing

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[DavidJ]

I'm a bit of a marina person really so don't do much anchoring out in bays (sounds idyllic but the realities for me have been quite different) so no need for generator at the moment but lets see, maybe a next year buy if my requirements change.
David

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