Hot aircon

[DERF]

Boat is returning to the UK in the next couple of weeks, so as part of the prep I dug under the various beds and settee's to check aircon units etc.. I was surprised to find the aircon compressors very very hot....too hot to touch.

Bearing in mind the relatively poor air circulation in these confined spaces, is it normal for the compressor to get this hot, or is this a problem?

In addition in the aircon unit under the saloon settee, the whole base and surrouinding floor was covered in a rust coloured liquid. Its not oily, and seems to be water based... stopped short of tasting it.

Before I get told by some well meaning marine supplier, that all my compressors need changing etc etc etc, does any one have any ideas if I have a problem?

BTW Aircon units are less than 2 years old.

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[jfm]

Are they combined compressor and evaporator units? If yes, the compressor bit should get hot but it's meant to be cooled by seawater. Which bit was hot? Maybe just a motor casing, in which case ok possibly

Dont know about rust liquid. Normally there is a drip tray to collect the condensate from the air handler/evaporator side, this should then drain overboard. Is there something wrong with this part of the plumbing?

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[DERF]

Separate units I beleive. and it was the motor that was hot.

Checked all the "plumbing " no leaks anywhere obvious....

stuff reminded me of furnox??


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[tcm]

I wdn't have thought that they should be too hot to touch.

I believe the things are cooled by seawater, separate units unde sdaloon and under master bed i think and a separate bronze inlet with strainer incorporated in a spannerable fitting (like the genny, and engines, cept smaller) which on t48 came in under starbrd mid cabin beds. The filter shd be cleared regularlyish, all afaik.

Rusty water wd be not incredibly worrying, cos when it's cold any warm air condenses on it. Tasting a bit irrelvant cos it might be water with added crud from aircon manuf plant, or wd40 or whatever.


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[Buzz]

You will proberly find that the rust coloured liquid is the result of the suction line sweating.This may indicate that the airflow to the evaporator is restricted in some way I.E blocked filters or return air vents blocked.If your unit is sweating back your gas charge is generally o.k the reason the water is rust coloured is more than likely due to a valve or joint in the suction line which is starting to corriode.


As for the compresser running hot this is not that uncommon,make sure that there is no water retriction on the condenser that is assuming that it is water cooled if it is aircooled the condenser may be blocked with dust etc. again make sure the air vents are not restricted. If the above is alright i would not worry about it to much.



<hr width=100% size=1>Hmm your getting me confused with someone who cares

 

[jfm]

Ok if it's a separate system then under your settees and beds you only have air handlers, not compressors. These have a big fan motor which I'd expect gets pretty hot - they are biggish 2/3rd hp motors, running off the 240v I assume?

There are only 2 sources of water leak at the air handler end of things -there's no sea water here. One source is the condensate extracted from the atmospheric air. This should go to a drip tray and run away. Should be clean obviously

The other source is water in the narrow bore pipes that feed the air handler with chilled water from the compressor/chiller units. Think of it as domestic central heating except there's a chiller instread of a boiler and the pipes circulate cold not hot water, and the air handlers are like radiators only cold not hot. Usually the pipe circuit is lagged in very thick lagging. This is a water sytem with some anticorrosion additive like fernox. So it sounds like you could have a leak in this? In which case, not a massive or expensive job but sertainly needs fixong. Peel off the insulation and find out which union is leaking.

 

[DERF]

Thanx all for the advice chaps.

Will look into it further, and hopefully nothing serious.



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[DavidJ]

Ref: "separate system then under your settees and beds you only have air handlers, not compressors"
Not necessarily, Most of the instalations I've seen have two separate compressors usually sited under the saloon seat and under the main cabin bed. The water is most probably condensation which collects in the drip tray (that's what it's for) and there should be a drain pipe which usually crudely goes straight to the bilges. Maybe the water isn't draining from the tray and is sitting around going rusty.
As for the heat question I really don't know but when did you last check the water inlet filter. If this is blocked then things will I guess start to warm up a bit.
hope this helps
David

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