Nigelpickin
Well-Known Member
Test
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Unattended air con
- Thread starter Nigelpickin
- Start date
GSL
Well-Known Member
What type of air conditioning do you refer to?
Graham
Graham
jimmy_the_builder
Well-Known Member
Hi
What is the view on this, is it wise/foolish to leave the system on when in the Marina, if say, we are popping out for an hour?
I've heard that plastic bags/debris can get caught up on the intake...
Would my insurance be nullified in this scenario?
Any thoughts wellcome...
It's so bloomin' hot here!!!!
When it's really hot, I leave mine on when we go out for the evening. If something prevented the raw water flow it would shut itself down anyway, so shouldn't be an issue.
Although it's not quite the same thing, I also leave it on in dehum mode for several months over the winter.
Nigelpickin
Well-Known Member
Thanks JTB, that's useful...now I'm 'connected' on board I can set up some remote monitoring - perhaps an 'aircon' cam...
Is it possible to test the failsafe by shutting the sea cock or will I damage the system do you think?
Regards
Nigelpickin
Well-Known Member
Hi graham
It's a 50,000 btu reverse cycle with a chiller unit in the engine room and head unit blowers and controls throughout the boat.
jimmy_the_builder
Well-Known Member
Trevor (superheat6k) is the expert, I'm just a user - but I cannot believe that with a modern installation you could damage the system by simulating a raw water inlet blockage. My own system is a Dometic Cruisair and gives a high pressure alarm when there's no raw water flow.
rubberduck
Well-Known Member
Our system has been started without opening the seacock several times, just shuts down, open seacock & restart all fine every time.
Steruth1
Well-Known Member
Hi Nigel I leave mine on 24 hrs a day when I'm here, as you say it's to hot with it off. Seems fine thus far ?
vas
Well-Known Member
I'd just check what type is you seawater circulating pump. Mine is a bronze screw type thing, no impeller and no pistons insight. Runs dry nicely. Mind I don't feel it's hot enough to even reconnect the thing up after the rebuilt. Too low a priority...
If the pump has no impeller. I'd start it with seacock closed and see what happens. Or rather how soon the ECU shuts the thing down
Cheers
V
If the pump has no impeller. I'd start it with seacock closed and see what happens. Or rather how soon the ECU shuts the thing down
Cheers
V
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Nigelpickin
Well-Known Member
Thanks all, much appreciated as usual.
Regards from Portimao
Regards from Portimao
superheat6k
Well-Known Member
Loss of coolant flow would lead to excessive discharge or head pressures for which any decent system should have an High Pressure cut out. Most compressors will also have a high temperature cut out.
Your AC system has essentially the same components as the fridge, and generally these are left on eternally - mine certainly is.
There fore the risk of a failure that could for instance start a fire would very much fall into the 'sudden and unforeseen' category which is why you have insurance.
In my business motor burnout failure of a compressor is very very common event, and indeed why we have a rewind shop at our factory. Fires outside of the sealed equipment, e.g. in the control electrics are very very rare. The extent of a burnout is generally fully contained within the compressor and associated system. The only external fires I have come across are where bad electrical connections exist within the controls allowing sparks and excessive contact heat build up / arcing.
Even in heat pump mode the heat is limited to ~ 60oC so no where even close to the temperatures say from an electric element heated heater.
Your AC system has essentially the same components as the fridge, and generally these are left on eternally - mine certainly is.
There fore the risk of a failure that could for instance start a fire would very much fall into the 'sudden and unforeseen' category which is why you have insurance.
In my business motor burnout failure of a compressor is very very common event, and indeed why we have a rewind shop at our factory. Fires outside of the sealed equipment, e.g. in the control electrics are very very rare. The extent of a burnout is generally fully contained within the compressor and associated system. The only external fires I have come across are where bad electrical connections exist within the controls allowing sparks and excessive contact heat build up / arcing.
Even in heat pump mode the heat is limited to ~ 60oC so no where even close to the temperatures say from an electric element heated heater.
Nigelpickin
Well-Known Member
Thank you very much for the information, very useful indeed.
Steruth1
Well-Known Member
So on the flip side can I leave mine in dehumid mode when we leave the boat for weeks at a time or is it better to buy one and leave on the counter in the galley?
jimmy_the_builder
Well-Known Member
As per #3, I leave mine in dehum mode all winter.
D
Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
That did happen to us once when we went ashore for dinner and the aircon unit/pump just shut itself down.
We did have a far more scary incident on another occasion on our current boat when we came back from dinner to find the engine bay smoke alarm blaring away and the aircon shut down. When I (carefully!) opened the hatch to the engine bay, there was quite a bit of smoke and a horrible electrical burning smell which I very quickly traced to the aircon unit. When the technicians came the following day they identified the problem as a burnt out condenser
Not sure whether this could have caused a fire and in any case I guess the auto fire extinguisher would have handled it but it still scared the shit out of me. We still leave the aircon on when we go out for dinner but I do double check that there is water coming out of the seawater outlet
Designo
Well-Known Member
We used to leave it on when going for lunch in the summer, until one day when we came back after an hour to find the engine room flooded. The seawater hose had broke and the pump filled the boat with sea water. We had an alarm going but not an automatic bilge pump in that compartment, so some lessons learned....