Larry wrote:

Don W wrote in news:LYexg.11933
:


Well, the only problem with this theory is that
the condensor is raw water (sea water in this
case) cooled. The cooling water comes from a
seawater pump attached to a thru-hull.

Oh, sorry, I must have been thinking CarryCool, the portable one. Ignore
the rest of my post.

How hot does the seawater condensor feel? Can you hang onto it,
comfortably? Now it sounds like low cooling water capacity/clogged
strainers-hoses-condensor-outlet problems. The problem remains the
same....too much backpressure on the compressor, which usually means high
head pressure from too little flow on water-cooled condensors.

I need to check the water flow. It has been
flowing just fine, but it has been a few weeks
since I specifically checked it.

The unit is installed in the closet with the
evaporator right behind the door. The door has
the typical louver slots in it which lets the
return air into the unit. The problem is that it
is next to impossible to get to the back side of
the unit due to space restrictions, so I have no
idea how hot the condenser is running.

Do you have a set of refridgeration guages? We need to see those
pressures to assess pressure problems. You could also have clogged
capillary tubes feeding the evaporator from a dirty system. Gotta get
some guages on them and you'll need a probe thermometer we can stick into
the evaporator core, one of those little pocket ones AC people keep in
their pockets.

I do have a set of R12/R22 gauges as well as a new
set of R134A gauges. Since the unit is R22 based,
I guess I could hook up the gauges and read the
condenser temperature off of the high pressure
gauge. Maybe I'll do that next time I go down to
the boat.

I think I'll also contact Cool Mate, and find out
what the current draw should be with the sea water
pump running.

If the condensor is hot, the pressure really stalls the compressor
raising the current you're measuring. The damned cheap seawater pumps
that feed these units are crap. They don't prime themselves and if the
boat heels over with the thru-hull valve left open, they'll get air in
them, maybe not enough to go completely dry, but enough to make flow just
awful. What I've done to a few of them is to put a T on the seawater
pump outlet, one to the condensor to cool the AC and the other to just an
open-ended valve I can flip open to let the air out of the pump so it'll
fully prime and let the bubbles out.

The damned strainers sold for these things is way too fine! Any creepy
crawlers that can pass through the condensor on the AC SHOULDN'T be
filtered out by the strainers...clogging them in a week, here. I've
changed out the strainers to ones with perforated metal sleeves, instead
of those fine screens. If it sucks up something big, it stops it. If it
sucks up a little crawler, it feeds him through the system and pours his
partially cooked guts over the side, making the crabbing under the boat
improved...(c;

Is lots of water pouring out of the boat outlet and the seawater
condensor cool enough to hang onto?.....

Well, there was a lot of sea water pouring out of
the outlet last time I checked, but that has been
a month or so ago, and before I measured the
current. Its a good thought to check the flow,
and see if that is why the current is high.

Don W.