www.iFourWinns.com

Hello. I recently purchased a 2005 378 Vista that appears to be a later model with a slightly reconfigured cabin from several photos in the owners manual.

Since I have purchased the boat, the drip pan for the air conditioning unit (located behind the closet on the port side of the aft couch) overflows and leaks water onto the cabin floor. I did see the drain lines for the drip pan - perhaps they're clogged. I have 2 quick questions related to this issue:

1. Is there a valve to open and close these air conditioning drip pan drain lines? I would assume no, but wanted to make sure as the owners manual doesn't mention these drain lines.
2. Do these lines drain to the bilge or to outside the hull of the boat?

Thank you in advance!

Not sure about the 378 but there should not be a valve for the condensate line...at least never ever seen one. The line should be plumbed to the shower sump which then pumps overboard. Check your shower sump and I bet you will see a line for the a/c condensate.

As to the "over-flow" it may not be overflow. On my 288 Vista we had a "wet" floor at times. The plenum box that the air vents are plumbed to is metal and a part of it overhangs the drip pan. What was happening during the initial cooling of the cabin with high humidity was condensate forming on the outside of the metal box and dripping outside the pan. This may be happening to you as well. We at first though it was spillage from the remaining water in the drip pan of the drip pan being clogged and overflowing. My dealer made a catch pan from star-board material that caught any drips from the plenum box and channeled it to the drip pan. Never had a problem since.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, there's about 1.5 inches of standing water in the drip pan, so I'm pretty sure something is slowing down the drainage in the lines and causing the wet floor. I'll have to check the shower sump to see if it drains there.

Our 348 drains the AC pan into the shower sump. Check that your sump is clean. Since the kitchen sink also drains into this sump you often get some REALLY NASTY mold growing in the sump. Enough that it can impede the float switch from running properly. Having seen this gunk I now run the sink for about 10 minutes before closing up the boat at the end of the weekend. They I eye up the sump to make sure there's nothing obvious clogging up the tubular grate inside it. This has keep the gunk to a minimum this season (thus far).

If you've got something like a foot air pump for a dingy you might use that to push some air into the hose into the sump. Given the nastiness we had in our sump this past winter there's no way I'd blow on the hose myself.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I agree with Bill's comments. We have a 328 and had several "floods" apparently coming from the AC unit. It seemed to coincide with draining the galley sink which like the AC condensate drain, connects to the shower sump. The gunk would prevent the float from turning on and the sump would over flow. The sink is at a higher elevation than the condensate tray on the AC and water would flow from the sink, to the sump and push water into the condensate drain till it over flowed into the floor of the cabin.

Thankfully FW carpet is not glued in place and was easy to remove and clean! My long term solution was to add a thru hull fitting for the sink so I no longer get growth in the sump. Since then, I've had 2 trouble free years.

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2014 Vista V435
2011 Glastron GT180
2013 Sea Doo RXT-260

A note of caution about adding through hulls, you want to watch out for the risk that the through hull would introduce. Mainly from listing or high water backing up into the sink. An area that's not directly served by a bilge pump. Of course the sink in the head already drains straight overboard and is actually a few inches lower than the galley sink.

Then there's also the 'recovering jewelry' situation. A sump gives you once last chance to catch it before losing it to the deep. In reality though you never need to recover food scrapings or other debris that tends to gunk up the sump.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Thanks for the input.

Our AC unit is in the far aft part of the cabin, and the shower sump is forward near the stateroom, so I would be a bit surprised if the line ran all the way to the shower sump (seems like there would be an easier way without running several feet of line to the shower sump). In addition, we just had our shower sump replaced as part of some warranty repair and that has not alleviated the issue.

I also have an email into four winns for more information.

The owners manual should have diagrams for the plumbing. Where's it show the hoses running?

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I checked the owner's manual - I didn't see any diagrams for the plumbing but did see a note that the condensate line drains into the aft bilge. I'll need to take a closer look this weekend.

I have emailed Four Winns regarding the 378 Vista AC issue - they claim the AC condensation drip pan drains through a straight drain line that exits through the hull and suspects that this line is clogged.

I spent several hours over the weekend tinkering with this issue. I've posted my response back to Four Winns below. Apologize for the long message, but I figured that more detail should help find the solution to this issue. I've posted here in case any of you have additional suggestions.

MESSAGE:

Please see the follow-up question to my 378 Vista air conditioning issue. I've had 2 mechanics check out the problem to no avail. This is an issue because we cannot run our AC without getting water in the cabin.

I checked the drain line for the AC condensation drip pan. Here's what I did:
1. I removed the line and it looked to be clear (at least through the T connecter that combines both drip pan lines.

2. I managed to pour about 6oz of bottled water down the line. Then I heard what sounded like a sump or bilge pump, and some of the water came gushing back up the drain line. After that, I successfully poured about 30oz (3 bottled waters) down the drip pan drain line with no issue.

3. Thinking the line must be clear, I reconnected the drip pan drain line and ran the AC constantly for about a day. No issues, the condensation drip pan appeared to be draining just fine.

4. Then, all of sudden, the drip pan began to fill up with water. I watched the water level in the pan for several minutes and noticed that whenever I heard the same sump/bilge pump noise as noted in #2 above, the water level in the drip pan would again rise.

5. I turned off the AC and monitored the drip pan water level for several hours. It would appear to drain (very slowly), then rise again a short time later (without the AC running).

All of this occurred while we were docked at our slip.

As you can tell, this has me very confused, especially if the condensation drip pan drain line is supposedly a straight drain line through the hull.

Again, my boat is a 2005 378 Vista and the AC unit is located in a closet under the cabin stairs

Thanks,
edziedzic

How high is the AC drip pan mounted? It'd have to be pretty high up to be able to use a straight-through drain. Mine runs down into the same sump as the shower and galley sink. Which, on the 348, is located in the middle of the floor at the base of the stairs. Do you know where your shower sump is located? It's a good thing to now where this is located so you can make sure it doesn't get moldy. Find yours and see if it actuates when you pour water into it.

But the back flow you mention is puzzling. That seems like a pump that's being shut off or something. As in, the flow is detected, so the pump starts removing water. Once the level or flow drops 'enough' the pump cuts out and whatever's left in the hose backs down the hose. They do make in-line backflow preventers. The shower sump has one. It's inline inside the sump between the pump and the outlet barb on the sump itself. This prevents water from coming back into the sump. It also means there's going to be "some" amount of water left in the hose from there to the through hull (an issue to be aware of during winterization).

So I'm thinking it's not a straight through, there's a pump on that line. And there's not a backflow preventer. Is it possible the previous owners had a pump added or the hose re-routed?

I'd find the pump first. And if the hose has to travel "up hill" from the drip pan I'd add a backflow preventer to it. But I'd add this as close to the pump as possible to avoid too much raw water left sitting in a length of hose (to avoid gunk growing in it).

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista