www.iFourWinns.com

The other day I noticed that no water was discharging from the boat when I ran the ac. The ac also wasn't very cold if at all. Another previous time I did notice water discharging. I read in my manuals that there is some seawater inlet valve? That can't be the problem though because if I don't even know where that is, I couldn't have closed them. Perhaps I have an obstruction? The boat is slipped and I don't have a means of pulling her out to check the hull. Any suggestions?

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2002 Four Winns 268
Saugatuck, MI

The seawater valve is is in the engine compartment, port side, between the engine stringer and then water heater on the floor. You should also see a strainer (filter). With the seacock closed, check your filter for obstructions. Replace it, open the seacock, then prime your a/c.
To prime, I take a hose, attach it to a pole, and back feed water through the outlet. Once you prime it, give it a try.

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-Tony
2016 Robalo R200 w/Yahama 200!

Previous boats:
2003 Four Winns 248 Vista - sold
1994 Sunbird Corsair 200 - sold
1980 Checkmate Predictor - sold

Many of our marine air units have a fan blowing at all times so it could be that the temperature setting is too high and the actual unit is not kicking on. Of course this would be too simple of a reason.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

I also suspect a blocked strainer. Priming trough the outlet generally gets things going again. My V288 was constantly loosing prime, and had to prime regularly as described. Quick to do at my dock, not so simple when away from home base.

One day I decided to inspect the pump after running the AC for 15 minutes, it was running hot and making more noise than I would have expected. I aquired a new pump, took me 2 hours to install and now it works perfectly. Surprisingly, it now actually self primes, I have taken the boat out of the water a few times since installing the new pump and never needed to prime the AC as before.

With the old pump, I noticed on 2 occasions, after hitting large wakes at high speed that lifted a large section of the boat out of the water that the AC would require priming whenever I used it thereafter. Note: The AC was not running while underway at high speed. I suspected that it lost prime due to the inlet being out of the water. Has anyone else experienced this?

You more than likely know this, but these pumps are generally not able to draw water without having water in them, it needs the water to create suction, loosing prime means the pump is drawing air and unable to draw the water. When you prime it, you fill it up with water to get it going. My apologies if I am stating the obvious, but not everyone is familiar with how these pumps work.

Hope this helps.

Regards.

Another way to prime is to crack the strainer open while the pump is running. Doesn't take much.. Drawback is you can get a little water in the bilge or compartment it's located in, but if done right, won't be much.. When I have to do it (which I rarely do, even after having the boat out of the water), I usually don't get more than a few dribbles..

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2004 Four Winns 328 Vista
1997 Larson Cabrio 290 - sold
1988 Rinker Fiesta Vee 248 - sold

Well it turns out that after a day of boating somehow I got water flowing out of the port side when using the ac. Strangely it was a hole more towards the aft. I thought remembering that the last time I had water flow, it was from a hole closer to the bow? Any difference in which hole the water flow would be normally coming from when using ac?

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2002 Four Winns 268
Saugatuck, MI

Yes. When running the AC, the water should always come out of the AC drain line and no where else. You might want to check the diagrams in your manual to know just which thru-hull that is.

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2005 Vista 288 - That's A Winner

The 268's AC condenser pump discharge is on port side, about 5' from the stern. I think there's a larger discharge directly astern from that one for the cockpit scupper drain. The AC one is a smaller diameter than the cockpit drain. One drawback I have noticed though is that the condensate drain dumps into the engine bilge.
Also, the condenser pump only runs when the actual compressor is running, so just because the fan is on doesn't mean it should be discharging water.