Air Conditioning/Seawater leak/Relay shutdown

[panhead56]

A friend at my marina found 3” of water in his salon and 2” in his bilge this morning. Apparently a seawater return hose failed. He did not find the cause of the burst yet.
We live on the west coast of Florida and run the air conditioning full time. I know that on my system if the seawater supply hose has a major leak the A/C pump will shut off once the thermostat detects “HPF” (no water flow or the strainer is clogged).
My question is, I would like to add some kind of water 12Volt detect/contact that would shut off my 120Volt A/C pump with maybe a relay. In case there is a leak on my seawater return line.
I was wondering if anyone might have installed something similar?

Thank you

 

[DavidM]

I sure wouldn't rely on the HPF shutdown since when you are not aboard cooling requirements are minimal so it would take significantly diminished flow on the supply side to cause that shutdown. It would do nothing for the return (overboard) side.

Aqualarm makes a r/w 12v flow switch that could be used with a relay to shut it down. But I suspect it takes rather low flow to trigger so you would have the same problems as the HPF shutdown.

Frankly, I would just inspect the hose and fittings routinely.

David

 

[caltexflanc]

Frankly, I would just inspect the hose and fittings routinely.

Exactly. And use good hose clamps, not those cheap fully perforated things.

And make sure you have appropriate bilge pumping capacity and maintain/inspect that system too.

 

[panhead56]

I agree, we have two stainless steel clamps on each hose end. But impossible to access the entire length of supply and return lines in order to inspect.
I found a product that might work for my setup.
I'll continue researching.
You can find this product on Amazon:
"The HydroCheck WaterWatcher is an innovative, leak-detecting device that is designed to stop leaks at the source. When water is detected, the WaterWatcher turns off the appliance that is causing the leak and sounds an alarm".

 

[caltexflanc]

When you refer to "return line" do you mean the output from the compressor assembly to the overboard discharge through hull? If so, why would that not be accessible, and therefore not serviceable?

 

[panhead56]

You are correct, both of my discharge lines are fairly easy to check. I guess I need to inspect the clamps that are on both ends of the hose more often.
Hopefully the supply lines that are not easy to inspect never split.
If they do, I'm sure my bilge pumps will keep up.
Hoping my friend here at the Marina finds out the reason why his boat flooded soon.
Unfortunately the salt water saturated his teak and holly flooring too.

 

[Flatswing]

Living in FL, don’t you flush the system annually? Usually to complete the flush circuit back to the chemical reservoir bucket, I have to pull the discharge lines from the overboard discharge nipples. Gives me an opportunity to carefully inspect all the lines. I do a final fresh water flush using a hose fitting on my Greco strainer. The AC centrifugal pump generates high flow but low pressure. The higher dock hose pressure usually finds any leaks! Yeah, don’t ask!

 

[Pete Meisinger]

Curious, my salon floor would not hold three inches of water. If it got deep enough to cross the threshold to the aft cabin it would all end up there or in the "V" berth. Even that is unlikely, my engine hatch covers are not watertight so the water would go almost directly into the bilge where my bilge pumps would take care of it.

Speaking of bilge pumps, how did he accumulate two inches in his bilge?

Was he away from his boat overnight? If it was my boat and I was onboard I would surely have been wakened by the sound of running water and the sound of the bilge pumps.

pete