Where does your A/C Drain?

[clynn]

I've had this ongoing issue with water in the bilge. The pump keeps up with it, but there is always a lot of standing water and I've finally worked my way down the list to this issue. I'm also having the boat pulled for paint in a few weeks, so I needed to determine if this was an issue that needed to be addressed out of the water. Last night I ran the pump to get as much out as it could and then used a wet vac to suck the rest out. The aft section of the bilge is dry (water tanks and packing back there) and all of the through hulls seemed good. There was one spot on a stringer that I could not get dry, but i'm hoping that it had some residual water in there that was seeping out? I'm in fresh water, so can't check for salt.

Anyway, the biggest offender I found was the drain line from the salon a/c. The air handler is under the flybridge fiberglass, so its effectively outside. I'm guessing that's why there is so much condensation dripping out. The two other air handlers are in the boat and I couldn't find any water coming from them. My plan is to reroute the salon a/c line back to the shower sump box and let the shower pump deal with it. Is it common to have a/c lines drain to the bilge? Is there a better way to deal with the water?

Thanks for any input.

 

[rwidman]

My AC discharge and the condensate drain are on the hull above the waterline and drain overboard. The condensate drains by gravity.


Of course, that only works if the AC pan is above the waterline.

 

[Ski in NC]

Both of mine drain to shower sump.

 

[psneeld]

Forward showet sump, some days, the A/C condenses a lot of water.

 

[ABfish]

Shower sump. It has a backup sump with another pump and float.

 

[Jeff F]

Mine drains to shower sump. I also have the water heater relief valve routed there and a dripless shaft seal, so no routine water in the bilge.

Weeping stringers are a concern, and should provide a really strong argument for maintaining a dry bilge. You might want to look at that area closely for rot and remediate early and/or seal it up to prevent future structural issues. I added limber holes in a couple of places on my boat to ensure that there is never any pooling around stringers or bulkheads if water does make its way towards the bilge, and sealed them well with epoxy.

 

[Baker]

Forward one to forward shower sump. Aft one to aft shower sump.

 

[FF]

AC Drain?

Free water maker.

 

[DavidM]

It sounds like you have a split system, ie the compressor unit is separate from the air handler/evaporator unit. I doubt if the air handler being mounted outside makes much difference in the amount of condensate it produces. I presume that the return air is sealed so it is only getting air from inside the boat. If not then you are both wasting energy by cooling outside air, you will make more condensate.

Years ago, A/Cs were add on systems and often just discharged their condensate to the bilge. There are two solutions. You already have a shower sump so if you can route the condensate line to the sump, that is an easy solution.

The other is a injection tee sold by Dometic that goes in the raw water line after the condensor. You hook up your condensate line to the tee and it creates a small vacuum that sucks it into the raw water discharge.

Go to Defender or Google it and you will find it.

David

 

[clynn]

David,

You are correct, I have two split systems. Both recirculate cabin air, but I thought that since one is sitting in the heat, that is what caused it to sweat. The others (in the forward and aft cabins) don't seem to produce condensate, at least not to the same degree.

I looked up the Dometic tee, and while it looks like an elegant solution, I agree that the shower sump is a much cheaper and easier solution.

I appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm looking forward to (hopefully) joining the dry bilge club.

 

[Ski in NC]

AC Drain?

Free water maker.

With the stink that comes out of my sweat glands due to excessive garlic and onion consumption, no thank you.

 

[clynn]

As a follow up for anyone that comes across this thread in the future, my issue was consistent, significant water in the bilge area. I thought it must be a leaky through hull or something similar. Turns out it was the A/C condensation drain line that ended in the bilge, which I've routed back to the shower sump box. After vacuuming out all of the water, I now have a dry bilge despite long periods of A/C operation. Over time, they can put out much more water than I would have thought possible.

 

[bayview]

AC condensate is full of bacteria and not suitable for consumption.

Overboard is best but many people are happy with shower drains. I guess if you put bilge cleaner in the drain from time to time it won't stink but shower drains are often an issue themselves.