AC Mainship Pilot 30 II

[clark5561]

Hello I have Maine Air 7000 BTU system that gave me a HHH error. I did have the thru hull open, I then hooked up a hose and flushed the system. But now when I turn on the system, all I hear is the system click on and immediately click off. Any ideas? Is there a high pressure switch that I need to reset? It worked fine until the HHH error then I shut it down until I flushed it out. Wondering if I messed up something flushing the system. Thanks

 

[rgano]

I cannot help on the Marine Air unit because mine rotted out due to long-period retained condensate in the drip pan due to a clogged drain under the auspices of the PO. I ended up replacing it with a DTU (Dometic Turbo Unit) 10K Btu because it was both larger capacity which I deparately needed and because it was about the only unit that fit exactly into the space available. There are people here who should be able to help you, but a call to Dometic who owns Marine Air may also help. And, hey, welcome aboard; we have an active Mainship bunch here.

Where is the boat kept?

 

[Bacchus]

Welcome aboard TF... agree w Rich there are a lot of MS owners. & experience here.
Have you found out what the HHH error indicates?
I dont have my manual handy but it should be there or online.
In many cases just opening the sea cock isn't adequate to get flow. The pumps are typically not self priming so if not completely below the waterline and able to purge the air pocket the pump runs but doesn't pump.
I have added a T with a hose fitting in my AC sea strainer inlet that makes winterization and priming much easier.

 

[rgano]

I have a tee in my ac cooling water circuit for an entirely different reason that Don does; it is after the pump and has a valve and short piece of clear vinyl hose to help me ensure that the air has been expelled after the boat is launched from its lift. The process is start the ac unit and then quickly move to the valve and open it to watch the bubbles followed by clear seawater flowing into the bilge (less than a pint). Then I shut the valve and go about my business.

 

[clark5561]

Welcome aboard TF... agree w Rich there are a lot of MS owners. & experience here.
Have you found out what the HHH error indicates?
I dont have my manual handy but it should be there or online.
In many cases just opening the sea cock isn't adequate to get flow. The pumps are typically not self priming so if not completely below the waterline and able to purge the air pocket the pump runs but doesn't pump.
I have added a T with a hose fitting in my AC sea strainer inlet that makes winterization and priming much easier.

The HHH error means high pressure which typically means no water flow. which now I cannot get the compressor to turn on to even check if it is pulling water.

 

[rgano]

The HHH error means high pressure which typically means no water flow. which now I cannot get the compressor to turn on to even check if it is pulling water.

You may have misspoken, but the compressor pulls no water. The cooling pump which is controlled through the ac unit's electronics pumps water to cool the compressor (but you knew that I think), and it won't come on if there is a persistent fault shuttting the whole ac unit down. HOWEVER, the coolant pump could be independently powered by rigging a 120-volt lead to it from another source just to see if it would pump water, but starting from a completely cool compressor, I have found that if the cooling pump has no prime, it will run for severl minutes before the high pressure alarm shuts the system down. Thus, even if your pump is kaput, the instantaneous shutdown you are experiencing sounds like another probem altogether.

 

[Bacchus]

If I'm not mistaken you can reset faults and should be able tobstart up again to see if pump runs initially and you have water flow or not. The manual should have a section on reading and resetting faults.
I had a somewhat similar issue with one of my two units a few years back. It occurred after start up from winter storage and as I recall unit would start and stop quickly (other unit was functioning as normal).
I went through all the setting and found one that was incorrect... don't know how / why it happened so can't be a help. I think my issue was shut down due to an optional (temp) sensor? That was an option and never installed. After turning that option off it worked fine.
Sorry the memory isn't great and my manual isn't handy.

 

[clark5561]

you are right let me clarify my issue. The A/C ran fine when I first put it on but after a few minutes went into the error message which was high pressure message possible related to not pulling the water up through the thru hull. I have a tee attachment that you can hook a garden hose up to and I flushed the system out using this. When I now go to restart the AC the Passport II panel lights up the fan comes on then that is it. You hear a click from a relay then nothing happens. The temp lights on the panel do not even light up I just get the red light indicating the fan is running.

 

[rgano]

you are right let me clarify my issue. The A/C ran fine when I first put it on but after a few minutes went into the error message which was high pressure message possible related to not pulling the water up through the thru hull. I have a tee attachment that you can hook a garden hose up to and I flushed the system out using this. When I now go to restart the AC the Passport II panel lights up the fan comes on then that is it. You hear a click from a relay then nothing happens. The temp lights on the panel do not even light up I just get the red light indicating the fan is running.

Makes you think a reversing valve or some such thing got stuck.