AC/Heat Repair

Went down to the boat on Sept. 13 with plans to spend the night. It was an unseasonably warm weekend with temperatures into the mid 90's. While there we discovered the AC breaker was popped. Reset but to no avail, as soon as the unit would go on, it would lock up. After checking, discovered there was no water going through the unit.

I started with the easy stuff first, took raw water strainer apart, cleaned and replaced the strainer cartridge (it needed). Still no water moving through the system. I then took the water pump off and bench tested, it worked just fine. I then re-installed and checked power to the pump, there was none. It appeared the relay was not energizing the posts for the pump.

As the relay is part of the circuit board, it is not replaceable, had to buy a new circuit panel (contacted mfg. to see if I was on the right track). Found a new panel at Ocean Options in Annapolis, picked up on the 18th.

When down to the boat on the 20th to install the circuit panel, was able to put on without too much difficulty. Now the moment of truth, is water going to flow through the system once I turn on? YES, success the AC is once again working.

Good thing it was working, we spent the night and had to use the heat side of the system in the morning as the temperature got down int the high 40's over night.

While I wasn't happy that it broke and I had to repair, I did feel good in the fact that I was able to troubleshoot and repair myself, saved a bunch of money by not having to pay labor for someone else to fix (I'm free).

Post TS Hanna

Went down to the boat on Friday to ensure Carina was prepared to ride out Hanna with no issues. Took down all canvas, ran some extra lines and added some additional wraps to the furling head sail. Checked today and all was fine with absolutely no problems.

The storm brought less problems than anticipated, but in situations like this, better safe than sorry.