Mermaid condensator

[River Cruiser]

Has anyone used these if yes have you been happy with how they perform? What about routine maintenance what is involved, if you shopped for them where did you find the best price? Thank you for any help

[deckofficer]

Look what it did to David's kid. Use at your own risk. lol

[gettinthere]

Is this a device to suction the condensate out of an A/C drip pan?

If so, I recall they are quite pricey. I bought a venturi from a salt water fish tank supplier on line and a few other parts. Very simple to add to the discharge side of the A/C. Total cost less than $25. Works PERFECTLY. It sucks all the condensate out of the drain pan and adds it to the discharge water.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by River Cruiser

Has anyone used these if yes have you been happy with how they perform? What about routine maintenance what is involved, if you shopped for them where did you find the best price? Thank you for any help

We installed a Condensator in our system about 3 years ago. When it works it does a rasonably good job of suctioning condensate out of the collection pan. Unfortunately, however, the device requires rather a lot of maintnence--more than is merited given the application. Our water pump">raw water pump passes roughly 390 GPH through our system which is, in theory, quite sufficient for the Condensator. However, it does not take much sediment in the raw water to foul the Condensator and interefere with its operation. The system is also dependent upon a small check-valve in the suction line to the condensate pan to prevent raw water back-flow to the pan when the pump isn't running. While the cracking pressure on this valve is quite low, it doesn't take much debris to interfere with the operation of the valve and debris will be sucked into the valve despite the screen mesh filter included with the Condensator. The ball in the valve is also subject to corrosion which eventually prevents its proper function. When I first contacted Mermaid about obtaining a replacement valve they quoted me $10.00 each. Close inspection of the valves revealed they are made by US Plastics. Contacting that company revealed that the valves are available for...$0.80 a piece--but must be purchased in "bulk", i.e. 10 units at a time ($8.00). Frankly, on many occassions I simply pulled the check-valve out of the system, in which case the Condensator works quite well, but that is a dangerous proposition if the pump isn't running as back-flow, even from a 1/4" line, can create quite a flood.

I have just reworked our system and removed the Condensator. As an altenative, I am installing an Aquarium "Dosing Pump" that will operate whenever our raw water pump is running and will suction out a moderately sized Tupperware box that we will be using to accumulate condensate as it drains from the pan under the A/C evaporator coils. We have had that pan fitted with two drains, one each to port and starboard, to ensure the pan drains into the collection box (rather than the bilge). The Dosing Pump will discharge condensate into the galley sink drain through a 1/4" tube--fitted with one of our US Plastics check valves (as we have plenty!) to ensure we have no back-flow issues while we are sailing.

FWIW...

PS: If you have an iterest in our Condensator, send me a PM. I'll make you a deal!

[gettinthere]

My venturi is well above static water line. To protect against possible flooding when heeled, I added a valve. Since I don't run the A/C while sailing, it's no problem to keep the valve closed while underway.
Sounds like the mermaid is quite overengineered.

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by gettinthere

Is this a device to suction the condensate out of an A/C drip pan?

If so, I recall they are quite pricey. I bought a venturi from a salt water fish tank supplier on line and a few other parts. Very simple to add to the discharge side of the A/C. Total cost less than $25. Works PERFECTLY. It sucks all the condensate out of the drain pan and adds it to the discharge water.

You can also buy the equivalent from any water bed store. The Condensator is simply an expensive, poorly designed, inferior quality to that which you can buy and connect yourself. about the only purpose it serves is to empty your wallet faster.

[S/V Alchemy]

I have a MMA 12,000 BTU unit and a steel boat, with no Venturi setup as of yet, but I have heard the "fishtank/waterbed" solution for some time and when I get this organized, I will go that route and not the circa 200 buck gadget Mermaid wants to sell me.

[Tony B]

I have used the Mermaid Condensator for about the last 5 years. I love it. We live aboard in galveston Bay, Tx and the 16K A/C unit runs full time almost all year long. I clean the little filter it comes with about once every 2 months. It stays pretty clean because there isn't much to suck up other than water in the condensation tray. We are still on the original filter and condensator.
We have a 39' sailboat with a waterless packing gland and our bilge is always bone dry. Without the condensator, the A/C unit makes 3.5 to 5 gals per day of condensation water in the bilge.
I'm sure a fish tank unit will work just fine but I personally would not trust my life or my boat to it.

[River Cruiser]

Thank you for all the replies. I liveaboard 9 months a year on the upper miss river. My boat has 2 a/c units, I usually run 1 at a time but with the hot weather lately I've been running both. Just guessing I probably pump out 10 gal a day. I was going to go with a shower pump box but didn't have a good place to mount it. If they weren't so $$$ they could sell a lot more of them. Thanks again.

[ssteakley]

There is a alternative solution from Ryan Herco for about $50 that works great:
https://www.rhfs.com/chemical-inject...5&cid=jcb-pvdf

[98blackbell]

When this is installed, does the device need to be below the pan? Or does the siphon pull the moisture up hill?

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by 98blackbell

When this is installed, does the device need to be below the pan? Or does the siphon pull the moisture up hill?

Mine (not a condensater but an aquarium Venturi device, same thing)pulls water from the pan, up about 1.5' through an 1/8" hose.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[98blackbell]

I istalled 2 of the mermaid condensators, 1 successfully and 1 not.

Called tech support and they claim my raw water pump must not have enough pressure!

Suppose to have minimum of a gallon a minute which I have.

I have suction with no hose attached. When I attach the pickup hose it pulls water to the brass block but then stops. I have disassembled and made sure all was clean. No issues seen.

Anyone have this problem?

[Hunter45]

I am having the same issue now. Over the previous 2 years, the mermaid condensator worked great. I have disassembled the entire system and cannot get the vacume to operate.
Anyone have any suggestions?

[98blackbell]

Restricted water flow is what the manufacturer said to me.

For maintenance I remove all tubing and condensator. Soak for 24 hrs in white vinegar. 1 a yr at least. Reassemble and do a Barnacle buster continuous flush for 10 minutes. Remove buildup in copper coil of condenser.

I live in the fertile rivers of Savannah Ga where the bottom growth is so extreme we almost need 2 cleanings a month in summer months, water temp 85.

I clean my strainer once a week. Poor some barnacle buster in at least a cup on each restart.

Good luck. I am a HVAC specialist for residential. We have 2 standalone a/c on our boat 16000 btu
4 yr old and 9000 btu 12 yr old. It has been a maintenance nightmare, but love dry bilges.