Air Conditioner & Jellyfish Problem

[LIZNVINCENJ]

2006 Fourwinns 278 cruiser

Seems like in NJ the warm weather has caused jelly fish population to explode. My boat in brackish water with a million baby jelly fish.

Anyway the AC is not working. The water to cool the system which should come in the hull and exit the port side does not come through. I cleaned the strainer which is full of jelly fish and run the system. Water runs for a few minutes, then stops. I clean the strainer again (although there hardly anything in there), but no water is running through while I have the strainer off the hose, so I reinsert the strainer and disconnect the hose after the pump but before it runs into the ac. Turn the system on. The pump struggles a bit, then the water is flowing nicely. Reconnect everything. System runs for a few minutes and the water stops flowing. I remove the strainer and it is not clogged. Any ideas?

I'm thinking the intake is partially clogged. Anyone know if there is a one-way valve on these things. If not, I'll try to use a hose to fluse out through the hull. Or maybe the problem is on the other end, in the AC coils. Thanks

[Pblais]

I remove the strainer and it is not clogged. Any ideas?

You don't have flow. The A/C unit has a shut off that when it overheats it shuts down and saves you the trouble of replacing the whole unit. That is the good news. One thing to try is to close the through hull for the intake and then disconnect the hose at the strainer. Get a garden hose fitting and attach it to the end you disconnect and then open the through hull and flush the line out increasing to full pressure and run it for a bit. DO the reverse and reconnect and test. The outlet usually isn't a problem but that can be a problem too.

Next remove the pump and make sure it's in good shape. This summer has been exceptionally hot and all components could be stressed so it's not the only potential problem. For me I get to notice how much water flows out and if it looks too low I know it's a supply problem. You can also get growth in the intake or it's hose. warmer water make stuff grow and they can grow in the line to the strainer. Longer hoses are more potential for a problem too.

Having to empty the strainer every few hours is not uncommon in this type of heat where the jelly fish go gang busters. Warmer water and higher salinity makes these creatures grow big.

[sabray]

I wint re tell the story of misses rinsing down herself with the anchor salwater line.
All I will say is she was dancing about screaming a few moments passed while I tried to comprhend. Uhhhh a jelly just got emulsiified in in the impellor and came out the other end as a major toxin

[stevensc]

A friend had jellyfish in the AC water inlet, he disconnected the hose into the strainer and blew into it, the inlet cleared but he got jellyfish stingers on his lips made them swell up.
Steve

[maxingout]

When we were in Suakin, Sudan, there were a bazillion jellyfish in the harbor, and the jelly fish plugged up the water intake on the refrigeration of some of the yachts. They could not figure out anything to do for the problem.

[Stillraining]

ROFL...You guys cant make this stuff up....

On second thought.......pics or it didn't happen.....................just kidding...

[avb3]

Originally Posted by stevensc

A friend had jellyfish in the AC water inlet, he disconnected the hose into the strainer and blew into it, the inlet cleared but he got jellyfish stingers on his lips made them swell up.
Steve

Sooooooo, was his name Mick or Steve? (As in Jagger and Tyler)

[Stillraining]

Wonder if a length of hose stuck in the through hull at anchor and descending say 15' or 20' down would get you beneath the jellies?....put a bigger screen on it for more surface area to reduce the suction force tugging at all the swimmers.

For that matter affixing a half sphere mesh screen while at anchor about the size of half a basket ball to the bottom of the hull over the through hull might do the trick as well....anything to keep the venturi affect down and allow simmers a way of escaping its clutches..

[SV Demeter]

I would love a solution to this problem. On my prior boat we would have to clean the strainer every few hours when the jellies were bad. I thought that maybe if we combined an inboard strainer with a throughull strainer that might help but then maybe they would just clog up on the outside of the hull?

[Pblais]

I thought that maybe if we combined an inboard strainer with a throughull strainer that might help but then maybe they would just clog up on the outside of the hull?

The last boat had something like that. The through hull was through the encapsualted keel in a deep bilge under the dining table and had a hose to a Groco startiner. On the outside was a stainless disk with holes about 3/16 th in ddiameter. It was supposed to block jellyfish. It worked for that but after a lot of years we got barnacles growing on the back side. It had the result you might predict. I could open it up for a short time using a garden hose connect to the dock water and using full force blow for about an hour of flushing, but they always came back.

I still think the large Groco strainer is great and add a March pump since the pump is replaceable and not intergrated with the pump motor. Cal pumps are not that great and are disposable. The current boat just has an ordinary through hull and Groco bronze strainer and March pump. The old boat had the strainer on the exterioror removed and they moved the through hull closer to the March pump. The new owner did it after the haul out. It was a better appraoch. You want short raw water lines as they grow stuff inside them too.

[AnchorageGuy]

While these ain't cheap, they are designed to solve this problem and they do work, we have installed a few in the Chesapeake,
Hydromatic Series
Chuck