Flagship Marine AC problems

[Finman]

I bought a remanufactured 12 KW AC and it has yet to work right. The compressor keeps cutting off after about 15 minutes then cycles back on in about 10 minutes. I have verified supply voltage and water flow and have called the company several times to try to resolve. They want me to send it back to go through it. Has anyone else had either a high temp or high pressure cut off problem with one of these?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Finman.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by Finman

I bought a remanufactured 12 KW AC and it has yet to work right. The compressor keeps cutting off after about 15 minutes then cycles back on in about 10 minutes. I have verified supply voltage and water flow and have called the company several times to try to resolve. They want me to send it back to go through it. Has anyone else had either a high temp or high pressure cut off problem with one of these?

I regret to inform you that several of our friends that purchased Flagship units had no end of difficulties including the issue you report but got very little satisfactory assistance from the maker. You might find a local technician that can diagnose the issue for you with the unit in place, preferably one that has worked with/through Flagship. If you send it back, they invariably seemed to claim the returned unit was "damaged in shipping" so whatever needed repair was not covered by any warranty. N'any case, good luck.

[rourkeh]

I had similar issues with a Flagship 16,500 btu unit. It drove me crazy.
My unit had intermittent overheating of the compressor, it would run for a short time and then shut down. I checked the thermal overload on top of the compressor ( small round sensor under the plastic cap ) but it was OK. I flushed the condenser and the entire system with acid to ensure there was no growth. Finally used a digital, laser thermometer from the galley to read the compressor temp after it was running awhile and it was reading 250 F or more. The compressor should run at a max of 180 F. The reason for the overheating on my system was a lot of continuous growth, and the water supply and discharge runs were way too long.
Flagship sent me a new compressor for cost. I shortened the hose from the thru hull to the pump, increased the diameter of all the hoses, and shortened the overboard discharge line as well. The water flow doubled and the compressor ran so cool I could place my hand on it while running and leave it there. Once the compressor is overheated a lot the bearings are shot. Check your voltage while running and it should be 125v +or-, and the amps should be 10-13 amps. When it shuts down watch the amp meter and if it spikes to very high reading your compressor is burnt. There are some other causes for your type of problem, check run capacitor, low voltage entering the boat, but most likely it is the temp of the compressor.
I have had great customer service from the guys at Flagship, if you call them up and describe your issue they will walk you through the possible fix.
Try getting that from service from Cruisaire, or one of the other big manufacturers.
Good luck.

[Finman]

Thanks for that great explanation and for the time it took to write it sir. I suspect you are right on target. The only puzzling thing is that it has done this since day one. I bought a Cal 320 water pump to go with it and measured well over 200 gph at the inlet. I have an electrical panel with volt meter and it reads steady 125V. The runs for the inlet and outlet plumbing are very short. I did a dumb thing probably by removing the thermal reset on top of the compressor to see if that was the problem. It ran for a good while then I think the compressor seized. So even when I fix that I still need to find the cause.

[rourkeh]

Well now you have verified that it is the compressor that is overheating. You say you bought it as an overhauled unit but maybe the compressor was on the way out. Call Chris at Flagship Marine and tell him your story and ask if you can buy a new compressor from them at a discount. I have several of their units on my boat running almost continuously for the last 5 years and they are extremely well built compared to the competition. The compressors are really hard to destroy, but heat will kill them.

[rwidman]

I bought and installed a Flagship Marine air conditioner a couple years ago and it has worked flawlessly. This brand was recommended by several people so I find it puzzling that there was one extremely negative post. Perhaps this is someone who owns a competing company.

To the OP: Removing a safety shutdown device was not a good idea and it certainly voided your warranty. You are pretty much on your own at this point.


And yes, it has been like this from the beginning but perhaps your installation was improper as in post #4.

[Finman]

I'm not insinuating the brand is not a quality product. Just that I'm having a problem I can't solve. The unit is out of warranty so there is none to void. I did not fry the compressor as I thought. It worked fine this morning after it cooled off. I called flagship again today and they want me to hook it up to a garden hose to eliminate a water supply problem also to read the amp draw. I rechecked the water pump output this morning as well and it is putting out 5 gallons every 90 seconds at the units intake pipe.

[redsky49]

Originally Posted by Finman

I'm not insinuating the brand is not a quality product. Just that I'm having a problem I can't solve. The unit is out of warranty so there is none to void. I did not fry the compressor as I thought. It worked fine this morning after it cooled off. I called flagship again today and they want me to hook it up to a garden hose to eliminate a water supply problem also to read the amp draw. I rechecked the water pump output this morning as well and it is putting out 5 gallons every 90 seconds at the units intake pipe.

.

If your measurements are correct as to condenser water flow rate (works out to 200 gph), that side of the issue appears to be a non-factor. Nominal design water flow is 3gpm per ton, or in your case 180 gph, so you are good. If you wish to record the entering and leaving water temps, we could also check that too.

To verify that there is not an internal issue, you should measure the flow rate at the exit point of the vessel, not just the intake of the unit. With a used unit, the seawater flow through the condenser could indeed be restricted.

If all that checks out, then proceed to the next likely failure point.

By the way, it sounds like it is cutting out due to the high head pressure safety. I would also check every wire connection, particularly on the controls. You never know...

[rourkeh]

Finman, even though the compressor will restart and run it does not mean the bearings aren't cooked. My unit ran for 2 weeks with fried bearings, but it was operating at 270F. You need to check the temp of the compressor when running. Your pump may put out 200g/h at the head but that doesn't mean that the flow is sufficient through the system. The hose test is a good way to determine flow. Also try changing the batteries in the digital controller. If the unit is tripping the thermal overload the compressor is getting too hot and then it starts to draw more amps until it shuts down. Is it tripping the breaker? When the bearings are gone the compressor has to work much harder and this causes it to draw more power and get hotter until it shuts down. Even with bad bearings it will keep restarting again and again until it seizes. Long shot, but Cal Pumps can overheat and shut down, so make sure there is water flow the entire time the unit is running. This is exactly the same issue I had and after all the diagnosis and troubleshooting it was the compressor. I ran mine until it seized and then installed a new one and that solved the problem.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by rwidman

I bought and installed a Flagship Marine air conditioner a couple years ago and it has worked flawlessly. This brand was recommended by several people so I find it puzzling that there was one extremely negative post. Perhaps this is someone who owns a competing company....

An... No Ron, I don't own a competing company. Nor am I advocating for any competing brand. We merely have had several friends that had no end of problems with their Flagship units, one of whom became so frustrated with the unit and the poor service from the company he somewhat gleefully reported he'd "deep 6'd" the thing midway between the T&C's and DR. We have a different brand, the first version of which ran for 16 yeas without fail until the compressor finally gave up the ghost, and the second, up-graded replacement unit, which has now been running for 6 years, virtually continuously, in Southwest Florida, without fail. That said, if others have managed to get satisfactory service from the Flagship maker, good for them. I hope the OP has the same good fortune and gets his unit fixed in short order.

FWIW...

[Jeanneau 45.2]

I'll skip the details and simply say that I would NOT purchase a Flagship unit again. I made this mistake in June 2015.

[SeanS]

Originally Posted by rourkeh

I had similar issues with a Flagship 16,500 btu unit. It drove me crazy.
My unit had intermittent overheating of the compressor, it would run for a short time and then shut down. I checked the thermal overload on top of the compressor ( small round sensor under the plastic cap ) but it was OK. I flushed the condenser and the entire system with acid to ensure there was no growth. Finally used a digital, laser thermometer from the galley to read the compressor temp after it was running awhile and it was reading 250 F or more. The compressor should run at a max of 180 F. The reason for the overheating on my system was a lot of continuous growth, and the water supply and discharge runs were way too long.
Flagship sent me a new compressor for cost. I shortened the hose from the thru hull to the pump, increased the diameter of all the hoses, and shortened the overboard discharge line as well. The water flow doubled and the compressor ran so cool I could place my hand on it while running and leave it there. Once the compressor is overheated a lot the bearings are shot. Check your voltage while running and it should be 125v +or-, and the amps should be 10-13 amps. When it shuts down watch the amp meter and if it spikes to very high reading your compressor is burnt. There are some other causes for your type of problem, check run capacitor, low voltage entering the boat, but most likely it is the temp of the compressor.
I have had great customer service from the guys at Flagship, if you call them up and describe your issue they will walk you through the possible fix.
Try getting that from service from Cruisaire, or one of the other big manufacturers.
Good luck.

i'm helping out a neighbor who's having this exact issue. i would like to check the amperage as you suggest but how? i have a fluke meter but it is only good to 10A. whats the easiest way to check amperage draw? same as described. runs for ten or fifteen minutes, compressor shuts down but water pump keeps running. it is not tripping the overheat protection circuit. the cooling water jacket is getting very hot to the touch but i never touched the compressor itself to see how hot it was getting. cooling water flow is great at almost 5 gallons a minute, but the water doesnt feel like its shedding much heat from the unit. feels the same as the ambient temp of the water. my neighbor is almost 80 years old and i would like him to have some ac in this hot gulf coast summer.

[Outlaw7]

If the condenser water temp split is greater than 12 degrees you have a restriction or poor water flow. As mentioned above check the water flow at the discharge point of the boat.

[Outlaw7]

You say you are on the west coast of Fl when was the last time you did a acid wash such as barnacle buster on the condenser?