A/C Pump for Generator Raw Water

[Sol Mates]

My boat has an Entec West generator that has been rigged to use an a/c water pump">raw water pump instead of the belt driven pump that was factory issue. I need to replace the pump and wonder what experience anyone else has had with this type setup. It has seemed to work except that I have to routinely bleed the system to get the pump (magnetic) to start pushing water through the generator.
Thanks

[Free Agent]

I've used these for excellent results.
You can even dis-assemble them for cleaning.
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[Sol Mates]

Thanks. I also talked with Entec and they actually give this as an optional install. About to buy another March pump. Will rig up a bleeding mechanism to rid myself of that nuisance.

[motion30]

So how does that work, the gen starts makes ac current then runs the pump?

[Blue Stocking]

Jus' curious, why do you have to bleed the pump? A/C pumps are not self priming, and need to be mounted below the waterline level,-- correct?

[Sol Mates]

Agreed, however, my intake isn't positioned as such to alow adequate flow without "goosing" the system, bleeding. Once I have done this and have the intake hose full it has worked fine. I plan on moving the location of the intake the next time I pull her but with a 24' beam there aren't any places close by that can accommodate so pulling is a big, big deal.

[HopCar]

March pumps work well in this type of installation. The reason people started doing this is that some of the older Onans had gear driven pumps. When the seal on the pump leaked, water got into the engine. After rebuilding the engine they replaced the on engine pump with a remote electric pump. On a belt driven pump this shouldn't be an issue. As long as the March pump is below the waterline, you shouldn't have to bleed it. If the intake hose, between the seacock and the pump, is routed higher than the pump, you might trap an air bubble at the high point. The intake hose should run slightly up hill from the seacock to the pump so that any air that enters the pickup will rise up through the pump and not get trapped.

[Sol Mates]

OK. I'm listening to all of you and getting some pearls out of this post.
Thanks everyone

[emcmia]

I have a 5 kw Kohler genset and three air conditioners on my catamaran. They are all equipped with the same size 120VAC Cal Pump (MS900), which reduces the number of spares kept on the boat. Each one is mounted in the bilge just below the deck plates and draws about 2.5 amps. I just replaced the one on the genset after six years of operation.

For the genset application, the pump has a conventional 15 amp plug that can be connected to either the dedicated genset output receptacle or a receptacle fed by the inverter. The latter is for when the genset shuts down due to overheating because the strainer is full of grass. Running the pump off the inverter for a couple of minutes facilitates cooling the engine so that I can get it restarted quicker. Once it is running, I just replug the pump into the genset output receptacle. Have not had a problem with this configuration in more than 15 years.