Plugged condensate drains are a pain

[dwaynec]

What a weekend! It was hot, it was humid, and the air conditioning worked quite well, except for a plugged condensate drain in the A/C for the salon. Of course it had to spray water all over the place once the tray got full enough.

This is in a 1972 48 Yachtfish. The A/C is a 16K cruisair with a squirrel cage blower. I think the condensate drain gets plugged because of the amount of dust that gets sucked into the air handler because there is no provision for filtration in the air return.

Does anybody know of a filter that would fit the return register? It would be about 11 inches square.

Thanks.
Dwayne

[yachtsmanwilly]

Boy am I glad to see someone actually using their boat. I thought after all the BS going on across the hall, they called for the molecular boat disintegrator to be focused on all hatteras's from that new secret satellite. What a relief!!! I am pretty cynical this morning after a great night last night on the lake for fireworks!

I was really surprised to see how much condensate came off my 12K cruisaire unit as I was bench running it the other day. Probably a pint every 1-2 minutes; thats a lot of water Miss Daisy!
Looking at the subs OEM drains, they appear to be 1/4 -3/8 hose. Thats pretty meager. The new C-A unit is 5/8 garden hose off the drain pan..For me? I'd drill a new drain hole and screw in a plastic 3/4" barbed nipple with a hose to a shower sump. An outlet into a seachest is good too depending on the elevation. Try to eliminate any low area loops that will hold water and prevent gravity flow. ws

[thehedgehog]

Man I just got a shirt for that as well. I had my condensors cleaned and got a bunch of mess in one of my drains.

You can custom cut some of those window unit filters. Beyond that, I have no idea.

I will be watching mine from time to time. I am sure that I will forget about it and it will happen again.

[dwaynec]

Yeah, the oem drains are pretty thin. Mine run from the drip tray to a thru hull just above the boot stripe on the boat. It looks like a previous owner set this up as the thru hull fitting is only about 3/8 in instead of the normal 1 inch.

Maybe this fall when A/C is not so important, I will rectify that situation and install larger drain hoses.

Until then, I will try setting up some sort of filter arrangement on the air intake to try and keep some of the dust out of the air handler.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Put some water in them and give them a shot of air. Window unit filters are cheap... cut to fit and paint to match! ws

[Top Hatt and Tails]

Ditto but on a VIP room. I also put a mild mix of clorox down the pan and tube. Motoyacht smell HQ if you don't. Go to lowes and buy the cheap filter material and cut to size. Only place I can't do that due to thick material is the aft salon a/c intake in the main salon. I use a metal mesh that gets a garden hose treatment.