Sometimes you get a little rinse thrown in…
Well…I learned another lesson this morning in “How Not To…”
When I woke up, the cabin temperature was 76 degrees. Which doesn’t sound too terrible. Until you consider that yesterday it was 70 when I woke up. And by afternoon it was 83 in the cabin. And it appears that we’re only getting about nine degrees’ worth of cooling from the outdoor temperature. And with today’s forecast showing 98 degrees, that seems…insufficient.
So, I had a look at the central AC on the boat…(which The Admiral thankfully lobbied me not to remove for closet space.) I didn’t see any ice on the coils, that’s good, I guess.
But I did notice the strainer looked kinda fuggly.
A quick check with my local AI purported to show that reduced water flow indeed is the leading cause of cooling failure. So I figured cleaning out the strainer mesh might score a quick victory.
Knowing that there’s a fair amount of water in the plumbing between the strainer and the condenser—and not wanting to get that all over the place—I grabbed a half-gallon bucket and placed it under the strainer before unscrewing the clear plastic cover.
Unfortunately, it looked like my bucket wasn’t big enough, and much cursing ensued as the bucket filled up…and started to overflow. This seemed like an unusual amount of water to drain just from the condenser and the supply hose.
And then I realized…
I’d forgotten to close the seacock. And this water wasn’t draining from the system.
It was draining from the ocean.
