Keeping your filters clean on your A/C units is crucial to the long term maintenance of any system.

Start with a high quality filter and then clean it on a regular basis - at least monthly.

This is especially true during a yard period when there is all the extra dust from any work being carried out.

Mike, as a service tech for over 30 years I can attest to the need for a good maintenance schedule for air conditioning systems. As Mole suggested, start with filter replacements, keep the units clean and free from dust, check electrical connections for corrosion and loose connections and check the charge in the system at least once a year or perhaps twice. All of these can shorten the life of the unit and its parts if left unchecked. Chuck

First, I have installed a subscribe function on all articles and threads on this website. There is a little tag that says subscribe under the first post. If you click on it you will recieve emails everytime a person respondes to this thread. They get sent every four hours. Just click unsubscribe to be removed from the list. You can also manage all your subscriptions from you account page. You can subscrive to subject, users, or individual articles. Very cool feature.

Second, I have had to maintain air condition on yachts. We had a Self Contained System on a 78' Sunship. The drainage didn't work so the water would backup into the drainage pan and during the summer months with people opening and closing the doors, it would freeze up. I tried to clean out the gunk in the drainage tubes. My idea was to just use compressed air to blow it out. However, the captain pointed out that if the tube was damaged we would have to be breaking into bulwarks and bildges to fix it. Therefore it wasn't such a good idea.

I know that when I get back on this boat it's going to be an issue. Cleaning wet carpet while guests are on board is a nightmare. Does anybody have any good ideas how to solve this problem or have had to deal with this in the past?

When condensate is backing up in the drip pan it is caused either by improper installation  [ water does usually run down hill ] or blockage of the drain tube. Blowing compressed air will clear  most  blockage including traped water and if the tube is  damaged it won't matter as it is probabely leaking already. However if the tubing is trapped, that is, not properly sloped  down from the drip pan the air will not help and give a false indication of the line being clear. Check the tubing run from the pan  until there is a major change in downward slope. It only takes a small rise in the tubing  [ less than 1/2 a diameter of the tubing] to cause water to back up. I worked on a boat that had the interior redone including new lighting using the orginal wiring. The condensate tube was ti-wraped to a wire bundle  past the work area and out of sight. It got pushed up just enough to cause a backup. It took less than $5 to fix but thousands of dollars to find.

Here is an interesting link on how to trouble shoot marine air/fridge without gauges.

http://www.tongacharter.com/report-refer.htm

Scott