Cleaning a Marine Air Conditioning Seawater Strainer
The single most important maintenance job on a marine air conditioner, and the cause of most warm cabins. Weekly in weedy water, monthly elsewhere.
Cleaning a Marine Air Conditioning Seawater Strainer: Schedule and Equipment
Marine air conditioning is water-cooled, so anything that restricts the water restricts the cooling. Weed, jellyfish, sea grass and plastic all end up in the strainer, and a bowl half full of weed will make a perfectly good unit seem undersized.
Cleaning a Marine Air Conditioning Seawater Strainer: Procedure
If you skip it: The compressor runs longer for less cooling, then eventually trips on high pressure. Left alone, it cooks the pump.
Record the date, what you found and any parts used in the boat's maintenance log. A repeat change—less water flow, faster fouling, a new smell or a breaker that trips again—is often more useful to a technician than a one-off reading. Check the current manual and official sources before changing the procedure, and stop at the licensed-work boundary described in the disclaimer.