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One of those nights …

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by Pascal, Jul 14, 2025 at 1:27 AM.

  1. Pascal, Jul 14, 2025 at 1:27 AM
    #1
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 29, 2008
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    8,736
    Location:
    Miami, FL
    9PM Demopolis Alabama…, hot as hell… smelly as hell outside… humid as, not hell, but the worst swamp in the world.

    Glancing at the electrical panel I noticed just a couple of amps on the 240v used for the AC where as it should have been about 30. Automatically ASSuming it was high pressure I backflushed them but they didn’t even start. A second look shows Low Pressure light on both.

    common denominator… the circulation pump which of course I don’t have a spare for. After considering scavenging my jacuzzi pump (didn’t have the fittings) we resort on relying on a carpet blower for the night while I started searching any hardware store or tractor supply that could have a temporary utility or shallow well pump within 60 miles…

    in the back of my head that little voice kept nagging… so I keep looking and find a long forgotten used march motor I had saved like 10 years ago

    Turns out that didn’t worth because the motor was bad while the capacitor was good. Unlike my current pump.

    another swap and voila! Nice cool air con!

    I feel vindicated having kept a broken pump
    Which saved the day :)
    leeky, rtrafford, Capt Ralph and 1 other person like this.
  2. rtrafford, Jul 14, 2025 at 9:54 AM
    #2
    rtrafford

    rtrafford Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2019
    Messages:
    1,833
    Location:
    Vero Beach
    That's exactly why we have that little voice in the back of our head that suggests we stash the old part "just in case" while not really having a plan for it. After a similar experience, albeit not in the Bigbee Swamp, I stashed several new capacitors into a conditioned space while making sure that my electric pumps are all relative duplicates of each other. The rule became that if a pump went down and needed to be replaced, I profiled solutions all using the same motor. Then added spare caps. Now certainly nothing will fail except for the plumbing fitting that I may not have aboard......damned Murphy.