This
morning I, Bos'n, awoke to find the milk carton sweating in the fridge,
checked the fridge temp readout under the bench and found it displaying
17°C. Checked to see that the breaker on the D.C. Panel hadn't
switched off, then went down into the engine room to inspect the
strainer basket that supplies water to the pump which cools the fridge
motor that we installed in 2010.
The pump had been sounding noisy to me lately, but I never bothered to check into it. Lazy Bones.
Flashlight
showed the strainer cloudy and dark thru the glass. I closed the
seacock and removed the cap on the strainer, found the basket clogged
with grasses, so removed it and cleaned it out.
Unscrewed the 7/16 bolt
on the underside of the strainer unit, and flushed the glass with fresh
water. Lots of gunk...
Thought it best to pull the
hose off the inflow port to the pump too, to flush it, in case. Gotta
say, a peek inside the front of the pump showed some slime too, but the
Bos'n might wait til we get back to the marina before taking the whole
unit out to clean it. 🥴.
Flushed and replaced
everything, tightened caps, bolt, and nuts, opened the seacock, and the
fridge motor is back and running, and maintaining its 5° setting.
You
mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Cappie, that the air conditioner had
made a funny sound the last time you turned it on--but we haven't used
it since--I checked it this morning, too, and found it also clogged.
The generator strainer was clear of debris.
Perhaps during the engines check tomorrow we should inspect the raw-water intakes for them as well.
Also, have a peek at the impellers.
