Marine A/c

One of the A/C units in the boat is starting to have issue with me. It is a 16,000 BTU MarineAir system. As I hooked into shore power this afternoon, I heard the breaker on the boat kick after 5 minutes of the A/C running.

I noticed after restarting it that is was blowing "cool", not cold.

I also noticed that the amp guage on the electrical panel was running around 25+ amps and slowly climbing, which is why my 30 amp circuit tripped.

Couple of questions:

1) Would a low level of refrigerant cause an excessive amount of amperage while the unit is running?
2) Are there replacement parts available (compressor, evaporator, etc) for these units?
3) Is there anyone that will give me $1600.00 to replace this stupid thing if I need a new one?

I have very little useable knowledge about air conditioning. Any help is appreciated.

Re: Marine A/c

Is the water pump actually pumping water? Check the through-hull discharge to be sure. Running it for five minutes without water is just about the right amount of time for it to heat up and shut off.

Re: Marine A/c

Yes, it's flowing pleanty of water. I always keep the strainers clean and routinely run a little dish soap thru them to make sure the impeller in the main pump stays clean.

Funny thing is that it was running fine the two days before while we were moored up in St. Augustine. The boat was a cool 72 degrees day and night. I brought it back and now it's acting up. Both times I was using the same power cords.

I tried using the straight 30 Amp connection as well as the 50 Amp splitter. Same result.