Steel Hers is a 99 28 TE and our AC intake sea strainer is intalled in the bilge area accessed between the 2 seats in the Pilot House. I've enclosed a picture, but from your description, it's a different unit than yours.
AC Water Intake.JPG
Regardless, if you're like us in the summer in North Carolina, you use your AC almost all the time at the dock, so routine cleaning is required. I can access ours from the top, so after closing the sea cock, I open it, remove the strainer for cleaning on the dock, use a toilet brush I bought at Walmart that fits perfect to clean the bowl, vac it out with the shop vac, clean and reinstall the strainer, gently open the sea cock to fill up & then close, reinstall and tighten down the top, open the sea cock all the way, and turn the unit back on.
AC Intake Check Valve.JPG
Also, having experienced too many air pockets from this procedure, I installed an in-line check valve (brass fitting) to prevent the water being sucked back when the system is open. It works fantastic, even when I forget to close the sea cock before departing the dock, which acted to suck the water back when underway. Pic enclosed.
Good luck w/sorting it out.
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