Cruiseair unit needed

[captbuddy]

Guys & Gals,
My AC guy in Panama City is recommending I just replace the compressor. Everything else on the condenser looks great. About $1000. Plan on taking his advise.
Thanks,
captbuddy

[bigbill]

jack, i got a quote of 1857.00 plus shipping from a local dealer in new orleans for the condenser/compressor unit. what do you think about going with a self contained unit. it in in my master s r in a 58 yf. i put an 18000 btu in the aft salon cabinet about 6 years ago, and i am happy with it. i hear that the newer ones are much quieter than the older self contained units

[utspak]

My unit went out about 6 weeks ago, it was the original in our 79 48 LRC, 24K btu. I replaced it with a stand alone from Ocean Breeze. To replace my unit with a cruise air was $3,800, with a stand alone dometic 16K btu 2800, with a 18.5 btu with electric heat, $1,900. As mentioned before, freed up valuable engine room real estate!

I did the install myself, about 10-12 hours all told, running water lines, electrical, preparing the footprint, etc.

Stuart
Bed boat & beyond

[SKYCHENEY]

Really? Replacing a 24K unit with a 16K? That does not seem wise.

[utspak]

I replaced the 24K with an 18.5K btu unit. The 24K was a split system , two 12K units. The 18.5 has 950 cfm the same as the two 12 units blowing. Cools the salon just fine. Also, the 24 used 10 amps, the 18.5 uses 5.5 amps...big savings on elec at the marina.

[sandspur1966]

shawn, i was thinking about doing that... i still have not made up my mind. it would be as simple as building a shelf and running one water hose to the back, there is a seachest right on side of where the unit goes so i would not have to run a return line to the existing overboard discharge.

Hey Bill that's just what I did. I used a through hull that was abandoned when I went with FW Raritan heads and then Tee'd into the seachest. I also installed a Tee in the air duct and use the same unit to cool my VIP cabin which seems to be working great... we'll see with the 100 degree heat today

I'm also installing one of the Breath Easy units.

http://www.dometic.com/enus/Americas...ctdataid=94755

The one issue I have had is the pushing all that water through the seachest. I have started to collect salt water in the aft shower sump, not a lot but enough to cycle that bilge pump a few times a day.

It seems to be back filling from one of the other inputs into the seachest.

[Hat52MY]

Just a question, does anyone else worry about running salt water cooling lines throughout the boat on the self contained systems? Or am I missing something here?

[Angela]

Just a question, does anyone else worry about running salt water cooling lines throughout the boat on the self contained systems? Or am I missing something here?

I'm not bothered by it; however, my saltwater cooling lines don't really run all over the boat, but I do have five "systems" pumping currently. Each pump's and AC's through-hull is relatively close to the AC unit, as are the discharge lines. So, I've got cooling lines all over the boat, but not "run" all over the boat. In South Florida, having reliable AC is more important to me than how many feet of saltwater cooling hose I have, but that's just me. Others may feel differently. Just be sure to properly secure and protect the hoses, and cushion them where they pass through walls of floors, so you don't have potential points of abrasion everywhere.

[bigbill]

follow-up...i replaced the original split 10,000 btu unit with a dometic 10,000 self contained unit. total cost without labor(i did it myself) 1750.00 this included the unit, plywood for the shelf, paint and screws.
results, i turned it on and it was 76 in the stateroom, it ran 21 minutes and shut off at 68 degrees. as quiet or quieter than the original. with the fan on high it moves air around like there is a ceiling fan in the room. no regrets here