Webasco Marine air condioners Anyone know anything about them?

At the Miami Boat Show in February I saw these A/C Reverse Cycle Heat units. They were unbelievably quiet. I'm used to getting blasted with noise by my units so these were unbelievable to be. Was like being on one of the bigger Hatts.

I'm not mechanical by nature. Anybody have any experience with these or have an opinion about them? I need a unit & was thinking about going with the 16,000 as a replacement unit.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|6880|48359|1292040&id=1383791

have sold and installed them in customers boats. Not bad units especially for the price but they do have short comings.

I have a 16,000 btu unit just went through my second summer without a problem and it is quiet. Got it brand new off of a Florida dealer on eBay. I think I payed something like $1400 to $1600 with shipping. Pump was separate.

We bought our 46 with one installed, and immediately replaced it with cruisair. Not because the unit was bad, it seemed to work fine. But the service/dealer network seemed to be very limited in north America. We travel a lot with the boat and most ports in the US and central America have cruisair parts and service. You may want to look at Marvair as an option, they have a lot of unique features that seem nice, but I have never used one. I do know all marvair units use the same mother board, so you can carry one spare for different units. They also have a patented pan drain system that uses the raw water discharge to create a vaccum to drain the condensate. This system is available separately also, as we retrofitted it onto our cruisair units, and it really works well.

A few things to consider when contemplating purchase of the cheaper brands of Marine A/C...

• As mentioned...Service...Both During Warranty & After...Ask about servicing dealers & parts...Many of those companies require the unit be removed & sent back for warranty service...They then ship it back (sometimes at your expense) as nothing found wrong...Dometic has dealers to come to the boat that can recognize a installation issue that is in the boat...They fix it & you are not without a A/C unit that may or may not of had a problem...
  
• Consider why they are that much cheaper...Are they US built ? and Know that corners had to be cut to reduce that price, Things like smaller wiring, cheaper & less efficient coils, blowers & electronics...
  
• Most do not perform as well as the same size Dometic unit...For instance the Webasto 16K unit only requires 5" duct...The 16K Dometic Cruisair/Marine Air unit requires 7" duct...5" duct is only large enough for a Dometic 8K unit...Even Dometic's 10K unit requires 6" duct..That should tell you something about their ratings...
  
• Drains...What kind of pan, What is it made of, Will it rust...How many drain ports are available ?...Dometic units have a Composite pan that won't rust, has channels for less standing water & also has 3 drain ports...
  
• Yes a few have the "patented" (Mermaid & Marvair) vacuum type attachment that works with the seawater pump...But if that spring loaded attachment fails...Seawater no longer goes overboard...Instead it overfills the condensate pan with seawater from the pump until someone comes along & shuts the unit off...
  
• What is the seawater condenser made of & is it rifled inside for maximum head removal...Is it made completely of 80/20 Copper/Nickle ?...Or is it Steel shell with 90/10 Copper/Nickle inside...I have seen these condensers completely collapse inside from head pressure (Seawater Pump failure)...Not to mention the outside shell rusting out from a leaky/loose hose clamp & causing the unit to loose all it's refrigerant in short order...
  

Just a few thoughts...But they do blow cold & warm air

Steve~

spcoolin said:

A few things to consider when contemplating purchase of the cheaper brands of Marine A/C...

• As mentioned...Service...Both During Warranty & After...Ask about servicing dealers & parts...Many of those companies require the unit be removed & sent back for warranty service...They then ship it back (sometimes at your expense) as nothing found wrong...Dometic has dealers to come to the boat that can recognize a installation issue that is in the boat...They fix it & you are not without a A/C unit that may or may not of had a problem...
  
• Consider why they are that much cheaper...Are they US built ? and Know that corners had to be cut to reduce that price, Things like smaller wiring, cheaper & less efficient coils, blowers & electronics...
  
• Most do not perform as well as the same size Dometic unit...For instance the Webasto 16K unit only requires 5" duct...The 16K Dometic Cruisair/Marine Air unit requires 7" duct...5" duct is only large enough for a Dometic 8K unit...Even Dometic's 10K unit requires 6" duct..That should tell you something about their ratings...
  
• Drains...What kind of pan, What is it made of, Will it rust...How many drain ports are available ?...Dometic units have a Composite pan that won't rust, has channels for less standing water & also has 3 drain ports...
  
• Yes a few have the "patented" (Mermaid & Marvair) vacuum type attachment that works with the seawater pump...But if that spring loaded attachment fails...Seawater no longer goes overboard...Instead it overfills the condensate pan with seawater from the pump until someone comes along & shuts the unit off...
  
• What is the seawater condenser made of & is it rifled inside for maximum head removal...Is it made completely of 80/20 Copper/Nickle ?...Or is it Steel shell with 90/10 Copper/Nickle inside...I have seen these condensers completely collapse inside from head pressure (Seawater Pump failure)...Not to mention the outside shell rusting out from a leaky/loose hose clamp & causing the unit to loose all it's refrigerant in short order...
  

Just a few thoughts...But they do blow cold & warm air

Steve~

Click to expand...

Add to it that the FCF one piece units do not have service valves and are made to be less expensive by not being serviceable. I am changing out a part ( main logic board) on one now and the new board has different connectors for the temp sensors and different markings for other wires meaning they need to buy a new temp sensor and pay for extra time to swap out the board. Oh I forgot the control pad needs to be replaced with the new type too. Pay now or pay later you get what you pay for.

AWESOME points! I really appreciate the feedback.

So, What do I buy?