A/C Issues Self-contained vs Conventional

[34Hatt]

I have not seen the seawater supply hose fail, but the total length of the seawater supply on my two split units is maybe three feet- both compressor units are located in the engine room right above the seawater inlet and strainer and pump. The output of the pump is divided to supply both compressor chassis. The whole setup is very compact. Literally there isn't three feet of hose in total, I don't think.

If I adapted this setup to a split system, I would have one run of seven feet or so over to a unit in the salon, which isn't too bad, but then I would have another run of fifteen feet or more up to the forward stateroom, with a new discharge through-hull up there. And that seawater supply would have to run behind the galley etc. (along the same route that the copper lines now take). I would secure the hose as frequently as I could but I would still worry about chafing etc back there where I can't easily get to it. If the copper tubing would leak (which it never has) I would lose the Freon. If a seawater hose leaked back there I could lose the boat.

This will take some thinking. I hope neither of the current units decides to crap out in the near future.

No real thought needed you can mount the pump in forward bilge using a march that can get wet use the drain plug and through hull with external strainer. The hose then can go forward a little bit to get to the underside of the bunks to the unit which can go under the bunk or in the bottom of the closet which I prefer.

I feel you need two units specially since your south of me I have been on 34 & 36 with one unit yes it works but Barely on a hot day. Plus when I come back into the dock and boat is hot and motors are hot one unit takes for ever to cool down. I usually do not run with a.c on not needed up here most times.

 

[Angela]

I will have to say that in our case (53MY) the separates that I have seen at boat shows in the last year or two would be quieter in any stateroom than the existing oem units. Based on personal experience, the compressor noise in the ER makes the guest SR almost unusable for adults due to the random cycling noise of the various units. Teens have no trouble.

An interesting observation about AC noise in the stateroom that I made just last night, very much to my surprise....Last night, I went to another stateroom to sleep because I finally convinced myself that my 33-year-old foam mattress in the bow stateroom (where I usually live) is completely worn out and I’ve been struggling to get a good night’s sleep due to being uncomfortable. I went to my littlest stateroom which is located forward of the PORT engine room, but does not butt up against it. The new self-contained AC for that room was darn near silent - this is now my very favorite room! What I could hear very well, and over the AC that was in the room I was in, was the March pump and salon’s condensing unit located in the STARBOARD engine room. THAT really surprised me.

 

[UNIQUE_NAME]

Get use to it the longer your here the more it happens. I was told years ago a computer won't work on a bridge, External strainers won't work and some that didn't believe me when I was the first to tell them about E10 eating up the fiberglass tanks

And for the external strainers on A.C after about 8 years of no problems only once did I have a problem the jelly fish where so thick there was thousand of them. I used a scrub brush on a extension handle in the dinghy 5 mins later all Good!

Do you have any proof e10 was eating the tanks? I thought is was a conspiracy

 

[fissioneng]

When is the last time anyone has seen an air con water hose fail? Talking about the hose, not the clamps, fitting etc.... Air con pumps put out flow, not pressure...

I have not seen the seawater supply hose fail...

When I first bought my boat, I discovered a pinhole leak, barely visible at a bend in the line from my AC pump to one of my condensing units. I found it while talking off the cover to one of my PWX boxes. I hadn't turned the breaker off (go figure) and the water shorted the 240 volt connection in the box along with charring the terminal block! Quite an exciting moment.

Hatteras wrapped my AC water lines around the 2 PWX boxes. If one fails, water goes all over those. Not a great setup.

 

[bigbill]

i may be going with a self contained unit in my master stateroom. the 41 year old condenser started to leak(really bad). the new condenser /compressor is 1800+ dollars, that does not include the air handler that is 41 years also. a self contained unit is around 1500.00 with new digital controls. my hose run would be about 9 feet for supply, and 2 feet for discharge. plenty of room in the closet where the air handler is now. i cant think of any reason not to go with the self contained unit. i want input from those of you that have done this. are you happy? would you do it again? if cost didn't matter would you still do it? thanks, bigbill

 

[Angela]

i may be going with a self contained unit in my master stateroom. the 41 year old condenser started to leak(really bad). the new condenser /compressor is 1800+ dollars, that does not include the air handler that is 41 years also. a self contained unit is around 1500.00 with new digital controls. my hose run would be about 9 feet for supply, and 2 feet for discharge. plenty of room in the closet where the air handler is now. i cant think of any reason not to go with the self contained unit. i want input from those of you that have done this. are you happy? would you do it again? if cost didn't matter would you still do it? thanks, bigbill

I did it in every stateroom, including the master which is much like yours. I absolutely love it and have no regrets whatsoever. It's one of the best things I've done on the boat since I bought it. Even if cost weren't a factor, I'd do it again. It gets rid of the "all your eggs in one basket" scenario that the original system had. One failure somewhere else down the line, and it wiped out the AC for every stateroom. If it were the pump in the ER that failed (and was notorious for failing every third week in August until I switched to a March pump), then you loose all your AC everywhere and the fix, at least in South Florida, becomes extremely urgent. When I did the switch to self-contained, I gave every stateroom it's own seawater pump and it's own breaker. No more catastrophic failures for me.

 

[oldawg]

i may be going with a self contained unit in my master stateroom. the 41 year old condenser started to leak(really bad). the new condenser /compressor is 1800+ dollars, that does not include the air handler that is 41 years also. a self contained unit is around 1500.00 with new digital controls. my hose run would be about 9 feet for supply, and 2 feet for discharge. plenty of room in the closet where the air handler is now. i cant think of any reason not to go with the self contained unit. i want input from those of you that have done this. are you happy? would you do it again? if cost didn't matter would you still do it? thanks, bigbill

So far I am very well pleased. If you are replacing the original air handler you will be absolutely amazed at how much quieter it is. Hope to see you this weekend and you can see in person.

Greg