Any recent advice on how to retrofit Cruisair Split units

[Cap'n Kirk]

Just had one of my original Cruisair Compressor units give up the ghost on my 53 foot Extended Deckhouse. I have 4 units from 1983. A wonder that they have lasted this long but don't think that they make them any longer. Anyone have any luck in retrofitting something? Does anything work with the rest of the system. Any sources to replace the compressor?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Boatsb]

Cruisair is still making split units that work great with the newer refrigerant shoved up our tailpipes. They make titanium heat exchangers for them and it'll a pretty good product. I work with a great company in the area that installs them quite well. They also do high end yachts with chillers.

Most issues I've hear of are from poor installation.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I replaced one a few years ago. It came as a complete Cruiseair condenser unit. I just hooked up the refrigerant and water lines and wired it up. Then had an A/C tech vacuum and fill the unit.

 

[Pascal]

The old Cruisairs were bullet proof and lasted for decades. Nowadays you ll be lucky to get 10 years out of them .

I don’t think replacing the compressor makes much sense on a 40 year old unit and I doubt any tech will want to do it.

Best option is to replace the entire condenser. When I got my 53 back in 2003 the previous owner had all the condensers replaced with Ocean Breeze units which may not be a great choice these days since the company was sold and there have been issues with support

Problem with modern Cruisair stuff beside quality is that they are full of proprietary electronics. In some case they upgrade electronic controls and stop supporting the older stuff, sometimes as “old” as 6 or 7 years.

If I had to replace a condenser, I would look at other companies not part of the Evil Empire aka Dometic.

Eight years ago I removed every and switch to a chiller system from Flagship. Top quality, simple of the shelf controls. They do self contained and split as well. Small business, everything (or most of everything) made here in the free state of Florida.

 

[GCSI]

Call Flagship, EXCELLENT company and he’ll offer invaluable advice in sorting out your issue

 

[Captain Ralph]

"Just had one of my original Cruisair Compressor units give up the ghost"

Compressor fault? Really??
Starter, caps and bad wires also fail.
I've kept our 47 year old boat running on R22. Always some way to fix it them in our swamp.

 

[captcrunch]

Flow marine systems

 

[Len R]

Be cautious with replacing a compressor. Diagnosis of the failure is important. If a burn-out or mechanical failure there is a real good chance of contamination in the evaporator and lines. Cleaning and Flushing is definitely needed to make new parts last year's.