Opinions on replacing A/C unit

[doc g]

Long story short, had a 24K btu unit (main salon unit in my 61CY) die the first day of vacation in August. Had marine HVAC tech come, paid him 3700 to order unit , to be installed when we got home. Compressor is shorted out. Was original unit,worked well and cooled salon relatively quickly, and heated well. Tech ordered wrong unit , 48 K unit . Now says that there is a huge restocking fee and we could "upgrade" to 48K evap unit to go with the 48 K cond unit for "his cost" . Should I do it?? I am concerned it won't dehumidify like it should after reading about the 75 MY problems. Sorry for the long post. Any a/c gurus want to jump in here,any help would be greatly appreciated.......Pat

 

[Angela]

I, too, have also read in various places that it's not a good idea to over power the AC for a given size room. Plus, you'll be using more amps to run that unit every time - do you have sufficient extra amps for that?

With regard to the restocking fee...that's his problem, not yours. The AC tech ordered the wrong unit and that's not your problem. Same thing happened to me and the AC dealer got into a pissing match with the CruisAir distributor over whose fault it was. One thing was for certain and that was it was NOT MY fault since I had no part in the ordering of the replacement unit. Your situation is no different.

I'd put the unit that belongs in there back in there. If it were just a matter of a few BTUs, the I'd say it wouldn't matter that much, but he's asking you to double the BTU on the unit from what is proper for the area to be cooled. I would not do that. If you have problems later on due to not enough amps, or short cycling, his restocking problem could very well turn into your AC problem. And worse yet, the manufacturer might void your warranty for improper installation because you installed the wrong condensing unit.

You also have to consider if your air handlers can be matched up to a condensing unit that is double the proper size, assuming this is a remote condensing unit. If so, the math won't add up.

 

[Brian Degulis]

Ang is definetly right. That's not going to work well at all. It's going to draw twice the amperage and if your like most of us your close to using all the amps you have already. Then it's going to short cycle come on briefly then turn off so it's not going to be comfortable and since starting amps are very high it's going to compound the power problem.

Brian

 

[Sparky1]

I've never heard of anyone paying a restocking fee for something they themselves didn't order. It sounds a little fishy that the only option offered was to sell you extra crap to make the larger, incorrect unit work. Sounds like the old bait and switch deal as maybe they wanted rid of that larger unit. I'd stick by my guns and make them install the correct unit at their expense. It would be a no brainer if it came down to taking them to court unless your signature is on some contract showing that 48K unit.

 

[REBrueckner]

As long as you found the older 24K BTU provided satisfactory cooling in your hottest weather, do not "upgrade" to a unit twice the size....

and I'd make SURE I got one with a good EER or SEER rating as electricity costs will only be going up....a new quality/efficient unit could easily use 15% or 20% less electricity and provide the same cooling....

 

[krush]

Tell him big Krush said to shove his 48k up his ass!

 

[Pascal]

24 to 48K?? no way!
restocking fee? no way!
where did you find that crook?

$3700 for a 24k condensing unit? soudnds very high in the first place. how old is the unit? earlier this year we replaced a 48k compressor on the boat i run and it was about $2500. compressor only, but that was twice teh size. I also replaced a 16k compressor on my boat for about $1000...

this guy is taking you for a ride but since you paid him up front, you're stuck

 

[DCMY #92]

I agree that the double size unit won't work well and that you are being taken. I replaced both of my original units with new ones (one 16k and one 12k with split evaporator units) for $5000.

 

[fixin-to-cruise]

Buy a new compressor for $400, pull the unit and have an A/C shop solder it in. If you reinstall it you should be able to get it pumped down and refilled for $200. Or have a tech do the whole job. It's probably a Tecumseh compressor and you can find the replacement online. Good luck!