I'll try to hit all your replies in one here - thanks for the input, guys! Sometimes it helps to bounce ideas around to find the good and bad points.
I got a reply from Noria. They pretty much said they have no interest at all in the boating and rv crowd. Seems to me they are leaving sales on the table but it's not my product. I asked for unit dimensions and power requirements, they didn't even give the dimensions. Power - 480 watts continuous. That works out to (depending on if you use 115 or 120 VAC) to roundabout 4.3 amps. They did say the start-up amps are about 15. Holy cow!! My 18,500 BTU marine unit uses about 13 continuous and only 18 or so startup. That eliminates being able to use my inverter - it can't start the Noria. Nor will a Honda 1000.
I found dimensions from another website - it's 30 lbs., 18.25in wide, 15 deep and 5.8 tall. Too tall to fit into the existing port openings. Another thing the alternate website explained is where the air outlet is - turns out it doesn't blow out the front, it blows out of a slit opening in the top. Pretty much makes it completely useless for my boating needs. Oh well. Funny, my roll-around a/c for my garage costs the same and is 14,000 BTUs. I'd put it on the boat during interior construction but it won't run on an extension cord.
The whole idea behind this was ease of installation and removal. A permanently mounted unit sits out of the way but can't be used underway or at anchor without some serious equipment supporting it. I had thought that being able to slip these things out of their openings and sliding a cover in place to go sailing was a decent tradeoff. back to the drawing board.
I'm back to planning out a regular marine a/c unit. Figure my needs are around 20,000 BTUs total. I could go 16 for the main salon and vee-berth, and 6 for the aft cabin, or possibly 12 and 12 with the aft unit sending air forward. So many decisions!
I read a few years back that someone (marine manufacturer) had made a DC powered air conditioner. Gonna go research that.
Mark
I got a reply from Noria. They pretty much said they have no interest at all in the boating and rv crowd. Seems to me they are leaving sales on the table but it's not my product. I asked for unit dimensions and power requirements, they didn't even give the dimensions. Power - 480 watts continuous. That works out to (depending on if you use 115 or 120 VAC) to roundabout 4.3 amps. They did say the start-up amps are about 15. Holy cow!! My 18,500 BTU marine unit uses about 13 continuous and only 18 or so startup. That eliminates being able to use my inverter - it can't start the Noria. Nor will a Honda 1000.
I found dimensions from another website - it's 30 lbs., 18.25in wide, 15 deep and 5.8 tall. Too tall to fit into the existing port openings. Another thing the alternate website explained is where the air outlet is - turns out it doesn't blow out the front, it blows out of a slit opening in the top. Pretty much makes it completely useless for my boating needs. Oh well. Funny, my roll-around a/c for my garage costs the same and is 14,000 BTUs. I'd put it on the boat during interior construction but it won't run on an extension cord.
The whole idea behind this was ease of installation and removal. A permanently mounted unit sits out of the way but can't be used underway or at anchor without some serious equipment supporting it. I had thought that being able to slip these things out of their openings and sliding a cover in place to go sailing was a decent tradeoff. back to the drawing board.
I'm back to planning out a regular marine a/c unit. Figure my needs are around 20,000 BTUs total. I could go 16 for the main salon and vee-berth, and 6 for the aft cabin, or possibly 12 and 12 with the aft unit sending air forward. So many decisions!
I read a few years back that someone (marine manufacturer) had made a DC powered air conditioner. Gonna go research that.
Mark