Air Conditioner

onecoolair · Apr 29, 2013

Rasselas36 said:
:cry: Looks like I am going to have to replace my a/c. I am having to add freon every month and I do even liveaboard. I leave the unit on 'away' when we are not on the boat. I am asking anyone to share their experience with replacing their a/c. I know it is going to be costly but I would like to replace this original equipment Polar Bay unit with a reliable unit. This unit has been the biggest disappoint of owning my Hunter. It has been one thing after another from the first year - circuit board, freon, another gizmo, etc. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me.

Was this a new air-conditioner that was installed and is it still under the manufactures warranty?

Sailvayu · Apr 29, 2013

If it is a self contained unit it should not be too hard to replace it. Cruiseair has a good reputation but there are some other good ones as well. Newer units are quieter and a bit more energy efficient. The digital controls seem to be the Achilles heel for most of the units today. For some reason they do not seem to last as long as the rest of the system and are not cheap to replace. Constant problems could be a sign of something else wrong, you may want to check voltage drop at the unit when starting and operating.

onecoolair · Apr 29, 2013

Rasselas36 said:
The a/c was the orginal equipment. No the warranty ran out some years ago.

In my case....Just a little venting here so be patient.
When my cruise air died, what I was told was an early death on my new hunter. It started developing leaks and then the reverse cycle valve went bad. Plus the drip pan was a rusted mess. We pulled the unit to rebuild it to find out that the compressor was not the original compressor for the unit. Pretty sure some sneaky slacker at the factory had swaped out the new unit that was meant for my new straight from the factory boat with an older repaired unit.:naughty:
Okay moving forward .....
I had, had good luck in the past on a previous boat with mermaid marine air-conditioning. So I did a search and found that mermaid from time to time will have new or slightly used rebuilt back to new factory specs with warranty listed on eBay or on their web page . Or you can just call and ask. I struck a deal on a two year old 16,500 btu refurished back to new unit from them and a 5200 btu brand new returned unit that they fully checked out and backed it with a warranty also. Kept my eye out and later another 5200 btu showed up too. Grabbed it also. So I have a main 16500 unit and two 5200 units. One in forward cabin that also ducts to main saloon. And the third 5200 unit ducts to aft cabin and head. No problem holding exactly a steady 74 or optional 64 degrees

in the middle of a Texas summer. What is realy cool is that most times of the year the forward unit will cool the hole boat and if I need a little extra just kick on the aft cabin unit. And when its really hot the main unit can be brought on line.

I hope this help you in making the right decision for what will serve you best.
P.S.....BTW Sorry forgot to mention do not buy their little red raw water pump .....I can safely say been their done that .....Get yourself a little giant!

Snotter · Apr 29, 2013

I replaced a cruiseair 16,000 btu unit with a mermaid 16,500 btu unit. The mermaid did not cool as well as the old cruiseair unit. However, I do like the fact that I can program the mermaid so that the fan only comes on when the compressor is running. It made the cabin much more comfortable when heating--fewer cold drafts.

onecoolair · Apr 29, 2013

Snotter said:
I replaced a cruiseair 16,000 btu unit with a mermaid 16,500 btu unit. The mermaid did not cool as well as the old cruiseair unit. However, I do like the fact that I can program the mermaid so that the fan only comes on when the compressor is running. It made the cabin much more comfortable when heating--fewer cold drafts.

Have you had the freon pressure level dialed in ?...Makes a huge difference.
It is common for me to see 52 to 54 degrees coming out of the vents on mine.

Forrest15112 · Apr 29, 2013

Have you had a professional AC guy look at it? I deal with several around here at work where our equipment must stay cool. These guys work on everything. They even repaired an under counter ice maker in our office. They can repair some freon leaks, or possibly get replacement parts. It could be cheaper than replacing it entirely.

chuckwayne · Apr 29, 2013

We've also been very happy with our mermaid

sailmaster39 · Apr 29, 2013

freon

Hey Robert
What do you mean freon pressure level dialed in.
Richard

onecoolair said:
Have you had the freon pressure level dialed in ?...Makes a huge difference.
It is common for me to see 52 to 54 degrees coming out of the vents on mine.

spraygun · Apr 29, 2013

I have a mermaid from the year 2000.A 16, 000 btu.I just pulled it out of our hunter 34 and replaced the expansion valve. This unit has been bulletproof over the years.And cools the whole boat wonderfully.I personally would not throw out any a/c unit.all parts are replaceable.The real trick is diy or seek out an a/c repair man.Pull the unit and take it to them.It will also save some bucks.just put mine back in on Sunday I don't have fancy digital keypad.Instead, a regular programmable home thermostat.

onecoolair · Apr 29, 2013

Inlaymen term's Dialing it in?

sailmaster39 said:
Hey Robert
What do you mean freon pressure level dialed in.
Richard

Okay I will try and explain this as simple as possible.......
Example... Say you air conditioner spec's say compressor holds exactly 16 oz. To much freon it will not allow compressor to cool properly. Not enough it will not cool at all. Right at the 16oz. spec it cools. But just a bit slightly less then the 16oz. It may cool better. As you go less and less freon it may get cooler but will start freezing up. Keep going and it will stops cooling. It's basically a balancing act.
To do this dialing in as I call it, you will need all the proper gauges and other equipment. Plus there all sorts of other procedures and things to know to do it right. You need to find a good honest HAVC guy.
But watch out some of these guys like to operate like Lawyers,Politicians and Psychiatrist and never totally want to get it right. They seem to be under the false impression that they need to create job security for themselves. Even if you do not call them back you will need to call one of there comrades.

eianm · Apr 29, 2013

in my 1991 H42 one of the marineair units was not cooling when i bought the boat. Got my local a/c guy to have a look at it and he pressureised the unit and quickly found a small leak in one of the pipes that he was able to braze with solder within 5 minutes. Ended up being a cheap repair and re gas- not a moments trouble since- that was 2 years ago!

onecoolair · Apr 29, 2013

spraygun said:
I have a mermaid from the year 2000.A 16, 000 btu.I just pulled it out of our hunter 34 and replaced the expansion valve. This unit has been bulletproof over the years.And cools the whole boat wonderfully.I personally would not throw out any a/c unit.all parts are replaceable.The real trick is diy or seek out an a/c repair man.Pull the unit and take it to them.It will also save some bucks.just put mine back in on Sunday I don't have fancy digital keypad.Instead, a regular programmable home thermostat.

Did you purge and back flush the system then put a 24 hour vacuum on it before replacing the freon?

spraygun · Apr 30, 2013

Not familiar with the term purge and back flush.but I do purge and back flush my pool equipment.Did not pull 24 hr vacuum.But somehow I have 48degree air.guess I really got lucky.

kloudie1 · Apr 30, 2013

Installed a Marine Air 12000 BTU unit in my 34 back in 1994. It ran flawlessly until 2009 when the base of the compressor rusted through and the refrigerant leaked out. The installer (unfortunately, that was me) had installed the base without shims and the base held a little water touching the compressor can. The pinhole was in a place that I couldn't patch .. so I replaced the compressor .. Bought a compressor at a great price, took the unit to a local AC shop and got them to install the new compressor and to evacuate and recharge.. I checked everything else .. and she has been running flawlessly again. It runs on a "dehumidify" cycle when I am away (runs every 4 hours for an hour or so, then shuts down) .. mostly year 'round.. and runs a lot over the summers.. I also use for heat in the winters, but we do not need heat a lot. I am very pleased with the unit. I have had the original March cooling water pump fail about three years ago. and had to patch rust in the condensate pan when the compressor was out.. I don't know how they are since Dometic purchased the company, but Marine Airrrrr made a fine unit when they made mine. Look for a composite pan for rust proofing, and look at making sure the pan drains and does not hold condensate against the compressor can.
EDIT: The "manufacturers" mostly buy their compressors and components like reversing valves and expansion tubes/valves from the same makers.. the difference is in how they put the components together ... the quality of the silver solder joints and the cleanliness of the internals after they've assembled the components. You can usually buy those same components and have them replaced if you aren't one to do AC work..

Snotter · Apr 30, 2013

onecoolair said:
Have you had the freon pressure level dialed in ?...Makes a huge difference.
It is common for me to see 52 to 54 degrees coming out of the vents on mine.

No--I didn't have the freon level checked. I would think that they would ship it from the factory with the correct ammount of freon. However, the unit did have the wrong fan speed programmed in when it came from the factory. This caused problems when I started heating in the fall. It took a while to chase that problem down. There are very few marine HVAC people where I live.

I like the optional FX controller I bought with the Mermaid since I can program so many parameters. However, IMHO, the Wabesto unit I installed in the aft state room is a more bullet proof unit than the Mermaide. Unfortunately, I had to modify the circuit board wiring on the Waebasto to keep the fan from always running when heating.

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