Cabin Mate AC Failure

[kloudie1]

Anyone have a failure in a Cabin Mate (Marine Air Systems, now a division of Dometic) self contained 12000 BTU AC unit? I think I cursed mine when I said how long it had been running trouble free! Was at a marina right by Nice& Easy’s place a couple of weekends ago and it worked fine, easily maintaining temp .. Turned it off at 9 am, sailed back 15 miles or so to my slip and when we got there and plugged in, we had no cooling.. All the stuff runs.. compressor, water pump (good water flow), fan(good air flow).. I can hear the cool/heat solenoid switching.. but no cool air comes out.. I didn’t take the time to do any troubleshooting but my first suspicion is that the Freon got out.. I am hoping that it is not the heat exchanger since that might allow water into the compressor (at low/no refrigerant pressure).. but was wondering if anyone had seen a failure like this in this unit.
Could be no refrigerant, bad heat/cool switching solenoid, leak in Freon system, bad compressor valve(s), rotten karma..? I dunno Compressor has a high pressure trip but no low pressure one.. does have high temp trip but I didn’t run it long enough (maybe 15 minutes?) to have that activate.. It has run a lot for 15 years.. Heading there in a week or so to do troubleshooting..

 

[Stu Jackson]

What does the manual say?

Many times they have "troubleshooting" sections, and since you're going to the boat to troubleshoot...

Seriously, though, many folks overlook the basics sometimes, especially after years of faithful service. Give the manual a try.

 

[Captain John Burns]

Service Help

I suggest you call the manufacturer

I recently had a problem with my unit, different manufacturer, did some trouble shooting on my own, and in 5 minutes over the phone I had the cause of the inoperative unit

Part cost $30.00 took less than 15 minutes to install and I was back in business

The manufacturer's generally have excellent tech help/service departments

Good luck with your repair

 

[Ctskip]

Have you checked the plugins on the machine itself? They sometimes come loose and check the thermostat. Good luck

Keep it up,
Ctskip

 

[kloudie1]

AC Failure

Finally got out to the boat today and sure enough there was no Freon in it.. Have it home now and looking it over.. Pics from phone cam are of the compressor bottom and the condenser bracket to the pan.. both mighty rusty, mostly from the pan not completely draining because of the 34's list to stbd.. There may be a pinhole from corrosion in the bottom of the compressor, but I'm going to pressure check it later to see where the leak actually is. More of this saga to follow.

 

[kloudie1]

Cabin Mate Air Conditioner Repair

Ahhhhh.. Got the air conditioner back in the boat yesterday. The new compressor had a larger suction accumulator and so the re-installation was not straightforward. After 5 hours of working below at 92 F and 65% HumorDity It really felt good to get the cabin cooled and dry ! The old compressor case had holed through from corrosion.. I found the compressor oil in the bilge and cleaned it out.. If you have an AC unit, check the pan drainage to be sure that the water level is below the bottom of the compressor .. First picture shows the rusty compressor case from sitting in the pan water for 15 years. I shimmed the pan this time to get the water out from under the compressor. Pan was repaired with a partial new bottom plate and coated with the “Rhino” stuff that is used in pickup truck beds.. Cost to repair the unit was $620 (new compressor, compressor installation at shop, evacuation and pressure test and a recharge of F-22) versus a new unit at $2200 or so.. Uhhhh Pictures are reversed.. Old compressor is right side.

 

[Ctskip]

That'll do it every time. Darned water and rust. Thanks for the update

Keep it up,
Ctskip

 

[Rick D]

What Kind Of Refigerant?

What did you use to recharge? Any issues?

 

[kloudie1]

Rick, best practice for marine air is to braze the tubing together for strength..which requires a nitrogen purge while doing the brazing. I don't have the tools to do that, so I found a local shop that was familiar with the process and had them do the brazing, pressure test, evacuation, and finally recharge with a weighed amount of Freon 22. There is no high pressure port on the system so the evacuation and the weighing of a precise amount of freon is critical.. I think it is fine now..