Last weekend the heat stopped working on my cruisair turbo AC unit. Was working when I went to sleep, but woke up and it was blowing very cold air. The whole unit was icing up and fan was barely blowing. Shut unit off and defosted it with with hair dyer. The fan started working fine but still no heat. If I turn the thermostat up the heat will turn on in the heat mood but blows cold air. Turn the thermostat down and it will kick off. So the thermostat seems to be working and the unit is cycling. The AC mood is working fine. Had a AC guy look at it and said the reversing valve is not working. But doesnt know why. The unit is right at 2 years old so the full warranty is out. Cruisar has agreed to give me a new valve along with soleniod and electrical board. The AC guy wants to install the soleniod and eletrical board before installing the valve. It that doesnt work then install the valve, but he has told me that it is not certain replacing all this will fix the problem and I may need a new unit. Ok this unit is only 2 years old and I cant really see needing a new unit, or pay 500.00 to find out he tells me I need a new unit. Has any one experienced this type of issue? If so how was it fixed. Does it sound right what he has told?
Heat not working on my Cruisair unit
- Thread starter We Will Sea
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Electrical is a possibility, but reverse valve even more so....you may try rapping the valve and see if it drops...may work months/years/days...or a few minutes.
The board they send has to match the one you have else, you will need a matched set, or you will have even more problems.
Installing the board and solenoid is the easiest to do...and I would surely try them first...replacing the valve, will require draining the unit, re-vacuum, and refill...not a trivial thing...and if your AC guy will "guarantee the fix" for $500 you are in good shape.
Around here, a good tech will run-$50-60 an hour for travel, and $70 for labor, 4 hour minimum...I try and have everything out of the way for the tech to get to the unit, and I ask if he wants the system "cold" so he can do his thing...No point in paying him to move stuff or clear a path.
These units are notorious IMHO for NOT being reliable and pricey to repair. Used board sets can be had for $6-800, but are just "repaired" not refurbished and may require new thermostats if not the same rev as yours.
If you replace it, look at Flagship Marine AC as they use standard electrical controllers instead of the board set that these use. A friend bought and installed one of theirs himself and is very pleased with the reliability and build quality.
Best of luck
The board they send has to match the one you have else, you will need a matched set, or you will have even more problems.
Installing the board and solenoid is the easiest to do...and I would surely try them first...replacing the valve, will require draining the unit, re-vacuum, and refill...not a trivial thing...and if your AC guy will "guarantee the fix" for $500 you are in good shape.
Around here, a good tech will run-$50-60 an hour for travel, and $70 for labor, 4 hour minimum...I try and have everything out of the way for the tech to get to the unit, and I ask if he wants the system "cold" so he can do his thing...No point in paying him to move stuff or clear a path.
These units are notorious IMHO for NOT being reliable and pricey to repair. Used board sets can be had for $6-800, but are just "repaired" not refurbished and may require new thermostats if not the same rev as yours.
If you replace it, look at Flagship Marine AC as they use standard electrical controllers instead of the board set that these use. A friend bought and installed one of theirs himself and is very pleased with the reliability and build quality.
Best of luck
A good AC guy would disconnect the plug on the solenoid coil and check the coil for resistance. If open, then replace the coil. Most of these have a replacable coil that can be changed without opening the refrigerant side of the system. If the coil has the correct resistance, then he'd try to energize in the heat mode and measure the voltage at the coil. Then he'd chase volt readings back to the relay on the card.. could be a pinched wire, a bad plug or things like a bad relay on the card..or a bad card itself.. Usually, the solenoid coil is de-energized in the cold mode so a failure in the coil or voltage supply to the coil will make it shift to cold mode.. Good luck with the troubleshooting.
I don't know your outside temp's in your area but when we were in upper Florida a couple of years ago we had a cold snap. Most of the boats with reverse cycle air conditioners froze up there heat exchangers for these units. It took a couple of warmer days to thaw these out before the units returned to working order. The discharge water line had no flow. Many of these people bought a lot of expensive parts before they found out what was wrong.
Ray
Ray
Flagship Marine Air Conditioning/with HEAT!!
I just completed my installation of Flagship Marine's 9000 BTU air conditioner. As an option I ordered Heat in the form of a round heating coil located in the exhaust side of the plenum. This completely removes the need for reverse cycle "in the water" use. And...living in the upper midwest it is great when my O'Day 272 is out of the water on the hard to simply plug my boat into a 120 AC yard provided outlet. http://flagshipmarine.com/
I just completed my installation of Flagship Marine's 9000 BTU air conditioner. As an option I ordered Heat in the form of a round heating coil located in the exhaust side of the plenum. This completely removes the need for reverse cycle "in the water" use. And...living in the upper midwest it is great when my O'Day 272 is out of the water on the hard to simply plug my boat into a 120 AC yard provided outlet. http://flagshipmarine.com/
Bria 46, I like that idea. We froze when we were on the hard at Indiantown doing our bottom paint and it dropped to 17 degrees. Our little plug in 110v heater was great if you asumed the fetal position around it.
Ray
Ray
Thanks for the information. Think I will go ahead and have the board and solenoid changed first and hope that fixes the problem. If not then I will change the reserving valve.
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