How to repair my Marine air conditioning

[Mabruteam]

Marine air systems, Cruisair, aqua air, ocean breeze, lunaire, Webasto, Condaria...
Control problems, high pressure, low pressure, pumps, give me your problem and I will deliver a solution.

[Mabruteam]

Self contained, remote condenser, chiller...
We did so many repairs and refits that we understand every one.
After so many years we found that the best self contained units are not the most expensive; we had the opportunity to compare several units inside the Bertram factory by logging the temperature, humidity, vibration and sound levels on boats sitting side by side in the marina, then we tested those equipments by let them run continuously for almost 4 years, we were able to log the failures, the maintenance needed to keep them going.. If you have any problems with your units we will be able to help you solve most of your problems.
Marine air Vector compact passport R22 was the best looking machine, but the cooling capacity came out to be about 27% less than the best unit, high vibration, poor fan, loud compressor, control presented a failure after 3 years, but was only a corroded network cable terminal, the compressor turned brown, we found this unit several times frozen, after 3.5 years the unit presented a compressor failure, was the end for that unit, we replaced with the new model VTD turbo, composite base, high velocity blower, R417 better unit, but still noisy compressor but less vibration, nice control, Vimar compatible with our light switches and outlets, the unit lasted only 3 months, lost refrigerant, unit was repaired by changing the coil, RVS, evaporator coil assembly and recharged with R22, we got a better unit but still 17% lees cooling compare to the best. Dometic was very helpful during those warranty times, we always got our parts fast and got paid for our labor.
We are now testing the VTD R410 refrigerant, much better unit, better cooling, but still noisy, good blower, compact and easy to install...

[MechaNik]

I have a vessel that wants to upgrade it's cruisair fancoil motors from AC to DC due to the induction noise at slow speed when using the supplied speed controller. This is the motor noise produced when the unit is reduced to slow speed not the air duct noise.

It seems Cruisair really don't want to sell just the parts to do the upgrade but entire new fancoils (theirs are only 3years old).
As these are generic parts could you recommend how they could go about making an upgrade themselves and how to interface a dc speed controller with the cruisair SMX11 controller?

As many suppliers use the same EBM past fans perhaps this would relate to a lot of people who wish to make their air conditioning quieter...who wouldn't?

[SamSam]

What's the chance or what would be involved in converting Home Depot/Walmart units to marine use at 1/10 the price for approximately the same reliability?

[MechaNik]

I neglected to mention that the system in my previous post is chilled water and not direct expansion.

[fireburner03]

Hi,

I just fired up the chiller unit on my 1984 sea ray 340 after 10 years of sitting. It started right up and was pumping raw water but stopped after 20 minutes and tripped the breaker. I felt the compressor and it was very hot. I tried to turn it back on and it immediately tripped the breaker. Is it possible that there is not adequate water in the chilled water loop and this caused the chiller to overheat? I was under the impression that the chilled water loop was chilled by the unit not used to exchange heat. The unit is a small cruisair unit model Wjah5h16

Thanks

[Mabruteam]

Your unit is a self contained DX unit water cool, not a chiller, sound like the unit is low in refrigerant, the only way to cool the compressor is by using some left over from the evaporator return line, first let the unit sit for few hours, or add a fan to help you cool it, then try again, go outside to check your water flow, then put your hand on the small line on top of the compressor: must be hot, if is not your unit is completely empty, to the contrary put your hand on the accumulator next to the compressor (small bottle attached on the side) must be cold, if is not you are missing some charge. alain Mabru

[gonzo]

This should be on services. The thread title is misleading and it makes it SPAM

[Boat Design Net Moderator]

Moved from Boat Design to Services and Employment for now as the title does read a bit spam-like and in case the OP would like to offer services.

I'm not clear though whether the intent is to advertise for customers where Services and Employment is the forum or to start a thread for Q&A on repairing AC systems (as the OP seems willing to help answering the specific question above). If the latter, All Things Boats and Boating could be an appropriate place for the thread as well.

[Mabruteam]

We recommend florescent dye tablets inside the chiller water loop to be able to locate water leaks, then after turning all lights and using an UV flash light the leak is located inside drains, bilges, pumps...

[discostuie]

I’m the engineer on 26m riva motor yacht. I was wondering if you can shed some light on these issues:

Firstly our system is condaria and is a chilled water loop to separate fan coils with a duplex plant in engine room containing 3 compressor units in each plant. We have chiller organizer 2 operating panels.

The first plant when switched on all 3 compressors come on and even when the system has reached the operating temperatures the compressors stay running and do not cycle off, they used to do this but not anymore and over night the compressors are found iced up at the valves, not sure as to what this fault can be?

Secondly our second plant when switched on does nothing, if you switch it to heat mode all 3 compressors go to standby mode with the compressor numbers flashing on the chiller organizer screen. Also not sure how to approach this issue either? The chiller organizer panel also shows that the chilled or hot water out temp is 85 degrees C which is incorrect, and the water in temp is 1 degree C which is also incorrect. It says sensor 1 as 19 degrees C and sensor 2 as 18 degrees C.

[Rozer]

Its look like that you have any ac problem but by read your post you say that tell you for solution for any ac problem. <advertising link removed>

[PAR]

Literacy is the best advertising scheme, Rozer.

[Frosty]

I have a super heat of 25--- R22-- 55psi on the low and 310 on the high. Cooling from the vent is only 23C, room temp 30C

Whats wrong?

[philSweet]

Is there an ice line on the evaporator coil? It could be low on 22 but I don't know the specs on your unit. There definitley is too little flow of 22 through the evaporator. It's all gas if you have 25 degrees of superheat. All gas means 100s times flow velocity vs liquid and a lot of pressure drop. Condenser may or may not cope with that amount of superheat. Compressor is delivering smaller volume due to superheat, but that is a small forward feedback issue, not the cause. You may have some air in the system or the orifice may have gotten clogged with debris. It takes about 20 minutes for even these little units to stabilize. Was the unit running that long when you took measurements? Were all the covers reinstalled and ducting in place when you took the measurements?
if yes, read the manual re high side presure. Do not exceed this. Use an amp gage to measure compressor motor amps and bleed in 22 (gas phase into low side) until amps reading matches the nameplate amp draw on the AC's nameplate. (AMPS, Not LRA which means Locked rotor amps) There's darn little else you can do without cracking it open.