Heat/AC replacement

Well after 30 years of goods service my aft heat-A/C unit died today. It is a 12,000 BTU (Unit is painted blue) Marine Air unit. I also have a fwd unit that is 9,000 BTUs. Marine Air is now part of Dometic. (Joy Joy).

After I found a company (non-marine) here in SW Washington who was willing to work on it. Kevin at Performance Air. They work on large farm equipment and cold draw units for emergency units like ambulances. Good friendly folks.

After contacting the regional Dometic rep, it was determined the switching valve is bad which means unit replacement. $4500.

It will be shipped to me, the performance Air will install it and service it. Good thing right before winter gets here.

Should be good for another 30 years??

John.....this AC setup would work well in Mexico.....maybe with Crusty next summer, Sea of Cortez? Just sayin'.

___________________
Ken....Hatt Trick

Too much sun and not enuff rain for the ASD Crew, just sayin.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Well after 30 years of goods service my aft heat-A/C unit died today. It is a 12,000 BTU (Unit is painted blue) Marine Air unit. I also have a fwd unit that is 9,000 BTUs. Marine Air is now part of Dometic. (Joy Joy).

After I found a company (non-marine) here in SW Washington who was willing to work on it. Kevin at Performance Air. They work on large farm equipment and cold draw units for emergency units like ambulances. Good friendly folks.

After contacting the regional Dometic rep, it was determined the switching valve is bad which means unit replacement. $4500.

It will be shipped to me, the performance Air will install it and service it. Good thing right before winter gets here.

Should be good for another 30 years??

Click to expand...

Am I reading this right, $4,500 for a 12,000 BTU air conditioner? Seems like a lot.

Ted

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Well after 30 years of goods service my aft heat-A/C unit died today. It is a 12,000 BTU (Unit is painted blue) Marine Air unit. I also have a fwd unit that is 9,000 BTUs. Marine Air is now part of Dometic. (Joy Joy).

After contacting the regional Dometic rep, it was determined the switching valve is bad which means unit replacement. $4500.

Click to expand...

O C Diver said:

Am I reading this right, $4,500 for a 12,000 BTU air conditioner? Seems like a lot.

Click to expand...

Thought one of our Marine Airrrr 16K BTU uunits was going south early this year... and got a quote from our local folks for a Dometic DTU16 (16K BTU) in the neighborhood of $2500. I think that included a couple hundred $$$ for the new control panel, too.

FWIW, several of the members in our owners club who have replaced their originals over the years -- or just added additional AC units -- say this Vector Turbo thing is the cat's meow, bee's knees,nifty, spiffy, etc. Quieter, no rust in the condensate, etc. A liveaboard couple in our marina replaced their old unit with one of these a few years ago and had a resistance heat component added at the same time so their winters were easier... and they seemed to really appreciate that. All that's second-hand info, though.

-Chris

O C Diver said:

Am I reading this right, $4,500 for a 12,000 BTU air conditioner? Seems like a lot.

Ted

Click to expand...

The compressor is $3560 and the rest is labor. My compressor is located in the ER and the air handler in the aft part of the boat. I am also located where boat technicians are few and far between.

Crusty Chief said:

Too much sun and not enuff rain for the ASD Crew, just sayin.

Click to expand...

Well it was an "off" year!!!!

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

The compressor is $3560 and the rest is labor. My compressor is located in the ER and the air handler in the aft part of the boat. I am also located where boat technicians are few and far between.

Click to expand...

Tom, I can highly recommend one you NOT go to that's in your area. Multnomah Yacht Harbor has seen the last of me and Beachcomber.

In cold Alaskan waters wouldn't you be better off with a Flagship Marine unit where the heat side is straight electric furnace ? ... and a lot less than $4500.

LG Ductless split systems work just fine if you got the room, for heating and A/C 230/120 volt invert-er technology, enjoy the heat all winter and the A/C all summer.

When doing my refit, I replaced all 3 units with 3 all in one Webasto 12K BTU units for about $2,500 on the October boat show special. Can't imagine spending $4K to repair one unit.

Ted

boatpoker said:

In cold Alaskan waters wouldn't you be better off with a Flagship Marine unit where the heat side is straight electric furnace ? ... and a lot less than $4500.

Click to expand...

I am on the Columbia River during the winter and these units work well until the river temp reaches 40f. Then we switch to electric heaters.

O C Diver said:

When doing my refit, I replaced all 3 units with 3 all in one Webasto 12K BTU units for about $2,500 on the October boat show special. Can't imagine spending $4K to repair one unit.

Ted

Click to expand...

Well this unit is the direct replacement for the 30 year old Marine Air. Unfortunately for us, this is the best we can do this winter. Would love to get all new units, with electronic thermostats.

Kinda sucks but it is what it is......

Update/ Done

Finally done with this install. Ordered out of Dometic, which took about 3 weeks. Had Performance Air from Vancouver WA do the install. Could not be happier with the professional from Cliff the PNW Dometic representative and Performance Air.

The blue is the old. White new.

Latest Update

Well I thought I had this issue taken care. But when the unit started it would cause a drag/draw on the electric system. I could notice it while on shore power. The generator? When I tried to run it on the generator, the draw was so much, it caused the generator to shut down. So what was the cause?

The old A/C unit only drew 9 amps on start up. The new unit is 21 amps!!! This was supposed to be a replacement for my Marine Air.

Called Dometic. We can fix that! You need a Soft Start kit. aka huge capacitor. It will shrink the start up amps to 12 amps. So today I get to hang in the ER.

Oh and cost? 1/2 a boat dollar!!!($500)

And I thought my Hurricane heater was an expensive heater.
Hope this works out for ya!

Success!!!

Well I am now running my 12,000 BTU AC/Heat of of my generator!!! The soft start kit worked.