My 16K BTU Marine Air (By Taylor Made prior to Dometic Purchase) is on its last legs. It is a 12 year old unit that gets a ton of use due to the Texas Summers)
The compressor is almost gone due to over heating and cutting off. (Plenty of water over the side, the charge is good, and I have replaced the external thermal cutoff)
Starting to look at options it looks like there are a couple from Dometic that I am considering mainly because the new controls will fit perfectly over my existing controls and I do not want to build additional trim for a new set of controls...
The Vector Turbo Series 16K unit. About $2900 for the unit and controls. Promises to be less standing water and much quieter. I have not been able to find any personal review of this unit.
[url]http://www.dometic.com/enus/Americas/USA/Marine/Marine-Air/DX-Self-Conta...
[U]Has anyone put one of these in? Is it worth the extra $$?[/U]
The second option is a Dometic EnviroComfort Air Conditioning Retrofit Kit - 16K for about half the cost.
[url]http://www.dometic.com/enus/Americas/USA/Marine/Dometic---Air-Conditioni...
Either one should be more efficient than my 12 year old failing unit.
Thanks in advance.
Jack
Solstice
Hull #1598
1996 MKII/TR/FK - M35AC - 3 Blade MaxProp
Lake Texoma
Just an update to my previous post...
I found a dealer in Florida that was very competitive on the Vector Turbo Unit, along with a review from a user on the 34 forum – thank you, and decided to purchase that unit since it was fairly close to the retro model in price.
For those that are at a point/considering replacing the AC Unit...
The install took me about 4 hours...
1. Removal of the old unit (on a rubber pad for 12 years - that was fun pealing a 70lb unit off of it after removing the mounts)
2. Removal of the old controls.
3. Re-plumb the supply and discharge lines. Figured I had everything out and should replace the lines.
4. Installation of the new unit and wiring. Very easy to wire the unit in the control box with the water pump. (BTW - Shore power was off and unplugged (both cables) before starting the project.)
5. Pulled new cable for the Thermostat Controller. The Passport IO controller fits perfectly over the old Passport II controller cut-out. Do not reuse existing control cable – apparently Dometic states that this causes problems in some installs.
6. Had to drill 2 new holes for the Blower Cap fitting.
7. Usual standing and deciding time before drilling, mounting, and the sequence for getting the old unit out.
Still working through the settings, but the unit is quiet and the newer HV blower moves a lot of air. My old unit had 6in ducting but the specs call for 7in. I spoke with Dometic about this and they said I should be fine since I have a 6 inch Y fitting less than 1 foot from the blower, so I did not change any ducting at this point. If icing becomes an issue, I am going to need to re-duct and go with a 7-7-6 Y fitting to allow more air flow. The “6” will be the run back to the aft cabin, and the “7” will be the run to the main cabin vent, with a new transition box for the v-berth and head.
At this point the new unit is providing a 20 degree differential between the return and main cabin supply. I had 78 degrees at the return, 58 just inside the main cabin supply grill, with 90 outside temp and 86 degree water temp.) Dometic’s tech support informed me that 18-20 degrees differential is the target for this unit. I am on the high side – but not out of bounds. I have a feeling that duct work may be in my future, we will see.
Lastly, the pan is composite (no issue of rusting out) and does drain very quickly.
Hope this helps anyone looking at a similar job.
Jack
Solstice
Hull #1598
1996 MKII/TR/FK - M35AC - 3 Blade MaxProp
Lake Texoma
www.texomasailing.org