Boat Air Conditioning Problems! DIY replacement of an old air conditioner with a new Marinaire
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- čas přidán 1. 09. 2022
- I decided to replace one of my original split Marine Air Conditioners with a new self contained Marinaire aboard my 1989 DeFever 44 Trawler. In previous videos, I mentioned that two of my old Lunaire marine air conditioners were still working great, but I spoke too soon! Over the years, I have repaired several refrigerant leaks on my aft a/c, and I have finally decided that I wanted a reliable unit for my master stateroom, which is extremely important on a liveaboard boat, especially in Florida or other tropical regions. If you have a cruising yacht, trawler, or sailboat in a warm weather region, you know what it's like when your air conditioners stop blowing cold air, and of course it always seems to happen at the most inopportune of times! There are of course pros and cons to replacing a split marine air conditioner with a self contained unit, which I discuss in the video. And of course there are inherent challenges with the plumbing and electrical, as you will see. I do an unboxing of the new 9,000 btu Marinaire, provide a general review, and disclose the cost of the unit. I then show you how I replaced the old with the new, and show what you may have to deal with on an old boat. I hope this DIY video is helpful in the case that you find that one of your marine air conditioners has died or you want to just simply upgrade your onboard systems.
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I installed a 16k btu Marinaire unit about 3 years ago. Its been perfect and I have had zero problems with it.. Thanks for attempting to clarify the MarineAIRRRRR VS Marinaire. I have seen many people bad mouth the wrong company...lol. Great job.
Nice!!! Yeah so far I have had nothing but positive experience with the Marinaire’s! Hahaha! Glad you appreciated the mention about the AIRRRRR vs the Aire! Really appreciate the support!
Those colored "PORT" and "STARBOARD" inscriptions in the engine room are sooo cute!
I will definetely make my own when I become captain.
😅 it is amazing how you can get turned around in the engine room
First rule of owning a boat. Never brag about how good something is working it’s a curse.
Indeed. I think that may apply to everything in life
In the future the tube within tube condensers get plugged quite easy. You can replace just the condenser and its a lot cheaper than a new unit. Just an idea.
Depends on what system ya got and what the situation is. I have frankensteined and used second hand systems enough to find out that much of the time it’s not worth trying to save a little bit of money up front on an old system. Now, if you have a much larger ac system that will be super expensive to replace altogether, then if is probably worth just changing out the condenser. But a smaller unit that a replacement is under $2k, you may just be better off replacing with new.
Great to have you back. enjoy your videos. Thanks
Thanks John, so great to be back! More to come!
Awesome video buddy 💪🍻
Thank you brother!! 🙌
Thanks for the detailed information brother. Nice job!
Thank you sir! Really appreciate you watching and letting me know you are enjoying!
You’ve pumped out a videos and now I need to catch up! 🤘🏻
Yeah buddy! And I plan to keep them coming!
Nice job on this one. I think I'd have drilled another through=hull for the return water.
Much appreciated William! We will see how things go over the next year, but so far so good!
Great video
Thanks Harold!!
very informative
Thanks J Lowe, I am very appreciative of the feedback
Thanks for the video, I plan to live aboard next year. Why not just use portable AC units? A portable AC unit $300 walmart. Of course the amount of electricity will not matter at the marina however underway you will use power from generator? Engine? Battery?
Flying splices, no screw terminal strips that could be labeled...? Always leave it better than you found it. Lol👍🏼
Yeah, it’s not the best, but it is a bit better than before. I am planning to improve things more when I replace the forward ac this next season. I appreciate you watching
Very nice run on the hoses and installation. Curious to see what you finally decide about the under bed tank solution. Ive given you my idea but it may or may not be practical for you. Also would be interested to know where you would have to relocate the tank fill to place your unit that little bit further back or if thats practical with the ducting. Always chasing those couple inches of space lol.
Thanks Doug! Your idea with the batteries under the bed is actually the best plan yet in my opinion. It will just be a bit until I get to removing the old tank. If I put another smaller fuel tank under there as well, I will just need to bend the fuel hose over a few inches to get the clearance for the ac. But we shall see when the time comes
@@AquaCultured oh i get it. One job always turns into planning for numerous jobs lol. If i was there i would be happy to help out. I learned so much from others by lending a helping hand and visa versa. Its what makes the boating community family.
@@dougfaulkner6799 would be great if you were still at the dock!
@@AquaCultured one never knows what the future will be lol. Id love to get a trawler and live there again.
Electrical kinda daunting all right. Wonder what it woulda cost to git an electrician to do all this.
Too much for me! 😅
Love the videos Captain Butch,
We are moored in South pasadena and have a mermaid 16k unit under our forward state room bed and when the compressor kicks on it is noisy as can be. How are you liking the marinair unit during the summer months as far as noise goes?
Thanks Capt.
Thanks so much neighbor! I love my Marinaire, you hardly hear the compressor, just the blower, been a great unit so far
WOW ! I am facing this exact same upgrade on my DeFever 44. This video will help, though the electrical I am not good at. The raw water cooling pump was able to keep up with all three ACs despite the long run to the aft state room ?
Oh man, how about that timing! Yep, there was literally no discernible change on the water flow with the long run of hose. Feel free to reach out when with any questions you may have on the project.
If you are not changubg the head lift the longer run should not matter
@@stelioshondrocolos1869 luckily the hose going up over my fuel tank didn’t negatively affect the flow, at least from what I could notice without measuring. I do believe though that the water flow will decrease once you reach certain pipe or hose lengths, just as voltage will drop in a long run of electrical wire. That is of course if the hose is open on one end, as it is in this application.
is that wire big enough for the compressor draw? it was only running a fan before. its a long run with #14 or #16 wire. id make sure wire isn't getting hot because now you running a fan and a compressor
Good question! I was concerned about that originally. I ran the unit and checked to make sure I did not have a heat-up of wire/connections. I thought I had 12 gauge for the hot/neutral, but I am going to double check. That old fan drew quite a bit of current, and this new ac is much more efficient. However, now you put the bug in my head, I am going to revisit and make sure everything is still fine and safe. I am now replacing my fwd ac, so it is a good time to check back on it and run new wire if necessary. I appreciate you calling attention to that
@@AquaCultured if possible just tape bigger gauge wires to the old one and pull thru. Also tape some sting to leave in for future pulls 👍🏼
@@Guerrero1187 good call!
your raw water lines should be double clamped per ABYC
Stelios, it is indeed recommended to double clamp where you can, as long as the second clamp can properly bear on the pipe or hose barb. Thank you for bringing that up. And I appreciate you watching and contributing
Is the first mate still with you?
She’s still around from time to time!
thru hull in the aft stateroom makes a lot more sense to me. 🤷🏻♂️
I will certainly evaluate as I go and see if it makes sense a year or two down the road. So far so good with the long run of hose.
Naw leave it as it is, your don't hear the water leaving the unit and splashing at night...
@@br5498 good point!
@@br5498 valid point, though the AC water is steady not splashy like engine exhaust, so i don't mind the sound.
Here is an electrician input. On the 2 whites, find the hot one and use a black sharpie to mark the end.
I suppose removing the abandoned freon tubes was not easily doable. I like to remove most all obsolete stuff, then again, that 44 is already very heavy.
How is the Marinaire a/c working for you? Considering replacing my old Cruise Air.
Love both of my Marinaire’s! They have been solid. Planning on replacing my last old ac this summer with another Marinaire to make three on board
@@AquaCultured thanks for the feedback. I have the old cruiseair (all one unit) and they are getting tired (18 years old). Been looking at the MarinAire as likely repalcement.
@@tlteal no problem! If your replacing self contained (all in one), the Marinaire will make for an easy swap out, and it will make a world of difference
@@AquaCultured just got my new 16k marinaire unit installed which replaced the old CruiseAIR. Huge difference. The old unit was pushing 74* out of the vent and the new marinaire was 57* and still dropping colder. I ordered one for my master bedroom on the boat too.... just need to install it. Thank you for the advice.
@@tlteal that’s fantastic! Thank so much for following up with that update. I love to hear a success story, especially when it was assisted by my advice 😁.
We replace the pump and our 2 ancient systems are working….for now
Keep ‘em going!
Nepal🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵