Air Conditioner Size on SO36i?

[shiook]

I'm adding an air conditioner to my 2010 SO36i and would like to know:
1) what size?
2) what brand?
3) what location the unit is ?
4) where each vent was installed?
5) where is the water pickup installed?
6) is a separate 120 vac power inlet installed for the AC or did they tie into the single, existing one with a branch circuit and breaker?
Thank you
Rob

[krawall]

I forgot almost everything (but can look up if need be).

I've installed one unit, around 7500 BTU under the sink. It was small enough, with a wooden board over it, to be still able to put he original rubbish bin in (removed the lid mechanism)

I had three vents

Just on top of the settee
Forward starboard side near the bed
Aft starboard side out of the hanging locker

It was a very small unit and helped to make the cabin bearable in hot Hong Kong summers when I had shore power (or using a portable genset but really needs at least 2kw, my 1kw one = honda - wasn't up for the task)

The airflow in front and salon and aft could individually be turned off, but that was really a very mediocre attempt. Salon couldn't be turned fully off, and even then, the aft and forward didn't get a lot of air, but it kept the whole boat just a few degrees colder and that made a big difference. A bit more cooling would have been nice but not necessary.

If you want I can find out more info, it was a Webasto and believe it was 7500 BTU

Cheers,

Tom

[krawall]

OH yes, forgot one thing. Because I put the aircon unit under the sink, the pickup for water was very easy.

I've added another seacock right in the empty compartment in front of the engine and had a hose coming up. Hose run was around 1m only (even less I think). The pump I've installed hanging from the sink floor board, had clearance around 10cm to the bottom so no risk of getting it drowned. Sea cock was installed center line and thus no problem in priming ever.

I've put my seacock dead in the middle which in hindsight wasn't very clever as the whole compartment was wasted but it can be put on either side or with a bit of work you can make it more ideal.

I was planning to use the water heater plug (just unplug the water heater which we haven't used in 6 years) and use that one but the installer actually ran another cable right to the switch panel (and used the water heater switch there, so the water heater was useless then anyway ;-) - he could have directly plugged it into he water heater 220V.

So as a simple installation and if you are not using both at the same time (not sure about the wattage of the water heater though) you could probably just put an extension plug and plug both it an the same time. But needs to be investigated what happens if you turn on both the same time. But this saves you from running _any_ cables though the boat.

The control panel of the aircon of course went nearby the galley (just in front, near the outlet of the aircon but air channeled away from it)

Tom

[alenka]

Our 43 DS is based in Greece.  We were told "all that glass and temps hitting 40 deg C - You must be mad".

Well, we have just one AC unit under the saloon seating with an outlet into the saloon and another into the fwd cabin and it works just fine.

Obviously in the heat of the day we draw the blinds too keep out direct sunlight, but as daytime is rarely spent below decks we generally don't bother turning on the ac. As the sun starts to go down we close up all the hatches and give the boat a good blast of ac with all the interior doors open. We also have 12v fans fixed around the boat and these boost air circulation.  Within 30 mins the boat is down to cool comfort levels and the ac usually gets turned off for the night, although the fans sometimes get left on if it is particularly humid.

I don't have the BTU specs at home to look up but as the unit only draws 800watts (240 V) I doubt it is particularly large. Our condensate drains into the bilges to be periodically pumped overboard by the auto bilge pump.

We had thought about adding a genset to run the ac when we are not on shore power but the noise and vibration puts us off.

I once spent a couple of weeks in the BVI's on a 41 fitted with two ac units.  Great if you want your boat as cold as a Florida shopping mall but you had to find  'two' electric outlets to run it. Ironically in the whole two weeks we only used used it once.

I have to say that ac on a boat is a great thing but it has its time and place; And when deciding how many units you have to consider how much storage space you are prepared to give up to accommodate the equipment.