Engine Room Air Conditioning?

You don't want just 1 chiller, you really should have 2. If you have an issue with a chiller, the entire boat doesn't have A/C, chillers take a while to get a new one to replace a bad one, other issue is the entire boat has A/C or HEAT at the same time.

Good points!

Pascal
I have a Lazzara LSX 64 with two chillers. Each one alternates on and off between cycles unless the demand calls for both. If I lose one I do have the other which can do the whole boat even in summer. Are yours the same or do you manually select which chiller to run?

In your situation, I would just run 1 chiller and leave the other off. You're better off having 1 run longer times on before cycling off, then everytime you clean the A/C strainer swap to the other one.

As for chillers. I just am not seeing the life out of them. Had to swap out both chillers in a 2013 yacht 2 years ago because they were both bad. Now having to swap out 1 chiller with 4 compressors in a 2011 yacht because the fresh water weld on the chiller is bad and leaking a lot and not worth fixing.

On a smaller yacht, like let's say the 66' Sunseeker I managed, it has 4 salon compact units, if 1 goes bad, big deal you'd hardly miss it. Also not the huge electric load when 1 chiller comes on and is running when the boat is idle. It also has 2 a/c sea water pumps along with seperate raw water pick ups and strainers. Each stateroom can select either heat or A/C whenever they want. Chillers make a lot of sense in 75' and over. Under that, I've never managed a yacht with them that didn't lose chilled water monthly, didn't have a hose sweating somewhere, or some other issue.

Pascal
I have the original chillers for over 6 years when boat was built. Luckily I don’t lose chilled water or sweat. I have found that most boat builders undersize their units for the Florida market. I had a Sunseeker with the Sahara package A/C and when in the Bahamas in the Summer it was not great. When I had the Lazzara built I oversized the units and added more air handlers in the salon which is a glass palace and needs it.

Since my chillers are a little over six years old you are scaring me of a future large expense. Although I think the new chillers are no longer copper but titanium which should have a much longer life.

I'm seeing around 8 years on the package units. One is going on 13 years (out of 6 units on 1 boat). The package units are so easy to change out though, so aside from the price of the unit, the exchange is quick and easy. Few mounting bolts, couple of wires, and 2 raw water hoses. The new ones R410 are monsters compared to the old R 22's, twice the fan CFM and temps coming out of the same vents are 32-34F versus 44-46F with the old R22 ones.

Our chillers crashed at 6 years, they were cupronickel and raw water side was likely aggressively cleaned before we purchased. The inter pipes pin holed and dump the Freon. Titanium out performs Cu-Ni in salt water and much more resistant to corrosive de-scalers. I like the chillers over standard compressor units , especially when you get to 5 or more air handlers.

Mine automatically alternate. When chiller one reaches its temperature and shuts down then next cycle chiller two will run. When both chillers run at same time when reach temperature one will shut off and begin alternating cycle. Thus I have nearly same hours on both chillers

We had one boat with ac in the er. The salon air handler was in a built in sofa with a drop going thru the floor directly into the er, You could turn air on/off in the er. It was great to have in the summer while doing maintenance.

Not sure if it was original install, it was a simple supply duct with a plastic cover that would open and close on the er ceiling. Good point, a friend of mine still owns the boat, I will make him aware of that. Thanks for the suggestion.