Stupid A/C Chiller System Question

But big condensation? Just curious as it seems they'd sweat a lot...

Maybe a little more but that’s not an issue as unlike the flat bottomed alum drain pans on cruisair units, flagship uses tilted stainless steel pans so they drain very well.

I agree....those pans are such an easy design to get right, yet everyone seems to get them wrong. Even my Techicolds. Drains are around back, very difficult to reach, keep clean. I built a jig to clear the drains, one on each side, neither convenient.

Yes, single circulation pump running constantly on its own circuit. Better to keep that fluid moving than to start and stop with the compressor. Setting up with two pumps and an A/B switch is easy, and you could alternate between the two. That's how my raw side is plumbed....an A/B switch that the compressors call to the switch, and I can direct them to the pump I choose to exercise.

It also depends on the boat. Older boats had pretty good ventilation but nearly all modern boats have zero air flowing thru

Circulation pumps should last a lot longer than the raw water pumps. It can be replaced pretty quickly as long as you have isolation valves at the inlet and outlet. it s nice to have the spare ready to go like we have with the raw water pump but it s not always feasible.

This is true, BUT opening windows were and are always a source of water leaks on yachts.

And this is why the redundancy of chillers is so nice. Loose the salon remote condenser and you re going home. Loose one chiller, and while warmer the salon will be usable especially if you set the lower staterooms higher during the day.

Yes and no. Lose the circulation pump, trigger board, or blow a circulation hose and you're out of A/C to the entire boat. Also you're stuck with either A/C or heat for the entire boat. Also if you just want 2 units on because you have very limited shorepower, and can't support a 5 ton chiller popping on and off........ Generally a salon has multiple A/C's....... I prefer the redundancy of package units or split units under 70'. Only thing they have in common is a seawater pump.

A circulation pump can be replaced in 30 minutes... if you low a hose in the loop you can usually isolate that section. Loose a trigger and you can hard wire the pump.

what scares me on cruisair is loosing the control board... but that s a design flaw.

I ve never had the need for heat and air con at the same time.

At docks with limited power, I find easier to manage the load with chillers than splits.

day before yesterday, one the chillers on my own 53 popped high pressure. Didn’t have a chance to clean the line yesterday and will probably get to it today... no problem. It s a couple of degree warmer inside today but comfortable. If it had been the master split clogging up, it would have been kicked out of bed to fix it

4 years with the chillers on my personal 53 and I love them

Agreed, the circulation pump is very often much easier and comfortable to access. But in my mind it does need to run continuously as while the chilled loop will reach its goal temperature allowing the compressor to shut down, the air handlers may still be in the process fo cooling their rooms and need the water flow. So, if you install redundant loop pumps, use an A/B switch and periodically change pump to share the load.

Yes, I can see the need in certain climates and with someone aboard that doesn't tolerate cold very well. In this situation we'd be well served to have a heating element in the air handler in the staterooms whereby the air handler can use the electric heat, not call the water, and warm the room. That's Technicold's typical setup. I went pure cold with separate inline heating elements for the loop. Those work very much like an instant hot for hot water, but they can be set to turn off at your desired temp, and those, too, can be staggered to help handle the load. This spring we used the heat at night (just one element was required), and then shifted back to chillers in the daytime as needed. With a metal boat that 59 degree sea water transfers pretty efficiently inside...

My Technicold chilled water air handlers have an option for a heat strip to be added to any air handler. The control will call for that heat strip in a cabin if needed, and it will bypass the heat strip and return to the looped water if it sense the water temp to be warm enough.

Heat wise I would scavenge as much as possible from your engines and generators. Then install a electric furnace . They are small, hang from the wall are 99% efficient and completely quit . Sure generator has to run, but biggest plus is no additional exhaust to deal with.

That's not part of our system. Have you verified that the air handler is tied into the chiller loop. It may have been bypassed because of a leak.