Install looks good, almost there. Ours has been running like a top for a couple of months. Sunday went down to check the boat and one of the new salon a/h's was making a noise. Will have to pull and repair/replace, the squirrel cage is loose on the shaft. More OJT....
FINALLY!! Yes, finally the system piping is completed and AHU's and chiller hooked up to power. Before adding 4 gal of glycol, we flushed the system to get all the junk and packing oil out. Today we ran the system for about 3 hours and the boat cooled off much faster than I remember - you know, when you first buy it, "it's all good" cuz we are "under the ether". My question though, has to do with the chiller set points for cooling. The DOMETIC chiller has a range of 42-55 deg (f). What would be "optimum"? Since the chiller is variable speed, I could foresee the chiller working less that 100% at 55 deg, but perhaps running a little longer before cycling off. Do any of the HVAC guru's here have an idea? Latest pictures: The controller The chiller:
Yeah. It’s been a long grind. The hardest part was running the copper, then bending where necessary, then pro-press the fittings, then insulating. Some of the spaces were really tight. Now we’re on to insulating valves and the fittings (pro-press) and CW pump. The interior of the boat is still torn up though.
Need to fill up Carl's drives with with pictures of your fine work. Detail the insulation of the devices and air handlers. How you ran the copper standing on your head and improvements like that. Oh Mater Guru of Chilled Systems. Pain heals, Chicks dig scars, A fine HVAC with pictures last (near) forever.
Haven't gotten the refractometer reading, but I calculated the volume of the piping and came up with 6 gallons. When I flushed and drained the system I got a little over 5 gallons out each time (flushed several times, obviously to get all the debris out). I put in 4 gallons of DOWFROST, so I'm feeling very confident that nothing is going to freeze. DOMETIC's recommendation was not less than 20%.
For cooling in general, a lower chilled water temperature would result in colder coils in the air handlers, which would result in more condensation on the coils, which means more moisture removed from the circulating air. If the condensate draining pan/piping cannot handle that much removed condensate, setting the chilled water temperature higher would help at the cost of discharge air not feeling as cold.
You will add some water when you bring loop pressure up to spec and likely will have to add some more after bleeding the system. If you air handlers thermostat control allows you to program the valve open for a few hours it will help move the air to the spiro vent, easy way to bleed and not loose any glycol but still have to add water to bring pressure back up. I bought some 70% glycol to add and boost the % mixture up, ours is probably closer to 22/ 23 %.
I found a sweet spot with Chiller 1 set 44 to 54 and Chiller 2 set 49 to 56. System seems to find on most days that it only cals for Chiller 1, and condensate pans stay relatively dry in most places that are away from windows. The units near big glass drain quite a bit. Loop spends most time between 48 and 54. Truth be told, I'm contemplating adding a 2 ton 24v DC chiller unit, setting it up as the primary. I think the big 5's could sit idle quite often. Seems like it would be a simple add that can be shut down in the hottest months. Boat would even be quieter at night, I think.
Keep us up on this. I'm looking at fixing up a Hatt on inverters so that when running, no gen set needed. Even for the wheel house A/C unit. Our Bertram is all inverter and batteries just no A/C. On those hot days running with the wind, I sure could use an A/C unit blowing on us in the wheelhouse also.
More pictures of the install: V-Berth Had to run copper under this berth, without access from underneath. It had to run from the hanging locker towards the AHU in the peak. This was the run in the hanging locker (continuing to "frame right" of picture. Here's a look at that run from the hanging locker Continuing the run aft into the salon
In the salon, stbd side fwd is the second or 6 AHU's Underneath the settee: Continuing the run aft in the salon. There are 2 AHU's here on the Stbd side, and one on the Port side: Note the insulation and the plastic sleeves where the hanging brackets are. Continuing the run aft. Another view:
Another view of the Stbd-Aft AHU piping with insulation. This piping was purchased with the insulation already on it. From the T above, the lead goes aft through the center berths on the stbd side with very tight quarters for the piping. Wheelhouse AHU Another view: Spiro vent for system. It's traveling up the right side of the picture above.
Salon's port side AHU. There's a cross-over to supply the wheelhouse AHU behind the unit. This picture of the galley indicates the long run from the AHU in the Master's cabin aft to the salon's port-side AHU, which is located fwd of the light switches in the background (above the blue bag of cheeto's - power food for the installer!! Hanging locker for master's cabin (aft of galley above). Trunk lines insulated with white. Master cabin's AHU From that AHU back aft around the stern area.
Continuing from the master's AHU into the stern area. Coming up the stbd side from the stern towards the ER. Tight fitting in crevices with all the other system's leads. Down deep to make the run. . . The installer was not happy here. Have to run fwd from the door in the background. No access under the counter except for one 8" square under the lavatory. Finally into the ER
Another view in the ER. A look at the chiller & CW "plant with expansion tank Another view The controller in the salon, above the walkway into the galley The controller up close & personal
With all the piping and pro-press fittings and nipples/unions, there was only 3 small leaks. All on the CW piping connections, 2 fixed with a little "snugging" and one had to be disassembled and re-done. God Bless the unions. What a great way to assist in maintenance. And the tech releasing air from the lines during filling/flushing. At this point, the tech is busy fabricating insulation for T's, elbows, and the pump. More pictures later!! It's been a hella long process, but this guy is VERY conscientious and meticulous.
[QUOTE="It's been a hella long process....[/QUOTE] I vote this for the understatement of the year! Looks like beautiful work professionally done with no skimping on $$. I just remembered when I showed Marmot your boat and the only thing he didn't like was the ac black foam rubber insulation. Bet your new ac would bring him a thumbs up. I know this seems trivial for the scope of work you've shown us, but I like the new salon lamp. I see fingerprints from Charlie's Loocker.
