air conditioning not working

[lewharve]

my ac unit on my freedom 45 worked fine the first day, then it started throwing the breaker as soon as I turned it on the exchanger was iced up, then it ran for an hour then blew the dock breaker
now it runs for a while before blowing the breaker,
some say it is too much Freon
anybody else have this problem
we live on our boat in fla so we need ac
thanks

[lewharve]

frigate
we went out and got a new AC unit
doing fine

[drcscruggs]

Did you buy a new unit and install it yourselves? I’m thinking about buying a unit and trying to install myself. It doesn’t seem impossible. Now this is coming from someone who has never installed one on a boat before. Thanks

[lewharve]

it was straight forward installation. house and 4 wire, 2 for power and two for pump.
you do have thru holes
don't buy a marine air system.
I have had nothing but trouble with them

[drcscruggs]

Thanks, I have decided to try one of those portable AC units. It has a hose that vents outside and it also is a heat pump, so it can heat some too. I have spoken with a couple of folks and they seem to do a decent job. Well, we will see. I bought one that was about 10K BTU. I have heard that this may or may not do the job. I got it for less than 300 and it was just too cheap to not try first. I frankly would like to have the other but after recent purchase of this boat and paying Medical school tuition X2 for my daughters, feel best to at least try this option. I really don't plan on installing a generator to run while not at dock. Thanks for the response. I may do this. I already have a thru hull below water that isn't being used so......

[rafontaine1]

Lewharve
What kind of problems did you have with Marine Air AC. Looking to install AC for next season in my 36.

[GeoffSchultz]

I installed a 16K split system Marine Air AC unit on BlueJacket in 1999 and have had very few issues with it. The water cooled compressor is located in the lazarette, which keeps it quiet, and there's a 12K air handler in the V-berth head and another 4K air handler in the aft cabin. The mistake which was made was installing too small of lines to the forward air handler. They used an 1/8" high pressure line and a 1/4" suction and they should have used a 1/4" HP line and a 3/8" suction. The unit draws about 16A when running and my 3.5KW generator can handle that and the startup without issues.

BlueJacket spends most of it's time in the Caribbean/Central America and the AC can't keep up with the intense sun/heat in the 90s and a water temp in the mid 80s, so during the day the temp slowly creeps up into the low/mid 80s. Probably the best thing to do would be installing something like Thermozite in the ceiling.

-- Geoff

[drcscruggs]

Here is a link to the AC that I got. It is now 199 plus tax from Walmart. It is supposedly a 14k BTU Ac heater and dehumidifier. This is less than the sales tax that would be added onto a marine AC installed. I haven't actually used it yet, but am hopeful.
Fwiw

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arctic-King- ... thena=true