- Mar 25, 2008
- 5,522
- Boat Info
- 2006 Sea Ray 58 DB
- Engines
- MAN CRM V8-900s, Twin Disc Drives; Onan 21.5 Generator
WOW - lots of info shared here
THANK YOU !
Installed a new DOMETIC/CRUISAIR in my 10 meter in 2006. Evaporator coil began leaking in less than 1 year. Installing dealer Blue Water Marine in Ft. Myers attempted to COVER IT UP as to avoid the labor a second time (difficult split unit) I caught him on it. In the end DOMETIC took care of it and the dealer begrudgingly handled the install but it took numerous certified mailings to accomplish.
Seems DOMETIC used to be the GO TO product, however what I've read on boating forums is that the quality advantage has now disappeared.
Here's my collection (to date) of NON- CSR comments , none of which are my own:
MABRU 17,000btu
SELF-CONTAINED 17000 BTU 230V 50/60HZ MARINE AIR CONDITIONER COPPER FI (mabrustore.com)
Quality can't be represented by shows, Dometic, bought every one including us, but quality came down big time.. A condensing coil is no longer CuNi 70/30 now is the economical CuNi 90/10.
Compressors are noisy, not efficient, and not very reliable.. How good are their 12v units? How far behind are they getting? Solar units?
Are they paying a fair amount to their dealers for warranties? I believe that now the paperwork is too complicated, the rate fees and times allowed for warranty are not Helping the Dealers.
Definitely Dometic is not the worse product, but also far from been the best.
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MARINAIRE $2,169 has both pressure gauges built in
16000 Btu, 230V, Self Contained Marine Air Conditioner System. Best marine air conditioner for cabin cruisers, sail boats, yachts and house boats (marinaire.com)
This is really the only choice here.
They are super quiet, newest tech, and able to be controlled from a smart phone w/ very little effort. With the app that it uses, when I'm on the way to the boat the AC kicks on by itself, when getting within a certain radius of the boat. It's awesome! I also sleep on the boat and with how quiet it is you barely hear anything but the wind noise from the vent. Heat works fine too.
The Wifi thing is cool because I can leave it in humidity mode when not at the boat but set it to cool off before I head to it.
My marineaire unit has been working flawlessly for 3 plus years it never has been shut off for any extended period of time. Not as quiet as advertised.
I owned a marine aire unit (classic naming scheme intended to confuse people into thinking it's the real thing). I was downright amazed at the poor quality. I was attracted by the low price point (really the only reason anyone would buy one). what complete garbage. I ended up throwing it all in the trash but before I did I tore everything down to look at how it was designed & built (I have been in product development my entire career). "wow" was all I could say as I looked at the crappy design under the hood and the clearly abysmal quality. really really bad. pure junk.
if you like yours, good for you, but it is still junk. and the control & remote pictured above is the same as I had. you're right, it isn't toy-like...most toys are much better made (no hyperbole).
Show us a better system with a better control..
Again, with this one I touch nothing.. I have it set to turn on when I'm about 10 mins from the boat.. and it turns off when I'm ten mins away from the boat and heading home.
Show us a better system with a better control system than that.
The other systems I've seen have metal pans that rust and fall apart, they vibrate like crazy and make tons of noise.. this one has a plastic pan that doesn't fall apart, and is nice and quiet, 3 speeds and a few different modes.. I have a hard time believing you tossed it out because it was too "cheap"
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FLAGSHIP MARINE
Self-Contained Water Cooled - Flagship Marine
They're crap. They don't use any isolation between the compressors and the pan, so when the things running it sounds like your running a sawzall through the entire boat. A household thermostat that doesn't display any fault codes, and one fan speed. Good parts, poor execution.
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KING AIR
Marine Air Conditioning units, Semi Truck HVAC, A/C Systems from KING-AIR, Cooling the World since 1947!
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WEBASTO
I was going to go with Webasto since their engineering depart in near my home town, but couldn't get over the made in China factor.
DOMETIC/CRUISAIR
$2,253 + shipping at Defender BACKORDERED
CruiseAire Dometic....I would just stick with that brand. 99.9 percent of the boats I survey have them. It's really a benefit to stick with the known when problems arise. On a side note, I have seen some Dometic units with a composite pan which I think is the way to go.
I have replaced 5 domestic air conditioners on my 2016 big horn 5th wheel under warranty, all due to freon leaking
When my Dometic 16K died after 2 years from new, I contacted Dometic and was essentially told "sorry, out of warranty" but they did tell me they would supply me with a list of vendors where I could order a new one.
I did find a great deal on a NOS one, and bought it as it was previous to the models that are failing. If and when it goes I will go to MarinAire.
yeah maybe I started out the thread with the wrong question. I should've known Dometic would be the "a/c of choice" because they pretty much dominate the market. Perhaps I should've asked, "what a/c do you think is the best?".
I tend to agree that sticking with Dometic in this instance might be the smartest, mainly due to service/parts availability.
But some of these other brands offer compelling packages at competitive pricing.
I do like that MarinAire unit with the standard sound cover, the gauges built in to the unit, the remote control/wifi, etc.
The dometic with the composite pan was the most expensive one I've seen, if I remember correctly.
I guess I'm trying to justify if paying another 1,000 dollars for that dometic is the right thing.
Comments about Dometic 16000 BTU EnviroComfort Air Conditioner Reverse-Cycle Retrofit Kit
I work as a marine electronics and a/c installer and have over 25 years experience. I have installed many Dometic a/c units and had, up until recently, found them to be reliable and well made. The 16k BTU Marine Airrrr (Dometic) unit used to be a reliable workhorse. Unfortunately, my recent experience ihas proven otherwise. Three of these 16k BTU units that I have installed, two on my own boat, have failed in a very short amount of time. The first one, installed on a customer's boat, failed in 16 months with a bad electronics controller. The second, installed on my boat, failed 53 weeks after purchase (Get that PLUS Plan!) when all the coolant was lost due to a leak. Most recently, another of these units, installed on my boat, failed after less than a month in service, again due to a coolant leak. I chose the Dometic unit because, unlike the Webasto unit, it has service ports that allow the refrigerant to be recharged. I bought my a/c's at West Marine because of the great coverage afforded by the PLUS Plan. I was able to return defective units and quickly obtain replacements with no hassle. Thanks West Marine!
Originally Posted by bms1939
Ocean Breeze is another brand to consider, good product and customer service.
Yeah, except the way their self contained units are mounted to the pan, they'll vibrate everything within 10' of them..........Dometic is still the best way to go for the package units, BUT, it's the best of the junk because I've seen a lot of defective ones on yachts I manage that are 2017-2020 boats.
Quality can't be represented by shows, Dometic, bought every one including us, but quality came down big time.. A condensing coil is no longer CuNi 70/30 now is the economical CuNi 90/10.
Compressors are noisy, not efficient, and not very reliable.. How good are their 12v units? How far behind are they getting? Solar units?
Are they paying a fair amount to their dealers for warranties? I believe that now the paperwork is too complicated, the rate fees and times allowed for warranty are not Helping the Dealers.
Definitely Dometic is not the worse product, but also far from been the best.
MERMAID
Ill brag on the Mermaid unit for a bit.
stainless base with compressor mounted with bushings for quiet operation. Stainless drip tray under the evaporator - completely separate from the rest of the unit to keep water away from the compressor.
Full installation manual and factory support for any questions. Uses any household thermostat so replacement is easy. 5 year warranty!
Again, not my comments, but I thought it would be nice to share these with the CSR FORUM
BEST !
RWS
Thanks Sir - GREAT INFO - I've added it to my permanent file...
