3200SCR A/C died

[ezcurra]

Well, it finally happened. The AC on our 1998 3200SCR died. Turned out to be a freon leak in the condenser coil. Being a FL boat, that means all overnight trips are cancelled! The condenser is replaceable but not in situ. So I had the pleasure of taking my stairs apart (top and next step) and pulling the unit. The good news is that it wasn't all that painful - only took a couple of hours. Most painful part was that I had to cut the carpet across the face between those 2 steps (it wraps around and then gets pinched between the stairs and kitchen cabinetry). But I think some glue and staples will get the carpet back with no one suspecting!

Now comes the painful part - I HOPE it is just the condenser and not something more serious! Boat = Break Out Another Thousand!

[mmwjr]

Better it happend now than in July

[dronthelake]

If you have to buy a new unit do not get the MarinAire as I did. The temp sensor is not in the wall thermostat, it is mounted on the side of the coils. My front unit is under the berth which typically stays cooler that the rest of the cabin. The unit cycles on every 10 minutes and runs for about 20 seconds pulling air through the unit to sense the air temp. If it differs from the thermostat setting then the unit kicks on. The front of the cabin gets significantly warmer (or cooler) than the thermostat setting as it won't kick off until the sensor UNDER there berth matches the thermostat. It is like placing your HVAC temp sensor under your house inside the duct work.

The display is backlit but it stays off until you press a button. It is basically unreadable without the back light.

[ezcurra]

Thanks for the good advice. I am actually looking at the AquaAir unit as it needs to have the raw water connections at the back or I will have to run new hoses, and I don't want to do that if I don't have to. The new MarineAir units (what had been in there) all seem to have have their raw water connections at the side or front. AquaAir also have a temp sensor at the evaporator, but it can be disconnected and the one at the thermostat enabled.

But maybe I'll get lucky and the old unit will be fixable. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Originally Posted by dronthelake

If you have to buy a new unit do not get the MarinAire as I did. The temp sensor is not in the wall thermostat, it is mounted on the side of the coils. My front unit is under the berth which typically stays cooler that the rest of the cabin. The unit cycles on every 10 minutes and runs for about 20 seconds pulling air through the unit to sense the air temp. If it differs from the thermostat setting then the unit kicks on. The front of the cabin gets significantly warmer (or cooler) than the thermostat setting as it won't kick off until the sensor UNDER there berth matches the thermostat. It is like placing your HVAC temp sensor under your house inside the duct work.

The display is backlit but it stays off until you press a button. It is basically unreadable without the back light.

[dronthelake]

MarinAire's rep said I could relocate the temp sensor to the cabin by extending it's wiring but that there is no way to stop the unit from cycling on ever 10 minutes. I would have to figure out where to put the ugly black plastic sensor so that it senses the sire temp but isn't visible.