AC Settings for the Winter

[Graham Lorimer]

Hoping someone can guide me........

I leave my boat in the water for the winter, and I may not get back to it until March next year. It is based in Spain on the Mediterranean.

I have left a domestic dehumidifier in it running on a timer last winter, it was set to be on for 6 hours and then off for 6 hours.

I set up a drain that ran directly overboard through a hull fitting because if I ran the water into the galley sink and then relied on the Shower Sump to pump it overboard, a failure there would create a big mess with the bilge full of water.

All was good, however I do wonder at the safety of a domestic unit running for so long.

The last time I left the boat this year September / October for 4 weeks, I left the Cruisair system on dehumidify setting, and the boat seemed less stuffy and damp than ever before.

I would like to leave that on all winter, however I have three questions;

Does anybody here on the forum leave the Crusair system on for this period of time on their boat?

Is there a way to set it up so that as well as acting as a dehumidifier, can it be set to also keep the temperature higher than the normal ambient. I would like to keep it at about 17 degrees Celsius.

Is there anyway to set up a back-up for the Shower Sump in case of failure.

Thanks for any advice


Graham

 

[bahamabreisus]

Although we dont have Cruiseair units, we live on or boat. The units have been running non stop for 10 years. If you are in heat mode, there is no condensation produced, so no worry about sump.

 

[sandydlc]

We leave our systems set to dehumidifier in the cockpit and mid-cabin at all times when we're not on board. The boat is never stuffy or damp. My broker told me that the systems are meant to run long-term and are very reliable as long as you have power and you check the sea-strainers for them every so often.

Do you have the possibility of having someone check on your boat while you're away? Also - how lucky are you to be able to cruise on the Mediterranean?

Sandy

 

[PlayDate]

I like the domestic dehumidifier because of its simplicity....especially using a dedicated drain. Using the on-board systems brings into play more things that can go wrong (pumps, motors, hoses etc.). In either case, I would probably put in a wi-fi or mobile based monitoring system just for piece of mind. With that system you can monitor, temp, humidity, electrics and intrusions.

John