Dehumidifier vs. AC?

R

rbryn

Member
May 27, 2009
254
Wilmington, NC
Boat Info
2003 260DA
Engines
350Mag MPI Bravo® III (re-powered 2013)
Our 260DA is in a wet slip and is equipped with AC/Heat and Dehumidifier. When leaving the boat for a few days is it better to leave the AC on, or the Dehumidifier?

When we took delivery, they recommmended to run the AC at 78-80 when it's in the slip. My brain is saying "would it be better to run the dehumidifier"?
 
i use the dehumidify setting because it will run once an hour even if the temperature goes below the A/C temperature setting. On A/C mode, the system wont run until the temperature gets to, or higher, than the setting you have the thermostat set to. So if you leave the A/C mode on and the thermostat set to 78, if the temperature in the cabin stays at 77 degrees for a week, the system never runs. In dehumidify mode, it runs once an hour to take the humidity out of the air in the cabin.

Hope this helps
 
Use the dehumidify mode. You can adjust the programming so that it runs every X hours for Y minutes.
 
I love the de-humidify mode. works perfectly.
 
We let our boat sit with nothing on. Not a problem. The only time we use the air is when cruising and then it runs about 24/7. It gets very hot down below when we are not on board, but I don't notice downside and it cools down quickly when we use it.
 
MAKC,
Dehumidify mode bypass's t stat set point. IT follows the Dehumidify program like Frank said and can be fully programmed. Run time and time it runs fully adjustable

Rob

PS i use Dehumidify mode all summer here in NY
 
I also use the dehum mode all summer long and found the out-of-the-box settings to work quite well re x's and y's...
 
Thanks... I've already learned alot by reading through all the forum posts over the past few weeks.
 
Robski97 said:
MAKC,
Dehumidify mode bypass's t stat set point. IT follows the Dehumidify program like Frank said and can be fully programmed. Run time and time it runs fully adjustable

Rob

PS i use Dehumidify mode all summer here in NY
Click to expand...

yeah i should have worded that better. :)

I use the defaults for the dehumidify mode but yes it is all adjustable. Great feature for sure!
 
Just curious as to why things are damp without running the A/C? My experience is things are really hot below but cool off rapidly when opening the boat up or running the A/C. Why spend the money to cool or dehumidify when the humidity pretty much goes to whatever the ambient humidity is when you open up the cabin?
 
It can get pretty hot here, so I have two reasons for running the AC when we're not there:

1) Better for the interior trim. Our non-Sea Ray has some laminated strips that start to get soft when it approaches 100 degrees.

2) Better for the refrigerator. It works less with an 80 degree cabin. I figure it will last longer as we use electricity for the AC.
 
Kameroo brought up a great point. The stress on the refrigeration equipment in a 100 Plus cockpit or cabin.

Also some boats tend to smell if left sealed up in the heat. Guess its a preference thing.

Rob
 
I run the AC 24/7 from the time the boat goes in the water in May until it comes back out in October. When away from the boat I leave it set at 62 and 68 when we're on it. The only time the AC is off is the 10 seconds it takes when transitioning between shore power and generator.
 
sbw1 said:
Just curious as to why things are damp without running the A/C? My experience is things are really hot below but cool off rapidly when opening the boat up or running the A/C. Why spend the money to cool or dehumidify when the humidity pretty much goes to whatever the ambient humidity is when you open up the cabin?
Click to expand...


If I'm reading this correctly, I believe its the cumulative effect of prolonged exposure to moisture that would cause problems- musty, mildewy, basement smell or worse, mold. I use the HU control on my unit. It seems like that should do a good job of circulating and drying out the air as designed. Now that its heating up and getting steamy I need to reprogram it and have it kick on more frequently and for longer periods.
 
One of the benefits of keeping a boat at home is you don't need to have the fridge running unless you are cruising. Our fridge is still off and clean. I do run the a/c when the fridge is on because we are living on the boat. When done cruising, we defrost it and shut it down. I've had good luck with fridges and oderless cabins so far, and we are certainly no stangers to humid conditions. It was in the 90s today and muggy.
 
In the summer when I'm not on the boat, I use the AC and set it at 79.. With it approaching the mid 90's here now, I've done the HU settings before and found the cabin dry but way too hot.. As it gets cooler I'll just use the HU setting..
 
I never thought about the heat in the cabin. I was more concerned with the overall humidity (it's not uncommon to be 90+ degrees and 80%+ humidity here). It sounds like the best bet would be to run the AC on the hottest days, and the HU after it cools back down a bit.

Thanks for all the replies.
 
On the subject of AC, my Searay AC (Cruzair) always runs the fan whether the compressor turns on or not. As I understand it, apparently there is a setting that will allow me to only run the fan with the compressor is running. 2007 Searay Dancer...anyone know how to program that in? I didn't see it on that little "instruction" manual that's stuck inside the thermostat door!
 
A great resurrection of a 9 year old thread!! We leave our 4 A/C's in the HU mode in both FL and TN when we are off of the boat. No problems when we return....We leave the bridge air (#5) off when we are gone...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,120
Messages
1,426,613
Members
61,037
Latest member
wojozobl
Back
Top