Salon temperature

[DustinL]

Yes Ron you are prolly right. The DB's do tend to run warmer in the salon. I know they made three different versions of the salon on that boat and one used to be hard to cool. I believe it was the one with the downstairs station. Actually we plugged in a small fan running from the front into the salon and that helped alot of the air flow on this boat for a while. Maybe it is just the older unit not wanting to do its job that much. Does this boat sit in a covered slip. Either way good luck with it seems we may all be getting into cooler temps so the battle can insue for next year. I am glad it doesnt get as cold here couldn't imagine not being able to use my boat during the winter. I simply don't know what I would do with myself. Great talking to you hopefully this issue will get better. Maybe have someone look at the internal parts of the unit come closer to time for a haul out and see if it has corrosion or anything in it.

 

[themorganjane]

Just throwing my 10 cents in. I noticed this weekend that a newer model year version of my boat (2005 48 Sundancer) discharged the AC circulation water directly out the hull adjacent to where the units are located. My boat discharges all the circulation water from all the units out the same port at the back of the boat near the generator exhaust port. This means that my boat has alot further to push water. Especially for the forward AC unit, thats 50 ft forward and 50 ft backwards. Maybe Sea Ray solved a poor flow situation in the forward unit by discharging it directly out the side of the boat. There is one circlulation pump for the Salon, forward bedroom and aft bedroom AC units. There is no type of balancing vavles that I have found so it would only make sense the the AC unit with the longest run of supply tubing would get the least flow. Therefore by discharging the forward AC unit cooling water directly out the side of the boat, the total length of tubing is decreased and therefore the flow of water to the unit is increased.

 

[Jus' Chillin]

Hugo
That's real interesting info. Coupla questions...
1. what did you flush the system with (other than the bromine tabs) Just hose water or muriatic acid
2. do you feel it's the greater pressure provided by the hose that gives cooler temps OR is it the cooler temps of the hose water. I'd imagine that seawater in your area would run in the mid 80s whereas hose water would likely be at least 10 degrees cooler.

Thanks!

Hey Ron.
To clarify, I've never "back flushed" my system. I disconnect both lines at the water pump, and I have a simple rig (clear tubing that fits over the a/c tubing and a hose clamp to secure it, along with a hose connector on the other end to connect to dock water) and just turn on the dock water full blast and let it go for about 15 min's. I don't add any chem's to that process.
I use the Bromine tablets in the a/c strainer as the chemical makeup is supposed to have little or no chlorine in it thereby being a little more friendly to anything upstream in the system like the impeller on the pump, etc.

Regarding the cooler temp from dock water, no the dock water was the same in July as the river water (approx 80 - 83 degr), but the FLOW was much greater and I think the physics of that make sense to me. If this is somewhat based on heat transfer, then the more water you can push through, the cooler the unit will operate, etc, etc.

I still check that differential btwn normal operating discharge temp, vs operating under dock water, and it is still a noticable difference. I've often thought the pump just needs to be larger. I currently have the same flow (judging by sight) that I've had from day one in 2007.

I did speak to a 60 Sedan owner next to me and he could hang meat in his but granted he has 5 units (4 in vessel, and 1 for bridge). He has Limo tint on all of his windows and I think a black out screen for the front windshield. Very comfortable.

I will be tinting all of my windows shortly and probably doing an insulated black out screen for the front windshield and that will probably knock it out.

But will also mention that no matter what you do, unless you size up from 16 bTU or add another unit to the salon, if you have a lot of people aboard and that cockpit door keeps opening and closing, you'll never cool that salon!

 

[rondds]

Hugo
Agreed on all counts! If the salon unit takes a dump I'd likely replace it with a larger unit while I'm at it.

Even if we leave the boat for a couple of hours to go up to the pool or out on a friend's boat, even thought the salon door remains closed, when it's that hot, it just ain't gonna get any cooler in there.

 

[Jus' Chillin]

Do you know if we can just put in another water pump with a higher flow rate? Would that hurt anything?? Probably cheaper than a new a/c unit. But I'm with ya'....if my salon a/c was toast, I'd definitely upsize it.

 

[rondds]

I honestly don't think it would hurt. Any excess flow would just go overboard. The guy to ask would be Festivus. He has your boat and installed flybridge air. He replaced his existing pump with one that is capable of running three units. I guess that's worth a try. It might be worth contacting MarineAir or Cruiseair or whoever it is that manufactures these units.

 

[First_Mate]

We had an insulated sunbrella cover made for the windshield. Makes all the difference in the world. What you're seeing is what we live with for four months out of the year in Houston....blazing hot sun. And that's exactly how our 44db acted until we replaced the mesh cover with the insulated one. Best $350 you can spend.
Jet Lag
2007 44DB

I was thinking of getting a white sunbrella canvas cover to replace the mesh, but the insulated idea sounds even better. Is yours white or does color matter with the insulation?

 

[wetpaint]

I did not read every post, but I took my salon thermostat probe at my unit in the salon (which is at the compressor) and changes its location so it is actually getting the salon temp and not the cool compressor temp. I have no problems now. I did the same in the master and works perfect (not that I had a problem in this location-just reads more accurate)