Fantastic idea?

[eidiohir]

I have been the recipient of a gift. It is a Lloytron F601" 9000Btu Air Conditioner see the pic. It is new and I was thinking that I may be able to use it on my boat when in the marina. The thing is, it's quite big and as I have a spare locker in the wheel house that used to house the batteries until I moved them to the engine bay, I thought maybe it can be dismantled and rebuilt inside the locker?
So has anyone done anything like this and would more knowledgeable members have any ideas. The locker is quite large and would comfortably hold the unit if it was laid down, so I think it would fit. I know that the water drainage would have to be allowed for and fans installed to move the cooler air and recycle the warm air. But is it feasible? I already have the unit so suggesting that I buy a purpose made unit will not help.

 

[pvb]

The locker is quite large and would comfortably hold the unit if it was laid down, so I think it would fit. I know that the water drainage would have to be allowed for and fans installed to move the cooler air and recycle the warm air. But is it feasible?

I doubt that the unit will work laid on its side. These portable units need a big vent hose to the outside, to remove heat. The problems of ducting cool air into the boat effectively will also be significant. I think I'd maybe try to sell it.

 

[Norman_E]

I doubt you can separate the parts unless you are a refrigeration engineer. Those things are just like a fridge in that they have a compressor, which gets hot and needs its heat venting outside, and an evaporator which gets cold just like the one in the fridge, but a one piece A/C unit has a fan to push air over it and cool the room. In a wheelhouse situation ideally you want the compressor in a box fitted outside, and the rest inside but to re-arrange the bits you will probably need longer pipes for the coolant, and if you cut them to insert longer lengths you will have to re-gas the unit. A good look inside the case will probably convince you that it is not worth messing with.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I have 4 of those in my den that used to be in my office until I closed it down.

They must be upright and the vent pipes are around 150 to 200 mm dia and need a drain to remove condensate.

I have air con units on my boat which are separate units like domestic air con units except mine are fresh water cooled units using a pump to circulate the fresh water around a steel skeg tank for cooling.

The air cooler units are like domestic type with a large low air speed fan that keeps the noise down unlike the marine air con units that have small high speed fans that can be quite noisy.

 

[eidiohir]

I have 4 of those in my den that used to be in my office until I closed it down.

They must be upright and the vent pipes are around 150 to 200 mm dia and need a drain to remove condensate.

I have air con units on my boat which are separate units like domestic air con units except mine are fresh water cooled units using a pump to circulate the fresh water around a steel skeg tank for cooling.

The air cooler units are like domestic type with a large low air speed fan that keeps the noise down unlike the marine air con units that have small high speed fans that can be quite noisy.

That sounds good can you give me a link to the site please.
Oh and I should say that I meant that the locker would accommodate the unit if laid on its side as a guide to the size of the locker rather than actually trying to operate the unit as it laid on its side.

 

[prv]

How often is air-con needed on a boat in Carlingford?

Pete

 

[William_H]

I thought that most of this style of aircon have an outside compressor unit. Yes possibly it could be fed with ducted air for cooling. I also note that you mention using the aircon for heating. I find the reverse cycle concept surprising for UK. This requires that the aircon cool the outside radiator to a temperature lower than the outside air so that heat is in effect collected from outside and pumped inside. Now I have 2 of these at home for our only heating in winter and they work well. But that is because temp never drops below about 3 C. I can't imagine them working at very cold conditions with any efficiency. Perhaps I am wrong there. I think on balance I would not try to fit it to a boat but then that is up to you. olewill

 

[prv]

I thought that most of this style of aircon have an outside compressor unit.

No - since air con isn't really needed in this part of the world, installed units are practically non-existent outside large commercial buildings. What you occasionally see is a self-contained device like in the picture, which you wheel out of storage for the week or two every few years that it's nice to have. They have a big lightweight flexible hose, like an old-fashioned tumble-drier, that you have to hang out of a window (hopefully with something blocking the rest of the gap) to discharge the heat outside the house. A mate of mine has one that he runs in his bedroom when it's really hot, but most people (myself included) don't bother.

Pete

 

[rogerthebodger]

That sounds good can you give me a link to the site please.

No web site that I know of I went to see one of our local air con suppliers and that was put together for me together with some engineering for the skeg cooling and circulating pump and controlls.

These are the water cooled compressor units

This is one of the fan evaporator units.

You can get what are called chiller units that chill water and pump this chilled water around to radiator type cooling units.

 

[eidiohir]

prv

How often is air-con needed on a boat in Carlingford?

Pete


Boat is in Belgium and I hope to make it to Portugal over the next two years.
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William_H

I thought that most of this style of aircon have an outside compressor unit. Yes possibly it could be fed with ducted air for cooling. I also note that you mention using the aircon for heating. I find the reverse cycle concept surprising for UK. This requires that the aircon cool the outside radiator to a temperature lower than the outside air so that heat is in effect collected from outside and pumped inside. Now I have 2 of these at home for our only heating in winter and they work well. But that is because temp never drops below about 3 C. I can't imagine them working at very cold conditions with any efficiency. Perhaps I am wrong there. I think on balance I would not try to fit it to a boat but then that is up to you. olewill.

I won't be using the unit for heating I have a Webasto heater which space heats and heats the water. I have been moaning about the heat and being unable to sleep and my son surprised me with a gift of this air conditioner unit. I can just set it up to use in the wheelhouse but it would be better if I could have it 'plumbed in' so to speak.
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Rogershaw


No web site that I know of I went to see one of our local air con suppliers and that was put together for me together with some engineering for the skeg cooling and circulating pump and controls.

Thanks for the pictures. That looks big and expensive for a Colvic Watson I don't know if I could afford that even if I can find the space!

 

[Iliade]

Dig a half depth hole under the helmsman's seat and fit it there. Then the wheelhouse will get warmed by the heat pumped from the saloon/engine room...

Actually not completely joking; find room in the wheelhouse and with the occasionally available two-pipe kit to keep the air passing over the condenser coil completely removed from the cabin air, you get dry cool and vice-versa were you to put it outside and run the two hoses inside.

If you were to strip it and rebuild it I suspect you'd need to keep each coil the right way up but I see no real reason why that would not work, just that the work involved may outweigh buying a specialised unit.

I have a similar unit with just a single exhaust hose. When we used it in an Italian summer a few years ago, the air being drawn in from outside was so hot that it almost overpowered the unit. It is much more efficient to keep that air completely separate.

 

[owen-cox]

I used to install and repair air conditioning of all brands on yachts of all sizes in Mallorca and I was constantly on the look out for one of these style units that I could modify (and I had all the gear) and I never managed to find one suitable. The problem is mostly that you have to keep the compressor upright and often they share the same fan for condenser and evaporator. This makes it difficult to separate and by the time it is done its probably cheaper to buy a specific yacht air conditioning unit. The split type are somewhat easier but again the cost is usually ofset by the time and effort it takes to convert it to fit.