a/c question on 255xl

kindredspirits

kindredspirits

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Jun 28, 2007
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27052
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With all of your help I installed an a/c unit in a '89 255xl last winter. I had to adjust some vent positions to get everything to work right but now it is cooling the boat just fine. If you don't recall, I installed a 16,500 btu reverse cycle unit from mermaid air. At the time everyone told me that this unit was WAY too big but I got a heck of a deal on her from a friend who had it sitting in his garage. Last weekend I opened up the cabinet that the unit is located in; I just wanted to make sure everything looked good and I didn't have any wires chaffing. I noticed that the condensation tank was "sweating" pretty bad and the wood closet I had built around the unit was damp. The unit is draining fine, but the cold water sitting in the catch basin is causing the unit to sweat. Humidity in Ohio has been pretty high...approx. 80%+ most days. How can I prevent this or what's wrong, this doesn't seem normal to me? Normally I keep the boat at 68 deg. Fahrenheit and the unit is only on for the weekend, so it has alot of humidity to remove Friday night when I turn it on. There is always a small amount left in the condensation pan that won't drain and I'm sure some of this splashes out when we are underway but why am I seeing beads of water collecting on the outside of the pan and running down to the floor? Any help would be appreciated.

Chris
 
Chris

Too large a unit will cool an area down well BEFORE it has a chance to remove all the humidity from the air. The A/C unit is cooling the drip pan and extra humidity in the air is condensating on the cold tray like a window pane in winter.

You could try gluing some pipe insulation to the outside of the drip pan but that might just collect the water and cause the metal to rot. Perhaps setting the unit in a hot water heater drip tray might collect the extra water?
 
Rommer,
I don't understand. When I start up the unit on Friday night and the boat temp is 95 degrees it will take 3 to 4 hours to cool it down to 68 degrees. At that point it cycles on and off every 10-12 minutes. It is pulling tons of humidity out of the air, the coils are drenched and dripping in the pan. Still not sure why my pan is "sweating" or if this is normal.

Chris
 
Pan is sweating because its temp is so low. Its like a glass of ice water. I have my pan angled a little bit to allow draining. "Condensation tank?" Are you referring to the dryer? Most of the low pressure side will sweat.
 
Chris

Some sweating is normal but you are adding to the problem with an over sized unit. There are some things you can do, reduce air flow although at the risk of freezing the unit.

For a better explanation I have to point you to a google link since the explanation can get complicated and I'm not an expert in HVAC.
 
Fixed! I figured I would post this incase anyone else installs their own unit and runs into the same problem. CaptGoerge, your post got me thinking in the right direction. When I ran the drain line for the condensation pan I took a 90 degree elbow and plumbed the drain line into a sump. I needed to come off the pan with a "T". The bottom of the "T" runs to the sump, the top of the "T" rises up about a foot now and allows the unit to drain faster by sucking air. I used to do the same thing with a can of beer when I was in college! Without this, my pan was filling up with cold water and making a mess. Hopefully this will help someone else down the road.
 
with a unit that size, you could run a vent to the cockpit, still cool the interior and be the life of the party on a hot day!!
 
Hi Chris,

Glad to hear you got it working... we've never had that problem with our 12K, and yes, I used a 90 elbow as your first attempt, but I made sure our pan drained quickly before I put it all back together.... we do get water, but very little is actually ever in the pan. Ours is also setting on carpet, so it may act as a bit of an insulator.. The cabinet we put it in was the original location Regal used, but in this case, they had also already carpeted it from the factory, I opted to leave it and have never had any problem. It also acts as a sound deadener, and it's very quiet.

I've since miss-placed your phone number, so I trust that you might still have mine... give me a call sometime if you ever get over to Cedar Point... just watch out for the break wall okay? :)

PS, I agree with KiDa, you could probably cool the entire cockpit area with that unit and be the coolest dude at PIB!!
 
Great minds think alike! That's exactly what I've done. When I did the btu calculations the 16,500 btu unit was a little undersize for cooling the entire cabin plus the cockpit under the camper canvas. I'm dumping 2/3 of the air up top and the last 1/3 is used for cooling the cabin/removing humidity. Occasionally someone will sleep up there anyway. I also installed a vent up top that I could close to restrict the amount of air dumping into the cockpit. I normally keep the thermostat set at 68 degrees and when the sun is beating down on the boat the unit works pretty hard to keep it all cool!

Joe-We've been planning a trip to Cedar Point this summer, just not sure when we're going to do it. We'd like to get a dock for a night and stay down that way so as we get closer and finalize a day I'll let you know. I'll get my # to you, if you head up by the islands give me a call. We've been bouncing back & forth between Kelly's and Middle Bass this summer but still want to make the Cedar Point run & Leamington.
 
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