On the CA on my 43DCMY Hatt.I have family who does full time HAVC in our hometown and he has vollenterred to help me find and fix the leak.We serviced the unit before we moved the boat a couple of weeks ago and it worked well for the whole trip.You may have seen my post on the Hatt forum.Bren went to the boat this past Friday night and she was getting a low PS fault so I told her to shut it down.Are most of these leaks at the fittings or do you normally see leaks in the lines themselfs?Also on our boat the blower in the main salon is on full blast all the time and is really irratatingly loud.How can we get this unit to act like the other one so it will slow as the temp falls or rises?Thanks in advance Robby and Bren in Mobile

These units are 3 years old.The fan in the main salon is uncontrolable.I think the PO told me he had to have the unit made and it runs wide open all the time.

Steve Pooler said:

Robby~

Does it have the same control as the other system ??? (what control is it ?…It should say on the front plate)

Made or not…It will depend on the control, and what terminal the fan motor is connected to.

Does the fan shut off with the compressor when the cabin gets to the set temp ?

If not…Does it at least shut off when you press the power button on the control ?

 

Steve~ 

Yes the same controler SMX?The fan runs wide open reguardless of what the compressor does but it will shut off when you hit off.

Post edited 10:42 am – April 27, 2011 by Steve Pooler

Bill Root said:

Steve:

 

I'm the PO of Robby's boat. Let me provide a little background regarding the fan in the salon unit that only runs on high. This is a 1973 43' Hatteras DCMY. The air handler in the salon was the old style flat unit with two fans blowing through it. When I had the SMX units installed in the boat three years ago, my Cruiseair Tech determined that the old air handler was leaking badly and was beyond repair. We contacted Cruiseair to get a replacement unit and were told they no longer stocked that style unit, but they would custom make one for $900. Because the space the air handler fits in is too small for the new squirrel cage style units, I opted to have them make the custom one. When it arrived Cruiseair told my tech that they no longer had the multi-speed fans they put in the old units, so they installed single speed fans. When the tech hooked it up to the SMX unit, all we could get it to do was run full blast as long as heating or cooling was called for. The fan speed controls on the SMX had no effect either. The only way to stop the fan was to shut off the unit. The compressor goes on/off according to the temp in the room, but the fan keeps going as long as heat or cooling is called for. Hopefully this will give you a little more information to help provide a solution for Robby.

 

Bill…Thanks for joining & clarifying the situation in the above PM…I've taken the liberty of copying your PM to me & posting it here so that all can see it & my answer…That's what these forums are for right ?  

 

Anyway first a bit of history…The Air handler you are speaking of was a model EFL-16…They also made a EFL-12..Both had dual propeller type fans and were "Blow Thru" designs as opposed to Draw Thru…They also made single motor models called EFB-xx…The EFB's ranged in size from 4K to 16K…The basic design (the EFB's) were Cruisair's first air handlers starting around 1960…So yes it's a 50+ year old design that leaves a lot to be desired when compared to today's squirrel cage models that are Draw Thru types, ductable, much quieter, and move more air…

 

What also happened is the supply of Shaded Pole motors dried up & I guess all they could come up with that would fit & work was a Split Capacitor design…Split capacitor motors are not really made to slow down…At the time Cruisair designed the SMX family of controls they were only using Shaded Pole designs that can be slowed easily, so they did not run into, or address that issue…Plus they really wanted to get away from continuing to build 50 year old design air handler/s due to the drawbacks I have already mentioned with noise & air flow…Not to mention there is no good way to put a filter on the coil to protect from clogging it up with dust & reducing air flow further.

 

So to be honest Bill…I would not have replaced that air handler with the same type…Your guys either didn't see the options, or maybe you didn't want to go this route…But…I have replaced several of those EFL models with squirrel cage models…Yes even on your model boat, although it's been awhile…

 

As I remember…There is space for the newer type down lower behind the return air grill at deck level…You would mount the Air handler on the deck and then run duct up to a box that you would build or I could supply (made of plastic) and placed behind the existing discharge grill…It's really not that hard a retrofit & the improvement in performance & sound is beyond words…Plus you still have the original look…

 

The other option (although not as good) is to replace the Cruisair SMXII with a Marine Air control that has a setting for Split Capacitor motors…Since the Dometic buyout of Cruisair/Marine Air & the merge…And since Marine Air already had a control with this capability…They have not added it to the Cruisair controls…

 

The control route will be cheaper, but won't be as dramatic in overall comfort & performance.

 

Here is a link to the air handler I would use:

 http://www.dometic.com/enus/Am…..taid=89269

 

The second page of this PDF spec sheet has a picture of the basic idea of how you would do the retrofit.

http://www.dometic.com/be61c8e…..5f6c.fodoc

 

Steve~

So call me stubborn.Bill built a great boat out of a very good boat so I dont have a lot to fix and we are greatful to Bill and Kathy for that.Cook it down for us .As a mech I know that there is a fix that can be worked out on our limited budget.Steve!!!!