Air Conditioning Systems

I was Googling options for staying overnight on a boat and ended up looking into how you’d keep the cabin cool. Naturally, the HVAC side of things distracted me from actually finding somewhere to stay.

I came across a company called Blue-Airco, which makes marine air conditioners that run directly from 12, 24 or 48 V batteries. They use variable-speed compressors, so the cooling output can adjust to suit the load. With the right battery setup, you can run the air conditioning without having the generator going at the same time.

That caught my attention. Being anchored somewhere nice sounds great, but trying to sleep in a hot cabin or listening to a generator all night would take a bit away from it.

Obviously, the battery capacity is the big question. Cooling one bedroom overnight is different from cooling the whole boat, and you still need enough energy left for…

I see this fault constantly on wall-mounted split systems, especially in hot and humid climates.

The indoor unit is cooling, but after a while water starts dripping from the front of the aircon, running down the wall, or leaking from one side of the unit.

What are the most common causes?

1. Blocked condensate drain

This is probably the first thing to check.

As the evaporator cools the room air, moisture condenses on the coil and runs into the drain tray.