We're designing a chiller airco system for our yacht and I'd like some user feedback from folks in the field.

For instance, what are the top 3 complaints from guest regarding the airco?

Similarly, what are the top 3 complaints of those who have to maintain them and could some of those complaints be avoided by better design/installation.

For instance, we had originally planned Webasto airhandlers; the fan below in a closed, the air - via a duct, blow into the stateroom near the cealing.
Now we decided to use fancoils above the suspended ceiling. Easier to maintain.

Has getting rid of condens water from air handlers/fancoils been a problem with you?

Any comment, suggestions is really welcome.

Thanks.

Thorwald Westmaas

[AMG]

The only AC problem I have had in a yacht, was the hose for the sea water cooling to the plant. It was a typical transparent plastic 2 inch with mesh and perhaps it was bent a little too sharp. Anyway, since the AC is running constantly some periods, we left the yacht for lunch and came back to meet the bilge alarm screaming. You can not imagine how much water the broken hose sprayed (pumped) into the engine room in a short time...

So I would recommend to ask for a high quality, perhaps hydraulic type hose!

[The Reverend]

Air conditioning is in my opinion one of the most important items when dealing with guests they may not know (or care) if a generator or engine is not functioning but if the AC drops off….
In my experience the 3 most complained about things are
1) Too hot /too cold
2) Draughts
3) Noise

1) Is a difficult one as everyone has their personal preferences plus some times you may feel hot/cold depending on your circumstances someone who has been swimming will obviously feel cold if they walk into a cool room. The most important factor to overcome this is to have the ability to change the temperature in a given living space rapidly.

2) Can be overcome by good design.

3) There are 3 main sources noise Air handlers or Recirc fans, air flow through ducts and local air flow in/out of duct or nozzles. Again careful design can overcome this and on the latest generation of yachts this has been almost eliminated.

From the engineers point of view my most frequent complaints are:-

1) Lack of control / the inability to react to hot/cold complaints and the inability to remotely monitor all spaces.

2) Lack of capacity. The design of a system often fails to take in to account the realistic working conditions of a yacht -where guests want to leave doors open when it is 40Deg C out side but still want 21 deg in the saloon.

3) Lack of access to ACU’s or RCU ’s for maintenance or repairs.

4) Condensate drains/trays undersize pipes and drains getting blocked or simply unable to cope when the yacht takes a roll.

5) Lack of consideration for maintenance for the compressor plant.