Engine Room Air Conditioning?

Maybe ok with a generator running but indeed not with the mains. Although looking at the specs 16k btu is probably useless. Also very surprised Norhavn still uses splits and not chillers on a 64.

on boats where the ER opens to the transom, high speed blowers will make it comfortable to work in even after a run. Pulls cool air in and pushes heat out the door.

I've managed/maintained a few yachts with engine room air conditioning. It does nothing with the machinery running. But it's very good for dropping engine room temperature 8-10F while the vessel is sitting at the dock, which makes a huge difference here in Florida when you're spending a few days in there. Even better if you can block the engine room vents while it's running.

Having used both on boats I run, when i started refitting my own (53 Hatt) going with chillers was a no brainer. I m so glad I did.

I run 120k BTU of chiller driving nearly 180k BTU of air handlers. Given that I have 9 zones, the human impacts as well as solar means that all zones don’t need full support of the chillers. In fact, my first 60k BTU unit sometimes short cycles due to its ability to drop chiller temps very quickly.

I do think that if I was to make a change it would be to introduce a 24k BTU unit as a sacrificial first phase of chiller to dramatically cut the load on the main two units.

Same. It was such a good decision.

I installed a 24k BTU air handler in the ER. I only use it during maintenance at the dock, and I’m glad it’s there. I also replaced all incandescent lighting with LED to remove those sources of heat.

Also introduced four inline blowers, two for suction and two for exhaust. Before I engage the AC I can push a lot of heat out of the room fairly quickly, and I can keep it cooler when on the genny on the hook.

So worth it. Takes the humidity out of the room also.

that s one benefit of a chiller system. You can have less chiller capacity than Air handlers. Probably why in the nordhavn comparison the splits has more condensing capacity...

both on my 53 and on the Lazzara 84 I run, from novermber thru April or May, I only run one chiller. Usually same at night in summer. More flexibility.

No, stick with what you have. Running water hoses and everything else to make a chiller work in your size boat will be prohibitively expensive.

I agree, going with a chiller is a must if we ever get healthy enough to buy another boat.

Chillers are good but certainly not problem free. I’ve replaced 5 on two boats in last 6 months.

On the big ships we had air conditioned control rooms within the engine room, but
not on my first ship in 1974: 12,000 HP 2-stroke diesel in the tropics and we were all sweating but stayed skinny because we worked in a sauna.
Yours truly cleaning a boiler, dirty work and the Chief gave us a case of beer and half a day off after the job was done, no air condition.

I depends on the layout of the boat and how much room and access you have to run the insulated hoses

in my case it was easy. The master is right behind the ER where the chillers are and i installed the AH in a closet against the ER bulkhead. The salon AHs are right above the ER again minimal hose run. Running hoses forward was easy going thru the generator room.

but yes on most boats it will be difficult.

Yes but the diameter of the hoses is larger

I haven't seen the hoses insulated. The insulation is usually added to the outside and to be correct in Florida like ambient temperatures and for the insulation to last, you have to go with 3/4" thick insulation over the hoses, and it makes each hose 2" or so in diameter, so considerably different as far as running the hoses where the copper ones were. It's a big project to convert a boat that small and much more expensive than just replacing whats there. Not to mentioned I've been waiting between 6-8 weeks for 2 new, 5 ton chillers from Dometic on a 2011 boat whose chillers have failed beyond fixing.