Air conditioning: 32,000 BTUs - SMJ was right.

[Chotu]

I could not find the old thread. But I was thinking of something SMJ said.

I have 30,000 btus and it is working in 88 degrees too hot Florida right now.

I know it can still go up another 10°. But I still have more window panels I can put up for insulation also.

Yesterday when I was going through all of the red tide wearing a mask and things I decided to fire up the air conditioners and generators. For some reason, I had a couple problems where the generators stalled. That might have had something to do with the soft start electronic control units getting broken in and used to the load and generator. I read it takes them several tries to get it right.

So today, I fired these things up at about 11 AM. A little early. Because I wanted to test it out before it got hot today.

The bridge deck area is kind of cold. A little chilly actually. The hulls are probably perfect temperature. I was cooking half the day in the galley and it hasn’t really affected things. So I guess this will be working out.


SMJ was right about starting them a little early so that they keep the boat cool rather than trying to pull down an incredibly hot boat.

[Montanan]

Chotu, glad you are staying comfortably cool in hot Florida.

"The bridge deck area is kind of cold. A little chilly actually." Uhm,

It has warmed to become 0 degrees wind chill this afternoon here in The Last Best Place, headed towards -21 F wind chill this evening, with a fine breeze for sailing with the ice boat.

If we get to feeling a tad "warm actually", it is a simple matter to open a couple of windows to let the fresh breeze pass through.

All the best.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Montanan

Chotu, glad you are staying comfortably cool in hot Florida.

"The bridge deck area is kind of cold. A little chilly actually." Uhm,

It has warmed to become 0 degrees wind chill this afternoon here in The Last Best Place, headed towards -21 F wind chill this evening, with a fine breeze for sailing with the ice boat.

If we get to feeling a tad "warm actually", it is a simple matter to open a couple of windows to let the fresh breeze pass through.

All the best.

Sir, you are in need of a little bit of the Florida heat I think. Wow that is pretty cold.

Will you take the ice boat out? You have one of these? The thing with the blades and the sail?

[SV Confianza]

Lucky. We haven’t installed our AC yet. Got rid of the generator and going to run the AC off battery power.

Right now in Marathon Florida, I definitely wish I prioritized the AC install up higher on the list…

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by SV Confianza

Lucky. We haven’t installed our AC yet. Got rid of the generator and going to run the AC off battery power.

Right now in Marathon Florida, I definitely wish I prioritized the AC install up higher on the list…

Yeah. This little heat wave kind of came out of nowhere. I decided to do the Okeechobee waterway to cut off about 40 hours from my trip to the Carolinas.

That’s about the hottest and buggiest part of Florida. So I definitely was testing out these air conditioners.

How long do you think you’ll get from your batteries?

I don’t have nearly enough battery capacity to run this kind of air conditioning.

[SV Confianza]

I can only get maybe 5 hours of run time without using an engine to charge.

But it’s mostly going to be for cooling the salon down a tad for video calls when we don’t want to be visibly sweating.

We’re usually fine with air flow and lots of fans.

[Chotu]

Five hours is actually very impressive. Nice!

[Emmalina]

Do find it so amusing how that part of the world seem dependent on AC if you acclimatize you don't actually sweat

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Emmalina

Do find it so amusing how that part of the world seem dependent on AC if you acclimatize you don't actually sweat

It is interesting isn’t it?

I really wanted to move to Thailand. I really considered it. Spent all of August there. Not even the hottest time of year. I would never live there if you paid me. Too hot. Cannot handle the heat. It makes me stupid and irritable.

So I will be in more mild climates instead. Although I really wish I could live there. Everything else is perfect except the weather.

In my case though, there are a lot of other reasons for the air conditioning aside from just comfort.

First, after the heart attack the heat kind of affects me a little differently than it used to. It really knocks me for a loop. My body can’t keep up with it. I can do cold just fine, but I grew up in the cold so that’s probably why. Plus I am white and of northern European descent.

Second, I fired it up the other day because I was going through the worst red tide Florida has had in many years. Going right through it with the boat. For days on end. I had to wear n95 masks in order to breathe at all. The second I took my mask off I would be choking and coughing. There were some times when the boat traffic was low and I could breathe without the mask. But the second power boat went zooming by, it would kick up enough of the toxins that I would start coughing and choking again. Air conditioning is pretty handy for that also. It was nice to take the mask off for a while. I only used it when it was really hot though. By the time I was near Cayo Costa it was getting hot and the mask business was getting very annoying.

Shortly, I will be going through an area that will be around 90°, as humid as Thailand, full of bugs and just awful. Days of motoring through that. Oh yeah. And they burn the sugar crop when they are done in that area as well. So the smoke is so thick I can’t breathe either. Problems with allergies and asthma after the epoxy sensitivities.

So, air conditioning will be mission critical for that passage.

Then there comes the more mild climates. Up there, there is often particulate air pollution in a range that I can’t breathe without gasping for air. Again, that happens when it’s about 100° out, so it’s necessary for me to close up and run air conditioning in order to be able to survive that.

If it weren’t for air-conditioning I would not be able to use the boat. There are instances where it’s vital to my health.

It’s weird. Whenever I think about the possibility of selling this boat I realize that I could never buy a different one and use it. This is the only one I can use. It’s set up for all the odd requirements that I have.

[Chotu]

Also, I have never really been able to acclimate to temperatures of about 95 or higher with high humidity and strong sun. It doesn’t work for me. I don’t think my biology allows for that.

It feels awful.

I would rather be cold any day. Because you know what? I can always put on a sweater, hoodie or jacket. But I can’t cool down with clothing. Cooling vests excepted.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I could not find the old thread. But I was thinking of something SMJ said.



I have 30,000 btus and it is working in 88 degrees too hot Florida right now.



I know it can still go up another 10°. But I still have more window panels I can put up for insulation also.



Yesterday when I was going through all of the red tide wearing a mask and things I decided to fire up the air conditioners and generators. For some reason, I had a couple problems where the generators stalled. That might have had something to do with the soft start electronic control units getting broken in and used to the load and generator. I read it takes them several tries to get it right.



So today, I fired these things up at about 11 AM. A little early. Because I wanted to test it out before it got hot today.



The bridge deck area is kind of cold. A little chilly actually. The hulls are probably perfect temperature. I was cooking half the day in the galley and it hasn’t really affected things. So I guess this will be working out.





SMJ was right about starting them a little early so that they keep the boat cool rather than trying to pull down an incredibly hot boat.

What Ac’s did you go with? I can’t recall.

[smj]

Originally Posted by SV Confianza

Lucky. We haven’t installed our AC yet. Got rid of the generator and going to run the AC off battery power.

Right now in Marathon Florida, I definitely wish I prioritized the AC install up higher on the list…

You find it hot in Marathon?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by smj

What Ac’s did you go with? I can’t recall.

A pair of the biggest Coleman Machs.

No through hulls or seawater allowed in here by design.

But you had posted that the size of them was adequate. And that I should just turn them on early in the morning to make sure they get the boat cooled down. And that works perfectly.

[smj]

[QUOTE=Chotu;3746963][A pair of the biggest Coleman Machs.

No through hulls or seawater allowed in here by design.

But you had posted that the size of them was adequate. And that I should just turn them on early in the morning to make sure they get the boat cooled down. And that works perfectly.]

Glad they are working well. The RV rooftop Ac’s are the most efficient Ac’s that we’ve used.

[SV Confianza]

Originally Posted by Emmalina

Do find it so amusing how that part of the world seem dependent on AC if you acclimatize you don't actually sweat

It was even worse trying to get re-acclimated to the cold. We visited family this holiday season. Went to a light show with the nieces and nephews, and I could not stop shivering to death. It was only down to 20. When I lived up there, 20 just meant have the right clothes on and you were nice and toasty.

Had a horrible time because I couldnt deal with the cold.