Helia 44: Cost to put in A/C and heating

[Claudine]

Has anyone installed Air conditioning/Heating in your FP and if so, approximately how much would it cost? It has 220 volt power.
Thanks

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by Claudine

Has anyone installed Air conditioning/Heating in your FP and if so, approximately how much would it cost? It has 220 volt power.
Thanks

AC/heating only when you are on Shorepower?
If not how much LI capacity, how much WP of solar do you have? How big are inverters?
AC is the biggest power honk...
Alternative you can use a diesel heater (95% identical webasto copies are offered on eBay for 120-150bucks) for heating and a 220V Dyson blade less fan for cooling (mostly for the salon) combined with 3-4 USB charged fans with a 18650 Li battery (charge during day, run during night) for cabins. For the owner cabin I have a 220V 3500BTU unit, that runs for 2 hours to cool the cabin down before going to sleep if it's extrem. But I normally sleep on deck when it's that hot.
That's the cheapo solution. AC is not only AC, it's power needs are very high and need invest in lithium and solar.

[Claudine]

Hi there, for the immediate future, we’re thinking about whether we will make it through winter in southern turkey without heat… or at least not much of it. I imagine we won’t need either during spring and summer sailing around the med. Once we sail back to the US and sail the Caribbean, I’m concerned about not having good AC though. We will be adding solar at some point during the next year.

[CaptainRivet]

Hi, boat AC needs a big generator (and it's maintenance+gas prices) or a lot of solar+big lithium bank so you can run it outside a marina/Shorepower which you are doing in Caribbean definitely and Helia44 has huge internal volume and needs big AC to work properly .
That alone (gen or solar+lithium) is a 15-20000Euro price tag if you don't have it already.
Still need that for watercooled 12V effective AC but you need the big models due to interieur volume. Boat is not your US home where you can run your AC 24/7, you need to make compromises. With today clima change you might get 0 degrees or close so a separat heating solution makes sense. Heater is cheap but installing the ducting/also for AC is pita and expensive if you don't do it yourself.

[Claudine]

Hi, thanks for the info. My husband is very good at repairs and building things, so he will be doing all the work if he can. I think we will just live on it for a few months, maybe a year, before we decide.

[jordanbigel]

Heat is relatively inexpensive and fairly straightforward to install and runs on DC power without an inverter. We live in Southern California and in the winter run our heater (an Eberspacher D8LC) every morning to take the chill out of the air (45-50F/7-10C morning temps are normal in winter here). I think winter lows in Turkey are similar.

The hardest part is running the ducting. Ours uses 4" ducting which had to be run the length of one side of the boat behind joinery and under settees, etc., and then you have to have vent outlets in each section. Takes up some space.

[AndyinAbudhabi]

A friend recently installed a chilled water system on his Lagoon 450. Quite a bit involved with the ducting. He has lithium and solar and can run a single cabin overnight on battery. Also has a generator if full boat cooling is required.

[sailingchiro]

Rigid HVAC company has built a 12 volt dc small air conditioner for about 100 square feet (cabin sized) for around $800. I am building my own 12 volt dc air conditioner for one cabin. So far, I have the evaporator, fans, compressor, and condensor. It uses 134a. Still need control stuff. On the bench it works pretty well and uses about 18 amps at 12 volts depending upon blower speeds and heat of cabin and air around condensor. I should have about $400 in mine.

The mini split systems for semi trucks is the model I am using. I will be pumping my hot air from my system out into the cockpit. The new 12 v dc HBP compressors are a game changer. It will take some time for someone to bring to the marine industry but expect to pay alot for it. I just replaced my Webasto system for around $1400.

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by sailingchiro

Rigid HVAC company has built a 12 volt dc small air conditioner for about 100 square feet (cabin sized) for around $800. I am building my own 12 volt dc air conditioner for one cabin. So far, I have the evaporator, fans, compressor, and condensor. It uses 134a. Still need control stuff. On the bench it works pretty well and uses about 18 amps at 12 volts depending upon blower speeds and heat of cabin and air around condensor. I should have about $400 in mine.

The mini split systems for semi trucks is the model I am using. I will be pumping my hot air from my system out into the cockpit. The new 12 v dc HBP compressors are a game changer. It will take some time for someone to bring to the marine industry but expect to pay alot for it. I just replaced my Webasto system for around $1400.

1400 means it's a tiny webasto one... 44 owners Version, the owner hull is for sure 35m2 with 2m room heights you are at 70m3, that's really a lot air to cool down.