T&T: AC types, pros and cons ?

[bob england]

All of this talk about ac systems has me thinking about how I want to setup 
the heating and cooling on my boat. It's at the point now that I could go 
about any direction, self contained, split, one large compressor, keel 
cooled, serving several air handlers or my (supposed) favorite, a chiller 
system. I like the idea of several smaller units because a single point 
failure wouldn't  mean a complete lack of AC, and the fact that I have 2, 
16,500 btu units, 1 6000 btu unit and 2 5000 btu units sitting in my shop 
that are fairly new. I like the idea of the split units because I could put 
the compressors in the machinery space, behind the aft engine bulkhead, in 
sound attenuated boxes. Water in and out would be very easy to do, and have 
short runs (I also have a few of these units) I like the single 
compressor/keel cooled unit for obvious reasons, one of which is that it can 
be built with off the shelf AC stuff, fixed anywhere that has a heat and air 
shop and home type hermetic compressors are cheap and easy to get.  Each air 
handler could have its own thermostat and control system, just like the 
chiller setups, except without a circulating pump. Speaking of which, 
chillers have some interesting features also. I could have one self 
contained chiller unit that keeps a glycol mixture at a preset temp and a 
small medium pressure pump that moves that cold fluid to any air handler 
that needs it. Insulated plastic tubing is easy to install and works good, 
rubber hose is also good. These are some of the pros, how about some cons of 
these systems. Cost is not a determing factor, they're all expensive. Notice 
I did not include window units.

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