T&T: Fw: Buy/Avoid Advice re: AirCo

[Larry N. Brown]

> Geoff,
>
> Flagship marine uses mostly off-the-shelf components to build their
> ACs I hear.
>
> I understand that their relays may be hard to find. I understand they
> use Omron relays and that they are cheaper at Mouser than Flagship.
>
> No affiliation, no interest, yada yada yada..
>
> Lee
>

Listees:

I have 4 16.5K Flagship Marine self-contained air-conditioning units aboard 
Cigano. When we were forced to move aboard the boat just after Katrina, I 
already had the units in boxes and I just laid them around the boat with 
garden hoses to feed them raw water. No vents, no manifolds, no nothing. 
They just blew blessedly cold air and kept us alive through the dead fish 
smell and unbelievably hot days and nights. They never missed a beat.

Later, one had a compressor fail. Without going into painful detail, it was 
my fault. Cost me $80 to ship it to Stewart. Two weeks later, it was back 
with a new compressor, no charge, no shipping. According to the warrantee, 
the compressor was covered but not the labor. I'm pleased with them.

I originally, in my naivete, bought a  Flagship "cruising kit". Save your 
money. Get the Omron relays from Mouser. 653-G7L-1A-AC24
QC SPST-NO 24VAC . I bought 3 for $39 last year including shipping. Buy a 24 
VAC bell transformer at Lowes. I desired commonality among the controls for 
the 4 units so I bought their digital controls for $64 per to have spares. 
In future, yep, I'll buy Lowes for around 30 bucks. Plain old household 
units. Ditto start/run capacitors. Nothing else in'em. Oh, yes, you can use 
the same Omron relays to make your raw water pump controls.

Caveat. These are not reverse-cycle units. These are straight 
air-conditioners with a heating coil extra for around $150. Sales pitch is 
that for 1/2 half a year, in temperate climes, you save run-time on the 
compressor. Maybe. Maybe not. The heat isn't as warm as one might expect 
and, interestingly enough, the element pulls about the same current as the 
compressor and raw water pump combined, but it does warm well enough.

If there exists enough interest, I can provide installation recommendations 
based upon hard-won experience. I'm not an AC man and I made more than my 
share of novice mistakes so I can speak with some humble authority.

Regards,

Larry and Teri
M/V Cigano, 47' Prairie Sundeck
Lying: Covington, LA but not for much longer