Carver Owners Forum

Have to replace the original 16,000 BTU unit on the bridge of our 455. The A/C guy I have used keeps telling me the Dometic replacement is $3,800, but I can find it on the internet for $1,800 and change. I told him that, but he insists that is not Dometic, but a Chinese knockoff. I keep looking at the internet, on Yachtaid.com, and they say it's Dometic! Anyone have experience with this? Also, I'm pretty handy mechanically - can I replace this myself? Thanks! - JB

If you can get a drop in Dometic for $1800 then I would go for it and do the work myself. Another option is I have used a Chinese brand on several applications and my experience is MarinAire makes on heck of a solid product for a great price. I have 3 of them in Midnight Sun in various sizes. Had one on my previous boat and another on the one before that. They have been bullet proof and quiet as a mouse. They use Toshiba compressors which are arguably the best there is and have diagnostic including pressure gauged built in/ may want to look at one of these/ Here is a link to the 16,000 but unit. https://www.marinaire.com/Marine-air-co ... ba16k2.htm

Sloop - 2 things. 1. that $10K you spent on the various repairs compares well with the $10K I have seen some sailors spend on Kevlar sails, so you're in good shape. 2. That link that Hans sent you along with his evaluation is rock solid. Several others over the past year have installed/replaced their units with that Marineaire, and their comments after installation were very, very positive. Your A/C guy might be looking to make a little profit, which he deserves as a business. As long as the access to the unit allows a simple extraction and installation, you should be able to do it yourself. Just compare specs regarding venting and water hoses to make sure your flow does not get obstructed. Finally, why are you replacing the existing unit? There may be an easy fix depending on what is wrong. I thought mine was shot, and it turned out to be obstructed air flow around the unit. er

Even west marine has the dometic 16k unit for $2200. You tech of course deserves and needs a mark up, to cover costs, warranty repairs and make a profit, but that seems a bit much.

I replaced mine with Marinaire, love it. Much cheaper and customer service is great.
https://www.marinaire.com/Marine-air-co ... ba16k2.htm

Thank you everybody for your thoughtful responses. I will definitely check out MarinAire, in spite of my guy putting them down - everyone is entitled to their opinion, but you all seem to like them. I'm not positive the bridge unit is completely bad, although it comes on and the compressor hums for a few seconds, then it shuts off, so I have a feeling the compressor is locked up or otherwise shot. And thanks for making me feel a bit better about my servicing expenditure. I had negotiated a $10,000 allowance when I bought the boat based upon my expert engine survey during the sea trial, so man, that was the best $1000 I ever spent, because he was right on. A lot of people might think just a regular survey is sufficient, and maybe for a newer boat they're right, but I found both my surveyors to be extremely helpful in sorting through the various components. Thanks again, everyone!

If the compressor hums for a few seconds then trips on thermal overload, you have just have a bad start capacitor.

That would be a $10.00 repair.

tomschauer wrote:Source of the post That would be a $10.00 repair.

That would be great. The cheapest repair I have had on my 3007 so far was around $5.

Or, it may just be a quick shutdown because something minor is failing. I had the same thing happening, and it was just that the space around the unit was occupied by a bag of misc cleaning rags. Unit needs lots of air flow around it. There should be an error code displaying on your control unit, as soon as it shuts down. Your manual will have the error codes defined. Maybe you just need to to a factory specs reset. Those units are tough as nails, so maybe it is just as easy/minor fix. er