www.iFourWinns.com

We spent a few hours on our new Vista while slipped. The A/C (heat pump) setup didn't seem to do terribly well. The water temps were around 75-80F.

There is one vent in the mid-berth and one above the galley, and either that seemed inadequate or it wasn't blowing cold enough. The head was miserable, there was no ventilation at all.

Does the performance of this system increase when underway or is this an average experience? Don't get me wrong, it cooled the cabin MUCH better than with nothing at all, and that mid-berth with the curtain closed was nice, but I was expecting more.

And no vents in the head?

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SOLD! 2006 30th Anniversary Vista 278
"Conch'd Out!"

http://vista278.com

Without a genny you will not be able to use the ac while under way. How many btu's is the factory unit? I have a 9000 carry on that makes the whole cabin very cold.

Mine came from the factory with a 5,000 BTU and only 1 vent in the cabin step. After 1 trip south we pulled it out and put in a 10,000 btu unit and 2 more vents 1 in the aft and 1 up in the V berth. FW gave me no help but Cruiseair was very helpful. This setup has worked very well.

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Inboard, outboard, onboard never bored
KUT 'N LOOSE
'99 258 VISTA

We have a generator and ours is a 5K BTU unit.

Would you mind telling me a little more about how you went about upgrading? Did you do it yourself? What did it cost you? What did you do with the old unit?

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SOLD! 2006 30th Anniversary Vista 278
"Conch'd Out!"

http://vista278.com

As I said FW did not help. There engineers said 5,000 btu was enough for that boat. I called Cruiseair and they agreed to exchange it for a 10,000 btu unit for the price difference. They even paid the shipping both ways. The size of the units were about the same so the switch was easy. Adding the vents took some work. We ran flexible ducts to the V berth and aft. I had a friend who had installed several AC units and was familar wirh my boat. He had a '99 278 and he upgraded the AC as soon as he got it home. I wish I would have added heat at the same time but I was concerned with cooling it down at the time. Hope this helps.

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Inboard, outboard, onboard never bored
KUT 'N LOOSE
'99 258 VISTA

They took it back on trade then? How old was the unit?

_________________
SOLD! 2006 30th Anniversary Vista 278
"Conch'd Out!"

http://vista278.com

It was almost new , about a month of use. I just paid the difference between the 5 and the 10,000btu unit. Very nice people to work with. I can't remember to guys name who helped me out but that ws 8 years ago.

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Inboard, outboard, onboard never bored
KUT 'N LOOSE
'99 258 VISTA

We had a 5000 BTU unit in our 248 and it was just adequate on hot days. The 278 being a bit larger cabin-wise, I could see it not working very well, if anything, running all the time.

If you decide to make the change please take some pics of the change out.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

ShanMan - My wife and I bought the same boat this spring. Would love to stay in touch with you. We might be able to help each ohter out. Hope you are enjoying it!

How is that? We love the boat. Our first overnight outing is planned this weekend.

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SOLD! 2006 30th Anniversary Vista 278
"Conch'd Out!"

http://vista278.com

This weekend confirmed my initial suspicions that 5K BTU is not enough for the 278. We had the thing running on high set to 55 degrees and it just didn't cool the cabin adequately.

I've contacted Cruiseair via email and I'm awaiting a reply. I'll probably wind up calling them.

_________________
SOLD! 2006 30th Anniversary Vista 278
"Conch'd Out!"

http://vista278.com

Shan...I'd pass that info on to FW. They may want to resize the A/C unit in future builds. I'm going to guess therre are A/C performance issues between North and South of the Mason/Dixon line

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

You would think 5K BTU/Hr would be enough, that's half a ton of AC. I only have a 2.5 Ton unit in my house (house is 30x 48 ranch) and the house gets COLD.. But I am north of that Mason Dixon line

I haven't yet had a chance to try my AC out for more than a few minutes. Next time out on the water I am firing up the genny and going to let the AC blast. I suspect up here in the North a 5K BTU unit is going to make the cabin a meat locker, but down south double the capacity is probably needed.

Here is the response I got directly from Dometic:





I'm telling you... 95 degress with 90% humidity, this system isn't going to cut it. Particularly when it uses lake water to "extract cold", the lake temps are in high 80's in the summer.

_________________
SOLD! 2006 30th Anniversary Vista 278
"Conch'd Out!"

http://vista278.com

Shan,

It does not use lake water to extract cold. It's a compressor filled with freon just like any other AC system. I beleive where you are getting confused is on the Reverse Cycle (heat) it's not only an Air Conditioner but it is also a Heat Pump. And as we all know, Heat Pumps can't pump heat when the air is at the freezeing point.

The Reverse Cycle Heat will lose about 50% of it's thunder when the water temp drops to 50 degrees. To be honest, how many of us will be out in those conditions?

On the AC side of things, the raw water is used to cool the heat exchanger because the AC unit can't get airflow like your Central Air or Window Units can, and the heat must be exchanged.

Now, if the water temperature is hot, I can see that having an effect because it can't rid the system of the heat so that it can generate cold.