While we normally don’t do heating & air conditioning work, the owner of the Muriel Eileen requested that we install this system. He wanted the system integrated with the other vessel systems so we agreed to adapt the system design to match his requirements and tackled the job.
The pictures of this system were taken during its’ installation to illustrate key system features. The Cruisair tempered water (or circulated water) system uses circulated water as a heat transfer medium for what is essentially a reverse cycle water source heat pump.
<< Two modular control panels sense the temperature of water circulated through the boat in a closed loop.
They are both controlled by a remote "Tempered water logic control" which is located on the electrical system panel or by a laptop computer.
<< The two water tempering units use R-22 refrigerant in their plate coil heat exchangers. Heat is transferred from the water that is circulated through the boat air handling units into sea water through a coaxial raw water heat exchanger.
<< From the water tempering unit the water in the
closed loop goes to a circulation pump which is controlled by a pump relay. The closed loop uses heavy hose, 1 ” thick insulation and brass valves like the one shown at the right to direct water flow.
<< In this picture you can see a little more of the circulation pump,
expansion tank and associated hardware. At the right you can see the supply and return lines that make up the closed loop system that runs between the engine room and vessel compartments.
<< In this picture you can see the hose insulation and one of the fittings used to direct water flow to a compartment air handler.
In the cooling mode, compartment air handlers pickup heat in the water that is circulated in the closed loop system. This removes humidity and cools the compartment. The air handlers are sized to match compartment size and available mounting space. The following three pictures show air handler installations.