Vessel

Optional questions are not required for the BTU load calculation for your boats AC, but help us build a picture of the boat.  Dark hulls or excessive glazing will require more cooling power than white hulls or boats with minimal glazing and how the boat is used may also influence the level or standard of cooling we recommend

In our experience 12V air conditioning units are not very effective.  It requires a lot of power to produce cool air and you need a powerful blower to project the cold dense air around the cabin. This is best achieved using AC 230V or 115V power for both the compressor and the blower.

It is possible to run smaller units through an inverter as long as it is correctly sized and is a Pure sine wave inverter.

Standard AC power in the UK and Europe is 230V 50Htz, in the USA they use 110V 60Htz and in the Caribbean they use 230V 60Htz.  Hertz is the frequency of the electricity, particularly important when running electrical motors including compressors.  If a 50Htz compressor is run at 60Htz it will run too fast for the motor and fail.  However, it is possible to run a 60Htz machine at 50Htz, although it means the machine will run slower with approximately an 18% drop in efficiency when running at 50Htz.

So, if you want to run your air conditioning from sure power in the Caribbean or certain parts of the US where they have 230V 60Htz power you need to specify a 230V 60Htz option.  If in doubt go with the power the boat is set up for – UK and European boats will be 230V 50Htz.

230V 50Htz	Europe, Asia, Australasia
230V 60Htz	Caribbean
115V 60Htz	USA, Mexico