As a result of failure of my Cruisair a/c pump yesterday I was forced to get
involved in finding a replacement and as a result have come away from the
situation a little more knowledgeable.  Because I am sure many of us have
similar equipment I thought I would pass along what I learned.  This is a
little long so if you aren't interested delete now.

To begin with, I awoke yesterday morning to a loud screeching sound eminating
from the engine room.  Investigation quickly revealed that it was the a/c pump
making the noise.  Just great, living aboard in Key West where the last few
days temps have been hitting the 90's with humidities approaching 90%, which
as you know makes it feel like 100+, outside.  But, without choice I had to
shut down the a/c.  By 0900 the temps in the boat were already at 90+.

I got on the phone and called a couple of local marine a/c dealers attempting
to run down a replacement pump.  My unit has a Cruisair P1500BX, 1320 gph,
230v pump.  to make a long story short, after talking to two separate dealers,
who contacted their distributors and ultimately Cruiseair up in Dania, FL it
was learned that a replacement pump would cost $730.00 +  shipping, BUT even
Cruiseair did not have one in stock and they estimated 10 days to 2 weeks to
acquire one.  Unbelievable?

I had to do something, there is no way we could go 24 hours, let alone 2 weeks
without a/c here in Key West.
So, first thing I did was rip out the old pump.  Then, after a trip to home
depot to get some nipples and couplings, I plumbed my watermaker low pressure
pump into the a/c units and by running that pump I am able to have a/c at this
point.

Then after a long day of knocking myself out in the engine room getting the
old pump out and making the transition to the watermaker pump and spending a
couple of fruitless hours on the phone with a/c dealers I got on the internet
last night to see what I could come up with.

To start with I located a dealer (Hopkins Carter) up in Miami who had crossed
referenced a couple of replacement pumps (not mine) to a mfg called
Oberdorfer.  That sounded familiar?  So looking at my old pump I find
"Oberdorfer" cast into the housing of the main pump body.  This is
interesting, so I did a search under Oberdorfer and came up with a complete
on-lind catelog of all Oberdorfer pumps.  Searching thru their catelog I came
up with an identical pump to my Cruisair pump.  It was available in several
models, stainless shaft vs monel shaft, and different motors.  This morning I
phoned Oberdorfer and spoke with their tech people.  They of course
reccommended the monel shaft and told me the difference in the motors was that
the more expensive models have a "coast guard approved" motor, which is only
required in commercial applications.

Oberdorfer would not sell directly to me, but instead referred me to Depco,
which to be honest I had not thought of as a source for an a/c pump.

I called Depco and not only did they have the pump in stock and are shipping
to me via overnight, the price on the pump was only $532. vs the $730 from
Cruisair.  Turns out that Cruisair buys these pumps from Oberdorfer, slaps a
Cruisair sticker on them and then marks them up a couple of hundred bucks.

Jim Alexander
Serendipity

Jim, interesting info.  I sympathize with your weather there, all you need
is a few more hurricanes to complete the picture.  Although I have some
other (leak) issues with my a/c, I have not had problems with the water pump
yet.  I'm wondering, why most of the marine a/c manufacturers specify a 110
VAC or 230 VAC pump?  I mean, all my water pressure and bilge pumps are 12
volt DC, with tons of easily available and cheap replacements available
everywhere when/if I need to replace one.  Why do a/c manufacturers use AC
pumps.  I would be tempted to replace mine, when it fails with a DC pump at
maybe 1/3 your bargain price.  Any reason why I couldn't?

Thanks,

Bob Peterson
47' Lien Hwa CMY
"Lopaka Nane"
San Francisco

-----Original Message-----
From: trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces@lists.samurai.com
[mailto:trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces@lists.samurai.com] On Behalf Of
James Alexander
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 9:13 AM
To: T&T
Subject: T&T: Cruisair systems

As a result of failure of my Cruisair a/c pump yesterday I was forced to get
involved in finding a replacement and as a result have come away from the
situation a little more knowledgeable.  Because I am sure many of us have
similar equipment I thought I would pass along what I learned.  This is a
little long so if you aren't interested delete now.

To begin with, I awoke yesterday morning to a loud screeching sound
eminating from the engine room.  Investigation quickly revealed that it was
the a/c pump making the noise.  Just great, living aboard in Key West where
the last few days temps have been hitting the 90's with humidities
approaching 90%, which as you know makes it feel like 100+, outside.  But,
without choice I had to shut down the a/c.  By 0900 the temps in the boat
were already at 90+.

I got on the phone and called a couple of local marine a/c dealers
attempting to run down a replacement pump.  My unit has a Cruisair P1500BX,
1320 gph, 230v pump.  to make a long story short, after talking to two
separate dealers, who contacted their distributors and ultimately Cruiseair
up in Dania, FL it was learned that a replacement pump would cost $730.00 +
shipping, BUT even Cruiseair did not have one in stock and they estimated 10
days to 2 weeks to acquire one.  Unbelievable?

I had to do something, there is no way we could go 24 hours, let alone 2
weeks without a/c here in Key West.
So, first thing I did was rip out the old pump.  Then, after a trip to home
depot to get some nipples and couplings, I plumbed my watermaker low
pressure pump into the a/c units and by running that pump I am able to have
a/c at this point.

Then after a long day of knocking myself out in the engine room getting the
old pump out and making the transition to the watermaker pump and spending a
couple of fruitless hours on the phone with a/c dealers I got on the
internet last night to see what I could come up with.

To start with I located a dealer (Hopkins Carter) up in Miami who had
crossed referenced a couple of replacement pumps (not mine) to a mfg called
Oberdorfer.  That sounded familiar?  So looking at my old pump I find
"Oberdorfer" cast into the housing of the main pump body.  This is
interesting, so I did a search under Oberdorfer and came up with a complete
on-lind catelog of all Oberdorfer pumps.  Searching thru their catelog I
came up with an identical pump to my Cruisair pump.  It was available in
several models, stainless shaft vs monel shaft, and different motors.  This
morning I phoned Oberdorfer and spoke with their tech people.  They of
course reccommended the monel shaft and told me the difference in the motors
was that the more expensive models have a "coast guard approved" motor,
which is only required in commercial applications.

Oberdorfer would not sell directly to me, but instead referred me to Depco,
which to be honest I had not thought of as a source for an a/c pump.

I called Depco and not only did they have the pump in stock and are shipping
to me via overnight, the price on the pump was only $532. vs the $730 from
Cruisair.  Turns out that Cruisair buys these pumps from Oberdorfer, slaps a
Cruisair sticker on them and then marks them up a couple of hundred bucks.

Jim Alexander
Serendipity

Jim, I think you'll be very happy with your Oberdorfer pump. We have two,
one AC, one DC, that drive our fuel polishing system at different times.
They're also quiet.

Mike O'Reilly
Ladyhawke - Sunnfjord 54
Portland, OR