Dear Steve and Linda, I have refitted our 60′ cutter with Glacier Bay refrigeration (DC Whisper Jet, 24v). We also added an 8000 BTU and 16000 BTU air-cond unit forwd and aft. This system has been very tempermental. We are on our third compressor. Leak testing is a nightmare. We have an excellent technician on this install and we have now borne the additional expenses of several faulty components having to be traced out and replaced, each time with the added cost of pulling a new vacuum and recharge with 134. We have followed the manual and Glacier Bay’s instructions to the letter. Among the problems we discovered is a great variation in the amp loads between the fridge, freezer and ac. We are about to give up. I heard from a Florida broker that you had tried this system and went another direction. Do you know someone with a wealth of knowledge about this system? Glacier Bay does not seem to have any solution. It was only after we installed our system that Glacier Bay came out with amp hour recommendations. Our system cannot even perform well with a constant AC source from dock power feeding the battery charger (we installed a new "smart" VMI 24v charger. Another issue is that the battery charger keeps a constant voltage of 27.6 to the Glacier Bay system, while the Balmar alternator runs willy nilly up and down the scale, depending on engine rpm. Would a voltage regulator help this situation? We boiled the electrolyte out of the fridge/frzer 24v bank while motorsailing. Sorry for this barrage of issues. I would appreciate any suggestion. Thanks, Wayne
Hi Wayne: Sounds like you have several different problems. Easy one first–if you are using too much water while motorsailing you are charging at too high a rate–reduce the voltage to an approriate level–which depends on battery type. For example, with a 12V system you would want to motorsail at around 14.4 volts. Re the Glacier Bay system, we are not great fans of the way they do business,and have had some QC problems with their gear in our boats–which is one of the reasons we went back to Grunert. However, once you get the system running it should be as efficient as any other system. Regards – Steve Dashew
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
