I first became aware of Citimarine when the old 16,000 BTU Dometic air conditioner on my 1998 Catalina 380 failed during the pandemic. Air conditioning here in south Florida is necessity, not a luxury. Dometic did not have any replacements available anywhere due to supply chain issues. However, I found Citimarine by searching for marine air conditioners on the web. Citimarine sells drop-in replacements for Dometic self-contained units at a competitive price, and had them in stock for $1,900 plus tax. I purchased one for $1,900 plus tax right away and had my own technician install it for $1,030 in labor.
The unit failed during the warranty period while on a cruise in the Florida Keys. It would turn on and run but not blow cold air. I suspected it was the compressor. I contacted customer service using the chat feature on their web site. Customer service can also be reached by telephone, WhatsApp, and e-mail. Citimarine had a local technician in the Keys come right away, and had a part (a run capacitor) shipped overnight to attempt a repair. The repair did not work, so Citimarine sent me a complete replacement air conditioner unit overnight. Their technician installed the replacement unit the next day completely free of charge, and the unit has worked flawlessly since then. I was very impressed.
Powering AC in Hot Waters
We mostly run the air conditioner on 30 A shore power when we are at a marina. We have also installed a Micro-Air EasyStart™ soft starter that enables us to run the air conditioner from our Honda EU2200i portable generator for when we are at anchor or on a mooring ball. The soft starter model we bought comes with Bluetooth™ so we can monitor its performance with an app on our smartphones, whether we are on shore power or the generator. I can tell that the air conditioner is pulling about 10 amps when running normally. After monitoring the current draw for a period of weeks, I noticed that when the current draw is over 12 amps, the air conditioner sea strainer is getting clogged and needs to be cleared.
According to the air conditioner operator’s manual, the unit is designed to work when the seawater temperature is less than 90 F. However, the water temperature here in south Florida sometimes exceeds this threshold in the summer. The air conditioner still works, but the air is not as cold.
Realistic AC Performance Expectations
In general, air conditioners that work as reverse cycle heat pumps, such as Dometic and Citimarine, are said to be effective to reduce the cabin air temperature by 15 F. That means, if the air temperature outside is 95 F, the coolest the air inside the cabin will get is 80 F. We found this to be the case in real world application, and 80° F is livable. A side benefit is that running the air conditioner also makes the air inside the cabin pleasantly dry during the hot summer months. Moisture condenses on the evaporator cooling coils and is taken out of the air stream. The condensate is then directed to the bilge where it is automatically pumped overboard.
Bottom Line
Based in Miami, Citimarine sells their own house brand of air conditioners, as well as Webasto, Mermaid and others. They sell a variety of related products, including AC controllers/thermostats and Micro-Air EasyStart™ soft start units. Their customer service is very responsive, very knowledgeable, and very respectful. Their answers are understandable to the layman. They will answer detailed technical questions about any of the products they sell, and more.
