I have an ongoing saga since I purchased my boat (Amel 55#56). The ac didn't work during the survey so they fixed it which means recharged a leaking unit. It worked for a while. It has a refrigerant leak. I should have made them do a pressure test to discover the leak and negotiated a replacement during purchase.

So, a year later is. I have been struggling to find anyone to even work on climma. This seems to be because the US dealer has no spare inventory or units so everything seems to be drop shipped from Italy and that takes time so techs don't want to deal with customers with broken ac and no way to fix it within 4 to 6 weeks for shipping.

The problem is space. On my 55, the space for the chiller is about 14 inches x 17 inches x 20 inches high. Finding a chiller that fits in that space is hard. Dometic is 24 inches long rather than 17. The original climma cws 201 is 14 x 14 x 19 for comparison. There is 17 inches before the chiller water pump interferes. Finding a chiller that is that compact is difficult. Webasto make a 16k btu unit is the same size. Their 27k is 17 inches and they get bigger from there. Anything bigger than 16 means relocating the chiller pump and the generator coolant tank and the webasto heater pipes.

Right now, unfortunately, the cws 201 is no longer made but can be had with a 2 month delay. The climma dc35 or dc50 would fit comfortably but is double the price.

At this point, I'm about to order a dc35 or dc50 and have it installed at the end of Sept when it could arrive in Annapolis MD. Climma close their factory for August and it seems have zero inventory so they would have to make a dc35 or 50 for me to ship it to me, how they are still in business I do not understand.

Anyway, let's see 

Billy,

I am in Antibes France at the moment and have had my A/C serviced twice by the local Climma rep. Both issues were operator error.

On a lark, you might contact these guys and see if they have or know someone who has a unit in stock.

Phil is the owner at Penguin refrigeration in Antibes. He is a Brit so no language barrier. I don’t have their contact information with me, but google search for Penguin and Antibes will bring it right up.

Best of luck.

John W. Clanton
S/V Devereux
A55, No.65

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Billy, I‘m right where you are.  After 19 months on the hard, the AC wasn‘t working and after a lot of back and forth with the local technician in Vigo, they diagnosed that the refrigerant was missing.  But they filled it up but now it‘s gone again.  The boatyard told me afterwards that the technician did not add a leak fixing stuff - whatever that is -when he refilled the refrigerant because that would have required him to empty out the refrigerant completely which the technician didn‘t want to do (he was pressed for time as it was).  Have you tried adding „leak fixing compound“ and refilling?   Good luck!   

Joerg Esdorn
Amel 55 #53 Kincsem
Currently in La Rochelle

In my first recharge, it lasted 24 hours and was empty. My second recharge used a leakseal and now it lasted 7 days. I filled it again with another leak seal and it was working for a week when a tech said they would fix it and tried to use epoxy to seal the leak but ended up making the leak big enough that leak seal wouldn't fix it and now I need a replacement. I think the leak seal typically works if the refrigerant lasts at least a week before it stops working, otherwise it seems the hole is too big to be sealed. My leak seems to be by the reversing valve which cannot be braised because of plastic parts in the valve.

Hi Billy, be very careful adding a stop leak product to any refrigerant system.  When these items come in contact with atmospheric products they form temporary seals.  However, if you have air in your system many technicians believe stop leak products will react forming small clumps that circulate with the refrigerant contaminating and ultimately harming the working components of the system.  Under a warranty claim if Danfoss Compressors determines stop leak has been used in their system it voids their warranty, see attached statement from Danfoss.

 

I am familiar with both Penguin and Coastal Climate Control and I think both are very reputable companies.  However, I am not sure Penguin will ship Climma or Frigoboat products to the US since Coastal Climate is the authorized US distributor.

 

As far as your reversing valve is concerned these can be replaced in the field.  It is necessary to wrap the valve with wet rags, old-school, or apply an intumescent coating to the valve to protect the internal components during installation.  If you do this the system must be charged with nitrogen at very low pressure to prevent the formation of carbon on the internal surfaces of the components during heating.  Failure to do so could allow carbon formation which will ultimately slough off and circulate bits in the system creating problems.  I do not believe Climma manufactures their own reversing valve.  With a little research I believe you should be able to find an off-the-shelf replacement.

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Mark Mueller
Brass Ring  A54