Inspecting an Existing Marine Air Conditioning Installation
The short answer
Check four things: a dedicated through-hull rather than a tee into the engine intake, doubled marine-grade hose clamps below the waterline, a condensate drain going to a sump rather than the bilge, and a dedicated 240 V circuit with an RCD. Those four separate a proper job from a cheap one.
Inspecting an Existing Boat AC Installation — Requirements and Limitations
All four are invisible on the day a unit is commissioned and all four decide whether the system is still good in five years. They are also exactly what disappears from a cheap quote, which is why they are worth checking on a boat somebody else had fitted.
None of this requires tools or expertise — it requires a torch and twenty minutes.
This is a visual installation review rather than a performance test. Record inaccessible components, undocumented changes and unclear drain routes without dismantling equipment. A qualified professional must determine compliance and whether the observed arrangement needs correction.
Steps for Inspecting an Existing Boat AC Installation
- Trace the seawater intake: it should be its own skin fitting, not a tee off the engine's.
- Check every hose clamp below the waterline — doubled, marine grade, not rusted.
- Follow the condensate drain: a sump or shower drain, not the bilge.
- Find the electrical supply: a dedicated circuit with an RCD, not a spur off something else.
- Check the unit is on anti-vibration mounts and they have not perished.
- Check the strainer is somewhere a person would actually open monthly.
Related Sizing, Installation and Service Guides
Each of these answers a different part of the same problem.
- the three that go missingwhy these four are the ones to check
- the survey checklistthe wider version of this
- a bilge drainwhat it leads to, and the fix
- bad clamps below the waterlinethe fault they cause