Loud heater/air condition fan - brand new Rinker

BJT

I am a new Rinker owner. We just put our brand new 2018 Rinker 270 EX in the water. We stayed over our first night and needed to put the heater on.

What a disappointment !!! It was so loud we could not sleep. It was a toss up between being cold and putting up with the cool temperature. We opted to turn the heater off! There didn't seem to be variations in the fan speeds either.

Our dealer has spoken to a Rinker rep and was told that the fans that are installed in the Rinker are noisier than normal!! Why would Rinker accepted this sub standard fan from the manufacturer to install in their boats?  It is no better than the cheapest bathroom fan from 20 years ago! Of course we would not have known this when we bought the boat.

I bought a Rinker because of it's reputation for quality. When it comes to the heater/air conditioner unit, they really dropped the ball if this noisy fan is standard.

I would appreciate any comments and/or advice. Thanks.

Disappointed Rinker owner

raybo3

I have a 2002 342 and my A/C/Heat is not loud at all. If I were you I would contact Rinker directly and ask them. IMO that should not be loud enough to keep you up. Good luck and keep us posted. Welcome to the forum........

Stodge

First off, welcome aboard.

Like all boat makers, Rinker buys things like engines, water heaters and A/C units from common vendors.  Used to be that they put MarineAir A/C units in their boats.  Not sure what they use now.  But odds are it's the same brand that's used by several boat makers.  There isn't normally a "fan" separate from the A/C.  The unit should be all one "box"

I don't have it handy, but I'm sure someone here can get you an email contact for folks at Rinker.  It would be worth sharing this with them. 

The dealer should come look at the unit and make sure there was not something mis-installed, or packing material that they forgot to remove.  It could be as simple as something too close to the A/C unit that was supposed to be moved as part of prep.

I have an older (2002) Rinker with the original A/C.  It's under the V-berth where we sleep.  It makes noise but it's not obnoxious.  I could put some sound deadning material on the lid and the cavity it's in but so far it hasn't bothered me enough to take action.

Best of luck.  Keep us posted.

BJT

Thanks for your reply. I am hoping something has been missed as you suggested in the install.  The fan is under the stairs into cabin and  aft cabin is behind it.  We are getting a rep to come to the boat to look at it. My concern is that when our Dealer contacted Rinker about this, a rep commented that the fans are nosier than normal. It's subjective of course but I do know this loud fan in our boat cannot be considered normal! Surely this would not be acceptable to Rinker. Also there did not seem to be variable speeds so we couldn't put it on the lower speed to reduce the sound.

Stodge

The control on my A/C has a fan button.  I can push it and it cycles through 6 (if memory serves) speeds.   But I don't know if that affects the speed it runs at when heating or cooling.  There are a number of programming setting that can be changed from the control.  

Good to hear the dealer is coming out, but I'd still reach out to Rinker and let them know about your disappointment.  If nothing else it may help things along if there has to be some work done to correct the problem.

Cableguy Greg

I find it hard to believe that the Rinker dealer rep would say that Rinker installs noisy fans. If he did state that, and he worked for me, then he would be looking for another job. Nothing like bashing the company that you work for.

Like others stated, the fan is part of the AC/heat unit. It is an all in one unit. They are made by Dometic and used on boats around the world. You could have a defective unit, or something got bent and the squirrel cage is rubbing the outside of the unit causing the noise. When I purchased my 280EC, I had some noise with my AC unit. Through some troubleshooting on my own since it was a used boat, I found that the grill in front of the AC unit had come loose over the years. I installed some weatherstripping between the grill and the mounting frame and the noise was gone. Since your boat is brand new, the dealer and Rinker should get this addressed. Hopefully it is one minor hiccup. Once resolved, I am sure that you will enjoy your new boat.

skennelly

Just recently I noticed my unit was loud and did some investigating.  Figured out if I open up the grill and literally just put my finger on the unit it got really quiet...so something is just rattling.  I was going to find something to shim it or wedge in there to quiet it down.

davidbrooks

So not quite sure if it is still the same as my 2003 but i tackled this same thing a few weeks ago.  I sat down and read the manual and found out that the unit has 6 speeds the fan will go through....only if you program them in. The previous owner didn't do that so i never knew.  The thing blew full force on every setting.  You have to put the thermostat into program mode and then go through the various settings.  There are actually like 22 seperate items that can be potentially configured.   On mine P2 is the High fan speed  (65-95) and P3 is the low fan speed (30-64).  Once i set the low to a reasonable number it quieted right down.

raybo3

Hmm wonder it the fan is on a resilient mount??? Maybe its just an alignment problem...... Thinking out loud.......  

Wildboating

BJT,  When you say noisy can you provide some more info?  Is the fan speed and ultimately the amount of air blowing creating the noise or is this a vibration /  rattling sound?

trip_n

you were at your dock on shore power..?

BJT

Thanks to all  of you for your helpful comments. I feel better already!  In response to a couple of questions, yes, we are on shore power, and yes it is the amount of the air blowing out that is so loud.  There was no rattle or vibration. Since the level of the blowing  air never altered from full blast no matter what setting we had it on, that  does suggests to me that it could be a programming issue especially being a brand new boat.  That will be the first thing we will check into for sure. I hope it is as simple as that. I'll  keep you posted.  Happy boating this weekend.

Black_Diamond

Something not right. Probably the programming. I put in a brand new unit a year ago, variable speed, super quiet.  

LaRea

Try resetting the HVAC system to the defaults.

Turn off power 

Press and hold power 5 sec (to enter programming mode)

Press fan button repeatedly until display says 17

Press up button until it says "rST" (to reset defaults)

Turn off power
Turn on power 

I'm assuming you have a Dometic (Marine Air) that looks like this.

Handymans342

@LaRea I dont think he has that old stat

Michael T

@BJT. Welcome to the forum. Rinkers are great boats and use most of the same suppliers of boat twice their price range. I have purchased many new Rinkers including a new 2013 Rinker EC 310 and a new 2014 EC 360. No AC problems at all. Reading the manual and adjusting it to your choice is a great idea. Of course, if there is no sound of air you probably do have a problem. Any boat (under 60 feet) will probably have the AC unit in proximity to one (or both) of the berths so there might be a bit of compressor sound and of course the sound of air is necessary. There is usually an manual that accompanies every AC that allows multiple comfort settings. As for the salesperson you dealt with - not impressed. IMO an idiotic response.