Marine · Boat Refrigeration · Marine AC · Galley · Same Day
Marine Appliance Repair Los Angeles
Boat fridges on 12/24 V compressors, self-contained and chilled-water air conditioning, galley and laundry. We come to the slip. $120 diagnostic, waived with repair.
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Our Branches
10 service territories across Southern California
Marine Appliance Repair
Southern California
01 · On the water
A boat galley is a small kitchen that runs on batteries and pumps seawater through its air conditioning.
Walk the docks in Marina del Rey on a weekday and plenty of boats aren't going anywhere. People live aboard, charter boats sit between trips, owners come down to get something fixed before the weekend. Newport Harbor looks different again, with motor yachts in the marinas and boats tied up at private docks behind the houses on the islands. The appliances on those boats are ones our guys already know from kitchens and restaurants: a refrigerator, an ice maker, air conditioning, a dishwasher, a washer-dryer combo. What changes is how they're powered, how they get rid of heat, and what salt air does to them.
On land a refrigerator plugs into a wall and dumps its heat into the kitchen. On a boat it often runs on a 12 or 24 volt DC compressor fed from the house battery bank, and its condenser may be cooled by air, by a seawater loop or by a keel cooler. The air conditioner pulls seawater through a strainer and a pump to carry heat overboard. Power comes from shore, from a generator or from an inverter, and any one of those can be the real reason something stopped. That's why a marine call starts with measurements, not with parts.
Above roughly 60 feet the picture changes again: the galley fills up with ordinary premium household appliances — Sub-Zero, Miele, Bosch, Gaggenau, a wine column — installed in joinery that was never designed to be taken apart. That side of the work has its own page, yacht appliance repair.
Pricing is simple. The diagnostic is $120, and it comes off the bill when you approve the repair. After that you get a written estimate before we order anything. We don't publish repair prices for boats: the same failure can be quick on one boat and slow on the next, depending on where the unit sits and how our tech gets to it.
02 · Scope
What we service, and what we don't touch.
A boat carries more trades than a house. Here's exactly where our work starts and stops, so the right people get the call the first time.
What we service
- Marine refrigerators and freezers, DC compressor systems and AC units.
- Ice makers on board.
- Marine air conditioning: self-contained units and chilled-water systems.
- Dishwashers.
- Washer-dryer combos.
- Galley microwaves, cooktops and ranges.
What we don't touch
- Through-hull fittings and seacocks. That's a boatyard or marine mechanic. We work on the appliance end of a raw-water loop, not the fitting through the hull.
- Boat wiring, the AC distribution panel and the shore power inlet. That's a marine electrician working to ABYC standards.
- The main engine and the generator. That's a marine mechanic or generator service.
- Anything that needs the boat hauled out of the water. That's a boatyard.
We don't hold ABYC certification, and the work we take on doesn't call for it: we stay on the appliance side of the boat's systems and leave the electrical system itself to the electrician. We're also not factory-authorized for any marine brand. We repair them as an independent service, and we'll tell you if a job needs the manufacturer's own network.
03 · Refrigeration
Most boat refrigeration runs on a small DC compressor, and it tells you what's wrong.
A lot of the marine refrigeration we see runs on Danfoss/Secop BD35F and BD50F compressors, 12 or 24 volt, each with its own electronic control module. That module does something a home refrigerator doesn't. When it records a fault, a diagnostic LED wired to it flashes, and the number of flashes is the diagnosis: one flash is the battery protection cut-out, two is an over-current on the fan circuit, three is a motor start error, five means the electronics overheated. When the LED is installed, our techs count the flashes before touching anything.
The most common one-flash call isn't a refrigerator problem at all. A tired house bank sags under load, the module sees voltage drop below its cut-out, around 10.4 volts on a 12 volt system at the default setting, and switches the compressor off to protect the battery. From the galley it looks exactly like a dead fridge. So the diagnostic starts with voltage at the module while the compressor is trying to run, the same logic we use on food trucks running off generators, and not with pulling the compressor.
Then comes the condenser, and on a boat that's where the search splits. Some units are air-cooled, some use a seawater pump with a strainer, some use a keel cooler. A clogged strainer, a pump that quit or marine growth on the heat exchanger all look the same from inside the cabin: warm box, compressor running long. Salt adds its own failures, from pitted aluminum evaporators to corroded terminals and electrolysis where metals meet in the seawater circuit.
We work on Vitrifrigo, Isotherm, Nova Kool, Dometic and U-Line marine models, among others. The full breakdown is on our marine refrigeration repair page.
04 · Air conditioning
Marine air conditioning: when it trips, look at the seawater first.
Smaller boats usually run self-contained units tucked under berths and settees. Larger yachts often run chilled-water systems, where a chiller cools a water loop that feeds air handlers throughout the boat. We see Dometic equipment, including its Cruisair and Marine Air lines, plus Webasto systems.
A high-pressure shutdown is almost always the raw-water side. The heat the unit pulls out of the cabin has to leave through seawater, and if the sea strainer is packed, the condenser coil is fouled or the raw-water pump has stopped moving enough water, pressure climbs until the unit protects itself. Condensate is the other steady call: a pan that doesn't drain or a condensate pump that died puts water where it shouldn't be. Digital controllers and their sensors fill in the rest.
This is also where our credentials do real work. Opening a refrigerant circuit takes EPA 608 certification, and ours is Universal #1346255700410. We also hold a CSLB C-20 HVAC license. Details are on our marine air conditioning repair page.
05 · Power
Shore power, generator, inverter: check the power before the appliance.
A boat at the dock usually runs on 30 or 50 amp shore power. Away from it, power comes from a generator or through an inverter from the batteries. Each source has its own way of starving an appliance. Our techs check voltage, frequency and polarity at the appliance itself, and watch what happens when a compressor starts, because a motor start pulls far more current than the running load and a weak source sags hard at that moment. Inverters add waveform: a modified sine wave is hard on electronic controls. We wrote up that problem for food trucks in generator vs battery power, and boats behave the same way.
Where the reading points at the boat's own electrical system, including galvanic isolation, the shore power inlet and the panel, we stop and hand you the numbers for your marine electrician. That keeps each trade on its own side of the line.
06 · Galley and laundry
Galley appliances and the Splendide combo.
A washer-dryer combo such as a Splendide earns its place on a boat because one unit fits in a closet. It also fails in predictable places, so our techs check the same places first: the drain side, meaning the filter and pump that catch lint and small debris; the water supply side, where inlet valves meet a boat's onboard pump pressure; and the door, where the lock and seal take the wear. Most combo calls end in one of those three areas, and the full breakdown is on our boat washer dryer repair page.
Ice gets its own page too, because on a boat it fails for reasons that have nothing to do with refrigerant: see marine ice maker repair. The rest of the galley is familiar ground: dishwashers, microwaves, cooktops and ranges. On propane galley stoves we repair the appliance, not the LPG supply system that feeds it.
07 · Where we work
We come to the slip. Here's how to make the visit go fast.
Five harbors have their own pages: Marina del Rey, Newport Beach, Dana Point, San Diego and Santa Barbara. We also take calls from other harbors across our service area, from Ventura down to the South Bay of San Diego.
- Where the boat is. Marina name, dock and slip number, or the address if it's a private dock behind a house.
- How to get in. Gate code or who meets us at the gate. Marinas are locked, and a tech waiting outside is time on your bill.
- Who's aboard. The owner, captain or a crew member needs to be on the boat. We don't board an empty vessel.
- What it is. A photo of the data plate on the fridge, AC unit or combo helps us bring the likely parts. Everything we carry goes down the dock by hand, so the first trip counts.
08 · FAQ
Marine appliance repair, common questions.
Do you come to the boat?
Yes. We work at the slip or at a private dock, the same way we work in a kitchen. Same-day service is available across Los Angeles and Orange County harbors when the schedule allows, and phones are answered 24/7. Send us the marina, the slip number and how to get through the gate when you book.
How much does a marine appliance repair visit cost?
The diagnostic is $120, and it's waived when you approve the repair. After the diagnostic you get a written estimate before any part is ordered. We don't publish repair prices for boats, because the same failure can take very different time depending on where the unit is installed and how you reach it.
My boat fridge stopped cooling. Is the compressor dead?
Often it isn't. Many boat refrigerators run on a 12 or 24 volt Danfoss/Secop BD35F or BD50F compressor, and its control module shuts the compressor off when battery voltage sags below the cut-out. If a diagnostic LED is wired to the module, one flash means exactly that. We measure voltage at the module while the compressor tries to run before we condemn anything.
My marine air conditioner keeps shutting off on high pressure. What's wrong?
On a boat that is almost always the seawater side: a clogged sea strainer, a condenser coil fouled with marine growth, or a raw-water pump that stopped moving enough water. We check water flow through the loop first, then the refrigeration side. Opening the refrigerant circuit is covered by our EPA 608 Universal certification.
Do you work on the boat's wiring, shore power inlet or seacocks?
No. The AC panel, shore power inlet and boat wiring belong to a marine electrician working to ABYC standards. Through-hull fittings, seacocks, engines, generators and anything that needs the boat hauled belong to a boatyard or marine mechanic. We measure power at the appliance and tell you plainly when the problem is on their side.
Do you hold ABYC certification or factory authorization for marine brands?
No to both, and we say so up front. We don't work on the boat's electrical system, which is where ABYC certification matters, and we repair Dometic, Vitrifrigo, Isotherm, Nova Kool and other marine brands as an independent service. What we do hold: BHGS #A49573, EPA 608 Universal #1346255700410 and a CSLB C-20 HVAC license.
What warranty comes with a marine repair?
Our repairs carry a 90-day labor warranty on the work we performed. Manufacturer parts warranties, where they apply, are handled separately.
09 · Related
Marine service pages.
Something quit on the boat? Call now.
$120 diagnostic, waived with repair. Mon–Sat 8am–8pm · Sun closed · Phone answered 24/7.