Little air conditioner

[sl1966]

The pics posted regarding the Frigidaire look like the one I have in my travel trailer. Walmart sells them for $119 ...

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Frigidaire-5-000-BTU-Mini-Window-Air-Conditioner-FRA052XT7/14254284


My rig is 106 sq ft and the unit does a great job of keeping things icy inside. Word of warning. It works great in dry climates. I lived in hill country Texas where the humidity is unbearable and that little thing worked'ish, but it was struggling all the while.

 

[Bdog1]

I bought a hundred dollar HomeDepot unit for my van. It struggles on the hottest Florida days, but it dons on 4amps. There are some compromises in the location too. Works well enough.

 

[compassrose]

We have two "window" A/C units in our bus. They are flush on the outside. One faces the front and one faces the rear.
http://s570.photobucket.com/user/lo...version/Air Conditioner Install?sort=9&page=1

Before I painted the vent covers to match the body colour

These are far from the first window units we have built in. "Thru the wall" air conditioners are manufactured. We have found them hard to find (pre-internet days) and expensive. So we tended to use window units. If you provide ventilation to the sides and a way for the condensation to drain out, then you should have no problem. Watch out for the "pans" built into the bottom of the unit. They tend to leak. That is why we sealed ours with LeakSeal and put a drain into it. The front units was sprayed on the entire pan bottom. We will be replacing the smaller rear unit with another 6000 btu air conditioner (like the front unit). The one we put in first (rear) was from our old food cart. It's a tad too small. It takes the two units to cool the 40 ft bus down (barely) when temps are hitting 95F and up. Bear in mind that we do not have the whole back panel (emergency door) insulated yet. That is the next project for my next paycheck. We bought all the units (GE) from Sam's Club. This is the set up we were running last summer. We would turn the front unit off at night and close off the front so the rear unit only cooled the back half of the bus (bedroom & bathroom). We have $60 alotted in our site rent for electrical. We have not gone over for the air conditioners. We went over that once when we installed the water heater. We have that on a switch now and turn it on as we need it. We also are parked under two pitiful fig trees which gives us some afternoon shade plus the roof has been coated with Henry's SolarFlex White Elastometric Roof Coating. We will use a generator to power the units if we need them while traveling and freedom parking.

We also built two units into a popup sidewall so it had to be flush on the exterior. We killed the first one after several years. So we replaced it. It needed more airspace (compressor would get hot) than the older (smaller) one but it lasted until we sold the popup. We have found that an air conditioner needs about 2" to 4" space on each side to feed air to the compressor. If you can pull the air from a little farther away from the unit rather than directly next to the unit (fins have very hot air exhausting thru it) that is better. We were lucky in that we could use the holes from the flasher lights and the double walled bulkhead as a plenum.

A friend of ours has driven past the bus and could not see the rear air conditioner vents after I painted them to match the body of the bus.

 

[decodancer]

Bdog, where did you find that tire carrier. I would love one like that for my van!

 

[Bdog1]

Carriers home made on the stock bumper.

Two sizes of pipe sleeved together for a pivot and 2x4 steel for the beam. Nothing fancy.

---

Better pics

Sorry for the hijack.

 

[compassrose]

For anyone considering buying an AC unit. Buy a larger one than you think you need. It like buying a generator. You buy larger than you need that way it isn't always running maxed out and will last longer plus use less energy.

 

[Lucky mike]

also remember to mount it high up for efficiency.....(Heat rises...cold falls) mounting them low causes short cycling and freeze ups..

 

[arizonatruck]

I would like to get a roof mount kind, but low profile, no luck though, not as good for stealth as well. I like the idea of the portable ones, I was looking at one online from italy. Looks pretty small.

 

[vanvanvanvan123]

I am not mechanically inclined ( though I love hardware stores, and Lowes and Home Depot!- not unlike a dog chasing a fire truck, catching up to it, it couldn't drive it )
likely many woman here are more capable of fixing things.

My point is what is the best solution for living in a 65 degree cargo van when it is 105 outside.
Criteria is
Stealth ( I would need a way for condensation to not show up on the ground beneath the van!)
Just a section of the middle of the van needs to be cool, not the whole van.
I could spend at least $1000 to make this a reality.

Anyone wish to avoid the how to part.. and more or less tell me the feasibility of this goal.
Again... living in a hot van is not negotiable.
Driving to where it is cooler, costs a lot of money, esp if I am working in town!

Is the Prius the only solution? I hope not.

 

[LeeRevell]

The pics posted regarding the Frigidaire look like the one I have in my travel trailer. Walmart sells them for $119 ...

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Frigidaire-5-000-BTU-Mini-Window-Air-Conditioner-FRA052XT7/14254284


My rig is 106 sq ft and the unit does a great job of keeping things icy inside. Word of warning. It works great in dry climates. I lived in hill country Texas where the humidity is unbearable and that little thing worked'ish, but it was struggling all the while.

I just bought this identical unit from Lowes for $113.05, with the two-year warranty for another $17.97. Currently using it in the window of my large master bedroom in the S&B. Room exceeds the size suggested for the unit. But it works fairly well, in high 90's and humid Florida heat. I run it mostly on LOW COOL, with the temp on medium high, not all the way up. Not a chiller, but it keeps the room cool enough to sleep comfortably. I will use this same unit for the van in time - sort of 'test driving' it now.
I like that 'low rear door' mounting. I plan to make it more flush, with a louvered cover.

 

[johnny b]

I am not mechanically inclined ( though I love hardware stores, and Lowes and Home Depot!- not unlike a dog chasing a fire truck, catching up to it, it couldn't drive it )
likely many woman here are more capable of fixing things.

My point is what is the best solution for living in a 65 degree cargo van when it is 105 outside.
Criteria is
Stealth ( I would need a way for condensation to not show up on the ground beneath the van!)
Just a section of the middle of the van needs to be cool, not the whole van.
I could spend at least $1000 to make this a reality.

Anyone wish to avoid the how to part.. and more or less tell me the feasibility of this goal.
Again... living in a hot van is not negotiable.
Driving to where it is cooler, costs a lot of money, esp if I am working in town!

Is the Prius the only solution? I hope not.

If you're talking stealth, do u already have a stealthy source of power?

With a $125 window unit, u could pay a handyman to build it into a cabinet, use a painted flush grate for exhaust, and run a tube from the drip pan to a jug inside van to avoid outside puddle. You'd still have most of your thousand bucks left. But this relies on having a power source available.

How would a Prius solve anything???:huh:

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

^Prius can cool down using its highly efficient ac and autostarts its engine to use like a genny when its huge battery bank gets low.

I wish i new the answer...i tried an indoor ac with genny but failed...i know the gen could run it but they put these low voltage cut off switches in plug that kept tripping if the gen wasn't cranking the rpms.

 

[Telcobilly]

<br>Trying to post pics...<br><br><a href="/file?id=1630354" rel="lightbox" target="_blank"><img src="http://files.websitetoolbox.com/82529/thumb/1630354" class="bbc_img" alt="misc trips Q and summer 2013 010.jpg"></a>&nbsp; <a href="/file?id=1630357" rel="lightbox" target="_blank"><img src="http://files.websitetoolbox.com/82529/thumb/1630357" class="bbc_img" alt="misc trips Q and summer 2013 013.jpg"></a>&nbsp;<br><br>&nbsp; <a href="/file?id=1630355" rel="lightbox" target="_blank"><img src="http://files.websitetoolbox.com/82529/thumb/1630355" class="bbc_img" alt="misc trips Q and summer 2013 016.jpg"></a>&nbsp;<a href="/file?id=1630358" rel="lightbox" target="_blank"><img src="http://files.websitetoolbox.com/82529/thumb/1630358" class="bbc_img" alt="misc trips Q and summer 2013 015.jpg"></a>

A tip on posting pix to a forum. Get a free Photobucket or equivalent account. Upload your pix there, then click on the chain link icon. You will be given 4 tags to choose from, copy/paste the IMG tag into your post which will give you a full sized image.

 

[Telcobilly]

I'm reading this thread with a lot of interest. I'm sure a/c is going to kill any stealth, so if possible, park where it won't be a problem or go somewhere where a/c isn't needed. Barring that, an a/c solution will be required. I'm considering a small portable unit like the LG 8000btu. The vent hose can go right out the front bulkhead hatch. I have a Honda EU2000 to run it. I'm trying to determine the amp draw of the unit. I know the Honda is 2000 watts peak, what amperage can it run in a sustained mode?
This is a link to the unit I'm considering: http://www.homedepot.com/p/LG-Elect...mote-Control-48-Pints-Day-LP0814WNR/204684040

 

[LeeRevell]

I have two of these (different brands) portable AC units for home use, 1 is an 8KBTU and 1 is a 12KBTU. They are HUGE when considering use in a van or smaller RV.
I replaced the 8KBTU in my master bedroom with a small 5KBTU window AC from Lowes (Wally's sometimes carries it too), and in the hottest 100+degree Florida summer, I never run the 5K unit on high, just low, and half to 3/4 up on the cooling scale. At night I adjust it down. My bedroom is far larger than a cargo van. Standard insulation for a cheaper DWMH. Much cheaper AC too, smaller and lighter, and no worries about that condensation tank getting full.
This little AC will go into my van in time.

 

[Telcobilly]

Thanks for the info Lee, what is the brand/model of the 5kbtu unit?

 

[LeeRevell]

Thanks for the info Lee, what is the brand/model of the 5kbtu unit?

It's the same one Stargazer wrote about on pg1. Here is the Lowes webpage entry:

No electronics, no LED display, no remote.
Just nice simple...... simplicity.

 

[66788]

It's the same one Stargazer wrote about on pg1. Here is the Lowes webpage entry:

No electronics, no LED display, no remote.
Just nice simple...... simplicity.

I have that same unit cooling my office in my warehouse. It keeps the office 65 degrees on a 105 degree day. Very efficient and dependable unit.