Roof AC Ducting

[Esom]

Hi folks,

I have a Dometic Penguin II AC unit I will be mounting to the roof of my van. It has the option of being ducted/remote operated rather than having the standard faceplate/knobs.

I'd like to keep the ducting as thin as possible to retain as much headroom as I can. I've found some 30mm flat ducts on AliBaba, but the shipping is prohibitively expensive. Does anyone else have an Idea of how to source low profile ducting that would still be able to move the CFM this unit can produce?

 

[tx2sturgis]

On any normal sized van, the ducting is not needed and will use up valuable headroom.

On a larger van or RV, the hidden ducting serves at least two purposes: It provides an 'upscale' look, and it distributes the air more evenly and farther from the unit.

 

[jonyjoe303]

if its hot enough that you have to use flexible ducting to move air around, I would just use the standard 4" inch flexible ducting found anywhere (dryer exhaust hose). You would have to make it work with your AC output ports.. The reason to use it, it takes up little space while in storage, if its a hot day the room it takes up while in operation is the price you have to pay to stay cool.
The only time I ever get the idea to use flexible ducting is on very hot days, but I found out that as the air moves through the ducting it loses cold air. They sell insulated ducting but it takes up double the space, not practical for a van.
One thing I found out is if you put a fan at the exhaust of the ducting it seems to work better, the air as it goes through the ducting loses CFM and also starts to warm up. The fan seems to help in keeping the air moving.
One thing that you can do is build your own flat ducting. At the dollartree they sell foamboard, Which is easy to cut and you can build to your own specifications. I built my own flat ducting using rtech foam insulation and did a good job, but its performance was no better than the 4" flexible ducting I was using.

 

[tx2sturgis]

jonyjoe the OP is referring to a roof A/C and there is no way to attach 4" ducting to one, and still have any room under it inside the van.

 

[Happy Camper]

What type of vehicle do you have?