A/C Question for opinions

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A/C Question for opinions

Postby eagle24 » Thu Jul 19, 2018 3:55 pm

I've searched and read until my neck can't take anymore. I'm trying to iron down which route I will go with A/C for the 5x8 I'm starting. I'm down to these 3 options:

1. Window A/C setup like what Shadow Catcher did. Ducted in and out via 4" duct through marine deck plates. I've read the posts, but they are all fairly old. Has this method proven to work well? Pros are cost and can be left at home during cooler seasons. Cons are setup each time and ???
2. Window A/C installed completely inside the trailer in a cabinet compartment. Cross ventilation through the back of the compartment using 4" ducts and 120mm 12v fans. One blowing out and the other drawing in. Condensation pan and drain. Pros are that it would be easy to use and always ready. Also, cleaner look IMO. Biggest cons to me would be the potential for issues with the condensation draining and not leaking and whether the cross ventilation will be adequate to keep the unit from overheating.
3. ClimateRight CR-5000 Pros same as #1 Cost is biggest con.

Love to hear your thoughts and experience with any of these.


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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby Tom&Shelly » Thu Jul 19, 2018 5:45 pm

We chose the Climateright solution for the teardrop we are currently building. Enough to do building the teardrop without modifying a less expensive window unit.

However, we are building it into a compartment in front to mitigate the set up issue. Hopefully it won't be too noisy; we are putting an inch and a half of foam in the bulkhead between us. We may need to experiment with heavy rubber on the legs on the Climate right, and possibly some other tricks to minimize noise.

I also plan to modify the Climateright AC by adding a longer ribbon cable to the built-in control panel and moving it to the cabin. I don't think this will be too difficult--just soldering.

Shelly is concerned about Climateright's poor reviews when it comes to what they honor in their guarantee. (I'll ask her for details when she gets home.) I figured I'd void the guarantee anyway once I opened it up and messed with the controls.

Also, this unit was damaged slightly in shipping. The case was bent (which is specifically excluded from their guarantee). I chose not to pursue it with Fed Ex after taking the cover off and deciding there was no internal damage to the unit. I re-bent the case until it's almost as good as new.

Actually, now that it's 90 degrees, I should put it in a small closet and test it. We received it in the Winter. The thing is a pain to move, at 63 lbs. If we leave it home, we will need to re-balance the trailer.

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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby Mr. Lahey » Thu Jul 19, 2018 8:11 pm

I too debated the A/C question every which way. This is what I went with.

To me this method scored big on the KISS principle test. No ducting cool in, or venting hot out issues, or auxiliary fans, no condensation pan or drainage issues ,no hacking or mods to the A/C unit itself. plus it sets up and stows away in seconds on a set of 100lb drawer slides. The slides are attached right to the A/C case itself. I bought the exterior hatch it slides out of off ebay as RV surplus. Fiberglass hatch seals up weather tight and locks too. Works for me.

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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby eagle24 » Thu Jul 19, 2018 9:19 pm

Mr. Lahey wrote:I too debated the A/C question every which way. This is what I went with.

To me this method scored big on the KISS principle test. No ducting cool in, or venting hot out issues, or auxiliary fans, no condensation pan or drainage issues ,no hacking or mods to the A/C unit itself. plus it sets up and stows away in seconds on a set of 100lb drawer slides. The slides are attached right to the A/C case itself. I bought the exterior hatch it slides out of off ebay as RV surplus. Fiberglass hatch seals up weather tight and locks too. Works for me.

DSCF3765a.jpg
Tom&Shelly wrote:We chose the Climateright solution for the teardrop we are currently building. Enough to do building the teardrop without modifying a less expensive window unit.

However, we are building it into a compartment in front to mitigate the set up issue. Hopefully it won't be too noisy; we are putting an inch and a half of foam in the bulkhead between us. We may need to experiment with heavy rubber on the legs on the Climate right, and possibly some other tricks to minimize noise.

I also plan to modify the Climateright AC by adding a longer ribbon cable to the built-in control panel and moving it to the cabin. I don't think this will be too difficult--just soldering.

Shelly is concerned about Climateright's poor reviews when it comes to what they honor in their guarantee. (I'll ask her for details when she gets home.) I figured I'd void the guarantee anyway once I opened it up and messed with the controls.

Also, this unit was damaged slightly in shipping. The case was bent (which is specifically excluded from their guarantee). I chose not to pursue it with Fed Ex after taking the cover off and deciding there was no internal damage to the unit. I re-bent the case until it's almost as good as new.

Actually, now that it's 90 degrees, I should put it in a small closet and test it. We received it in the Winter. The thing is a pain to move, at 63 lbs. If we leave it home, we will need to re-balance the trailer.

Tom


Thanks for the replies and ideas. I guess everybody bounces around all the ideas before they commit. I'm seriously considering modifying a window a/c and ducting it in from the outside, mainly because I am probably looking at needing a/c only 3 or 4 times a year. I'd really like to put it inside, but I'm worried about overheating issues. Still :thinking:
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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby aggie79 » Fri Jul 20, 2018 8:53 am

I had a PetCool - forerunner to the ClimateRight - permanently mounted in the tongue box. It eventually "died". I'm currently in the process of converting a window unit for outside placement and ducting into our teardrop.

Something to keep in mind, whichever route you go, is to separate the supply and return ducts/flow as much as possible. If not, you may have poor air distribution and/or the supply side may "short loop" back into the return, causing the thermostat to shut-off the compressor prior to reaching the desired set temperature. (In a typical home installation, a window unit has substantial headroom and the supply is directed up and away from the return so there is minimal short looping.)

In my PetCool setup, the supply was ducted through the front of the teardrop with the supply vents in the front headwall. The return air grill was at the foot of the bed in the galley bulkhead and ducted beneath the teardrop back into the tongue box.
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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby eagle24 » Fri Jul 20, 2018 10:23 am

aggie79 wrote:I had a PetCool - forerunner to the ClimateRight - permanently mounted in the tongue box. It eventually "died". I'm currently in the process of converting a window unit for outside placement and ducting into our teardrop.

Something to keep in mind, whichever route you go, is to separate the supply and return ducts/flow as much as possible. If not, you may have poor air distribution and/or the supply side may "short loop" back into the return, causing the thermostat to shut-off the compressor prior to reaching the desired set temperature. (In a typical home installation, a window unit has substantial headroom and the supply is directed up and away from the return so there is minimal short looping.)

In my PetCool setup, the supply was ducted through the front of the teardrop with the supply vents in the front headwall. The return air grill was at the foot of the bed in the galley bulkhead and ducted beneath the teardrop back into the tongue box.


Are you going to use a fan in the return duct?
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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby 2bits » Fri Jul 20, 2018 10:48 am

I have installed a window unit in the side "house style" and I have installed one under the galley and vented through the floor but with thst experience and seeing how others build theirs, plus my changing style and tastes. If I were to do it again it would be a no brainer to do the duct in method. The pro that you can leave it at home is great and the con of set up can be eliminated by mounting to the tongue of the trailer. I personally don't o much camping when it is hot so I would make it removable so from Sept-April I would be able to use the space for other stuff. Tom's trunk is a great way to hide it as well. You can use RV sewer hoses and connections for quick set up of the air lines too.
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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby Tom&Shelly » Fri Jul 20, 2018 11:37 am

aggie79 wrote:Something to keep in mind, whichever route you go, is to separate the supply and return ducts/flow as much as possible. If not, you may have poor air distribution and/or the supply side may "short loop" back into the return, causing the thermostat to shut-off the compressor prior to reaching the desired set temperature. (In a typical home installation, a window unit has substantial headroom and the supply is directed up and away from the return so there is minimal short looping.)


This is something we are concerned about. Right now, we plan to have both the inlet and outlet in between us on the headboard, separated vertically by only a few inches. Our hope is that directing one down and the other up via the register fins will be sufficient. It does look like others who have gone the ducted route sometimes have similar separations.

How about pulling the air from outside, and letting it out via the skylight/fan?

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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby Carl01234 » Fri Jul 20, 2018 2:02 pm

I have done 2 like this now. With a vent in the floor. I dont like the look of it outside, I am lazy and dont wont to set anything up. And it could be removed and left at home in a few minutes. You do lose some storage space though.

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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby eagle24 » Fri Jul 20, 2018 3:43 pm

Carl01234 wrote:I have done 2 like this now. With a vent in the floor. I dont like the look of it outside, I am lazy and dont wont to set anything up. And it could be removed and left at home in a few minutes. You do lose some storage space though.

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Carl,
How did you vent it through the floor? Did you just use 4" flexible duct? Did you use a fan for the vent?
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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby aggie79 » Fri Jul 20, 2018 8:30 pm

eagle24 wrote:
aggie79 wrote:In my PetCool setup, the supply was ducted through the front of the teardrop with the supply vents in the front headwall. The return air grill was at the foot of the bed in the galley bulkhead and ducted beneath the teardrop back into the tongue box.


Are you going to use a fan in the return duct?


I did intall a continuous duty 12-volt "squirrel-cage blower". It helped maintain airflow CFM for the long run of the return air. The blower was something like what is used in after-market or hot rod A/C installs and not a computer pancake fan.
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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby aggie79 » Fri Jul 20, 2018 8:35 pm

Tom&Shelly wrote:This is something we are concerned about. Right now, we plan to have both the inlet and outlet in between us on the headboard, separated vertically by only a few inches. Our hope is that directing one down and the other up via the register fins will be sufficient. It does look like others who have gone the ducted route sometimes have similar separations.


That should work. You just don't want the return air "sucking up" the supply air until it has a chance to cool the cabin.

Tom&Shelly wrote:How about pulling the air from outside, and letting it out via the skylight/fan?


Whether we're using the A/C or not, we always have one or both side windows cracked open and the vent cracked open.
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A/C Question for opinions

Postby mcubberley » Sun Jul 29, 2018 5:30 pm

We did the 2500btu climateright with heavier ducts (actual RV sewage hoses, new and unused of course) with upgraded connections (twist bayonet). Both in and return on the front wall mid line. Cold air up high and return down low. But they can be swapped easy depending on heating or cooling needs.

It took a while to get cool in the heat of July (days in the 90s nights high 70s) but it was able to hit as low as 68 by bed time and cool much lower by morning We bought the wired thermostat box to bring the controls into the cabin. No need to void the warranty when they sell an accessory that is much nicer than I could figure out.

We had that thermostat temporarily mounted too high so the temp at the low part of the camper was 5-10 less then the set temp when it would cycle off. Fixed that after first trip.

I have mine box bolted to the tongue via the factory feet mounts and hard wired to my fuse panel. Looks nice enough so I didn’t worry about putting it in a tongue box. I plan on putting my souvenirs location stickers on it

We bought it because it’s a heat pump with heating and cooling for our summer and winter trips. It’s such a small space that space heaters were far too efficient and even the smallest one we could find over heated the place because of poor thermostat readings. It should also help a bit with humidity build up, which is good.

It’s such a special use item that I frankly I just ignored the reviews and figured if something happened I will take to a hvac place and worked on or tear it apart and use the housing and ducts as a startling point for a Frankenstein unit.

Also I was worried about making sure a window unit didn’t leak into my walls or galley and didn’t want to have that big of hole cut into my walls or loose that much galley storage. But we are a 5x7 teardrop so space usage is very important to us.

In the end we are pleased but love seeing all the great solutions folks come up with!

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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby eagle24 » Mon Jul 30, 2018 8:53 am

mcubberley wrote:We did the 2500btu climateright with heavier ducts (actual RV sewage hoses, new and unused of course) with upgraded connections (twist bayonet). Both in and return on the front wall mid line. Cold air up high and return down low. But they can be swapped easy depending on heating or cooling needs.

It took a while to get cool in the heat of July (days in the 90s nights high 70s) but it was able to hit as low as 68 by bed time and cool much lower by morning We bought the wired thermostat box to bring the controls into the cabin. No need to void the warranty when they sell an accessory that is much nicer than I could figure out.

We had that thermostat temporarily mounted too high so the temp at the low part of the camper was 5-10 less then the set temp when it would cycle off. Fixed that after first trip.

I have mine box bolted to the tongue via the factory feet mounts and hard wired to my fuse panel. Looks nice enough so I didn’t worry about putting it in a tongue box. I plan on putting my souvenirs location stickers on it

We bought it because it’s a heat pump with heating and cooling for our summer and winter trips. It’s such a small space that space heaters were far too efficient and even the smallest one we could find over heated the place because of poor thermostat readings. It should also help a bit with humidity build up, which is good.

It’s such a special use item that I frankly I just ignored the reviews and figured if something happened I will take to a hvac place and worked on or tear it apart and use the housing and ducts as a startling point for a Frankenstein unit.

Also I was worried about making sure a window unit didn’t leak into my walls or galley and didn’t want to have that big of hole cut into my walls or loose that much galley storage. But we are a 5x7 teardrop so space usage is very important to us.

In the end we are pleased but love seeing all the great solutions folks come up with!

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Nice trailer!
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Re: A/C Question for opinions

Postby coyote » Mon Jul 30, 2018 9:10 am

we have a 5000 btu unit,it sets on galley shelf. Take it when it's hot, leave home when cool. No chic, Feng shui bad, very red neck...but when you can hang a beef in there in a Texas summer....
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