Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Well I've given up on the AC installation idea for now. The portable unit was a complete failure as Don and others mentioned it would! But i learned a good lesson on negative air pressure in small spaces,lol! I'll revisit it next spring, since most places I like to camp are either closed, overbooked or too strict with covid madness for my liking. I think a boxed in window Ac unit seems easy enough to put together, utilizing the exhaust port i cut in for the portable unit to be repurposed as an inlet for compressor/condensing coil cooling. Ideally i would like to avoid cutting another stud in the wall framing so if i can find a 5 or 6000btu unit with a condensor coil no wider than 14.5" i think i can make it work.

chiefvintage wrote:Well I've given up on the AC installation idea for now. The portable unit was a complete failure as Don and others mentioned it would! But i learned a good lesson on negative air pressure in small spaces,lol! I'll revisit it next spring, since most places I like to camp are either closed, overbooked or too strict with covid madness for my liking. I think a boxed in window Ac unit seems easy enough to put together, utilizing the exhaust port i cut in for the portable unit to be repurposed as an inlet for compressor/condensing coil cooling. Ideally i would like to avoid cutting another stud in the wall framing so if i can find a 5 or 6000btu unit with a condensor coil no wider than 14.5" i think i can make it work.

Sorry it didn't not work out for you. Just so you know... you do not need to cut the stud uf you are not hanging the AC out. Just leave it a few inches from the wall and use blue form to build a shroud and direct it. I cut my stud only because the Vent I wanted to use was wider than the studs, although if I was adverse to cutting it, I could have come up with another vent solution. I just thought it was cleaner for me to do it the way I did.

In any case... may be hard to find one to fit that.. all you have to fit is the Vent and you could put smaller round ones either side of the stud.

Added a 1200W pure sine inverter to power the fridge when driving, running on a 100Ah VMAX AGM battery.
Starting on the final AC project install. Picked up a 6000 BTU Frigidaire unit and will build a cabinet/plenum with exhaust vent for the condenser in the side wall.
I will repurpose existing exhaust vent I had previously installed for the portable AC unit to use as an outside air intake for the new AC unit. I'll connect with circular duct to the plenum intake.
Gonna try to use some left over vinyl laminate floor planks to finish and close off the AC cabinet.
Not sure about how to deal with condensate, the unit i purchased has no drain outlet, I assume window units are designed to just "spill" over the rear cabinet lip to the outside?

Here's a few updated pics of CTC and the AC layout.

A few updated pics. Still haven't painted cabinets! I hate painting with a passion, LOL!

And a few more

Last few

[quote="chiefvintage"]Progress slowed a bit last few weeks, but added some cabinets and vinyl plank flooring



Good afternoon,
Is your vinyl plank floor a floating floor? If so, I have a question; based on your cabinet framing picture on page 2 of your thread (Sep 9th @ 5:36 PM post) I am making the assumption that your cabinets are on top of your vinyl plank flooring. How is your flooring holding up with the cabinets on top of it?

I just installed vinyl plank in my build that is a floating style floor. Figured I would cut out the portions where cabinets will go but would be ok just putting it on top of vinyl if it's a workable solution.

Great looking build!
Harry

Harry
FYI my vinyl laminate is a floating floor with no underlayment. I laid it right on the factory subflooring(Advantex 3/4”).
My kitchen cabinet framing is anchored to the wall studs only. I left a 1/4” expansion gap around the flooring perimeters. I did predrill clearance holes where the bathroom wall framing is anchored to the floor.
Seems to be working well so far after nearly 18 months.

Sounds like you did what I am considering doing. Good to know it is working well so far. I figure if you can put heavy furniture on it in a house, ie piano which has a lot of weight, then letting cabinets sit on floor (attached to walls like yours) shouldn't be a problem. Kitchen cabinets loaded with stuff would be a great deal less weight I would think. My parents piano weighed a ton, felt like it anyway, ha!

No, I don't plan to put a piano in my build, .
Harry

Some of the new window A/C units have a low spot you can connect a drain tube to drain the water. (did not put a drain hole in our A/C) We have had no problem with ours except when the humidity gets over 92 % or near there. Then we will get a splash of water over the lip in the back. Seems like sometimes the fan tips sling the water up on the coils or something which makes it evaporate. Not sure how it works just know my a/c is vented into my camper utility room built across the back of the trailer and only had a small amount of water on the floor twice after exploring the UP of Michigan for 4 months.
Richard

Good morning,
I saw your Excel water heater in one of the pictures above. Is your water heater ventless or does it vent out the rear of unit? I am considering mounting one in similar location and I have a side vent in the same location that I thought might work for venting, prefer not to go thru roof. I don't have a problem with using vent-free as I have a MaxxAire fan about three feet away from where the water heater would be.

Also, how do you like that water heater? Anything you would do different about it?

Thanks!
Harry

ris wrote: Not sure how it works just know my a/c is vented into my camper utility room built across the back of the trailer and only had a small amount of water on the floor twice after exploring the UP of Michigan for 4 months.
Richard

Richard, I think you got it. Most of these new window units are "slingers" which are designed to throw the cool condensation back onto the hot condenser coils to evaporate and increase efficiency. The trouble is when you have high humidity and get more condensation with less evaporation. In that case, they will overflow. I drilled a small hole in mine and added a fitting for a drain hose if water gets too high. Living in Florida, mine would overflow frequently. In a dryer climate, it is not a problem.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

foxontherun wrote:Good morning,
I saw your Excel water heater in one of the pictures above. Is your water heater ventless or does it vent out the rear of unit? I am considering mounting one in similar location and I have a side vent in the same location that I thought might work for venting, prefer not to go thru roof. I don't have a problem with using vent-free as I have a MaxxAire fan about three feet away from where the water heater would be.

Also, how do you like that water heater? Anything you would do different about it?

Thanks!
Harry

Harry

My heater is a vent free unit, with built-in safety shutoff. Regardless, i don't plan on running it without the Maxxair fan in ceiling running. The heater comes on and off automatically based on water flow, system works great so far.

Thanks for the info on your water heater; good to know it is working out.
Harry

Finished up the AC install, ready for the swamp!