AC Hacking a Figidaire 5000 BTU

[Socal Tom]

Personally I think having the air make a 90 degree turn on the way to the evap coil can significantly reduce icing. It makes the air spread across the face of the evaporator, reducing the risk that one spot will ice up, and the turn will cause the heavier water to keep going straight, while the air turns, so the centrifugal force will reduce the water getting to the coils.
Tom

 

[Shadow Catcher]

Time will tell, let us know what happens.

 

[Socal Tom]

Mines never iced up, in the dozen or do times I’ve used it, but I’m usually using it in low humidity conditions. Rick is within 100 miles of me, so I expect he will be fine too.

 

[Gonefishin-TNT]

Loving this long-lived thread! I've finally decided I need an AC for my 6X12, and I'm ready to go with a 2000-ish watt generator and Shadow Catcher's "portable" window shaker system. It looks to be the best of all options for me, as I only need AC for 2-4 weeks a year, at most. Love the idea of being able to put it back in storage for 11 months!

I'm going to start with only one cold air supply duct. "Wet, cold air" has a nice ring to it in the arid mountain west. I'll take any humidity I can get! One hole, and hopefully simpler. I hope to just put the AC unit on a table or chair next to the trailer. If it rains, I'll cover it because I don't need it. The rain (which we seldom get) will cool by itself. My first question is has anyone seen or tried to duct/funnel only the cold air outlet part of the AC unit through the hose in any fairly simple way? How might I do this? My thinking is to simply get the supply air moving, and leave the rest open like it was in a window. Feasible? Less or no icing issue?

Second question is has anyone found any adjustable vents for the inside of the incoming duct through the deck plate? Something like the adjustable vents in a car so the air flow inside the trailer could be directed? Again, great thread that has stood the test of time, and after looking at every conceivable AC option out there, this should work for me better than a mini-split, traditional portable, or any other options I've found. Thanks everyone!

 

[Socal Tom]

Loving this long-lived thread! I've finally decided I need an AC for my 6X12, and I'm ready to go with a 2000-ish watt generator and Shadow Catcher's "portable" window shaker system. It looks to be the best of all options for me, as I only need AC for 2-4 weeks a year, at most. Love the idea of being able to put it back in storage for 11 months!

I'm going to start with only one cold air supply duct. "Wet, cold air" has a nice ring to it in the arid mountain west. I'll take any humidity I can get! One hole, and hopefully simpler. I hope to just put the AC unit on a table or chair next to the trailer. If it rains, I'll cover it because I don't need it. The rain (which we seldom get) will cool by itself. My first question is has anyone seen or tried to duct/funnel only the cold air outlet part of the AC unit through the hose in any fairly simple way? How might I do this? My thinking is to simply get the supply air moving, and leave the rest open like it was in a window. Feasible? Less or no icing issue?

Second question is has anyone found any adjustable vents for the inside of the incoming duct through the deck plate? Something like the adjustable vents in a car so the air flow inside the trailer could be directed? Again, great thread that has stood the test of time, and after looking at every conceivable AC option out there, this should work for me better than a mini-split, traditional portable, or any other options I've found. Thanks everyone!

How hot will it be where you are camping? Cooling my generic benroy 30F takes about 2500BTU. If you are pulling in hot air, its not going to be nearly as effective. Its also more prone to icing if you don't recirculate the air. If there is humidity in the air, then the A/C unit will dry it out, and as it recirulates the air gets drier, and its less work on the A/c unit. If you have low humidity, it probably won't ice anyhow. I camp in the So-Cal deserts, and when it gets dry I run a USB humidifier designed for a car. Just a little helps a lot.

 

[Shadow Catcher]

I found an AC calculator https://www.calculator.net/btu-calculator.html which let me know with the insulation I have 1.5 Inch EPS and six surfaces I needed 5000 BTU It is however based on having a return as Social Tom pointed out. As I indicated you can try it and see what happens, at worst it will not do the job you want and you can add the return.

 

[working on it]

I found an AC calculator https://www.calculator.net/btu-calculator.html which let me know with the insulation I have 1.5 Inch EPS and six surfaces I needed 5000 BTU....

I had used other calculators prior to using this one, and arrived at the same conclusion...that an uninsulated plywood 4x8, as small as it is, with 77.5 cubic feet of space to cool (75 inches inside length x 46.5 inches wide x 48 inches tall x .80 reduction factor for volume of air lost by cutting a 45 degree angle off the roof), needs a lot of cooling since it is primarily used from late April-October, in Texas weather.

It has been proven very effective over many years. Mine's a LG LW5012j, 5k unit, not hacked, but permanently installed in the rear bulkhead. Less than 25% of the trips I've been on didn't require A/C, so a permanent mounting was proven to be the best way to use mine.

 

[Gonefishin-TNT]

I've got a little insulation in the walls and ceiling, and heavy foam board under the floor. My "hot" temperatures are 85-100, and only for a few weeks at most. I just want come cool air blowing around inside while I take my afternoon nap, tie some flies, or make some lunch. I never need it once the sun goes down. From reading posts, I was under the impression that there was less icing without a return duct, so I mis-read that one. Humidity isn't much of a factor in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana where I camp. Very dry for the most part. If it gets any humidity at all, then it rains and cools things off pretty quickly. If I can figure out a simple way to start, I might give it a try, and then I can always add the return if I think I need it, as Shadow said. I don't want to give up the space for a permanent install, especially for the short window of need. Even some of the small single and dual hose portables take more space than I'd like to give. Hacking a window unit seems like the best solution if I can get it hacked to start with. Thanks for the feedback.

Brings up a question on the return. I see them all close to the supply. Would it not be more efficient to have the supply high and the return low, or the supply on one wall, and the return on another? To promote air flow in the room rather than just a quick in and out in one small area? Maybe I'm overthinking it, or don't have a clue. Living in the arctic hasn't taught me much about A/C over the years. With heat, I want my supply coming in low so it rises and helps lower areas stay warmer. I ran the BTU calculator, and I'm right in the ballpark, needing between 4500 and 5600 btu depending on the interpretation of "climate" and "insulation." Average for both was right around 5,200.

 

[Shadow Catcher]

Return, LG when they were using a Climate Rite have two ports on the front, I think both are 3" using waste hoses and fittings. I was kind of stuck as to where I could put the goes out of and goes into and the interior goes into has a 45 degree louvers which direct the cool. I run the celling fans with the vent closed which helps keep the heat from stratifying.

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Loving this long-lived thread! I've finally decided I need an AC for my 6X12, and I'm ready to go with a 2000-ish watt generator and Shadow Catcher's "portable" window shaker system. It looks to be the best of all options for me, as I only need AC for 2-4 weeks a year, at most. Love the idea of being able to put it back in storage for 11 months!

I'm going to start with only one cold air supply duct. "Wet, cold air" has a nice ring to it in the arid mountain west. I'll take any humidity I can get! One hole, and hopefully simpler. I hope to just put the AC unit on a table or chair next to the trailer. If it rains, I'll cover it because I don't need it. The rain (which we seldom get) will cool by itself. My first question is has anyone seen or tried to duct/funnel only the cold air outlet part of the AC unit through the hose in any fairly simple way? How might I do this? My thinking is to simply get the supply air moving, and leave the rest open like it was in a window. Feasible? Less or no icing issue?

Second question is has anyone found any adjustable vents for the inside of the incoming duct through the deck plate? Something like the adjustable vents in a car so the air flow inside the trailer could be directed? Again, great thread that has stood the test of time, and after looking at every conceivable AC option out there, this should work for me better than a mini-split, traditional portable, or any other options I've found. Thanks everyone!

I built our Climateright into the front of the teardrop with two ports and two hoses.

Tested it that way, with the cabin sealed, and after awhile it froze. We now run it with the input port open and a single hose

(we leave the front access door open when running the air conditioner) and the cabin fan vent open, and this Summer have not had a problem in Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri or New York. Wonderful cool, drier air, and, as a bonus, it turns out the return hose made a lot of noise that is eliminated now.

Here are our vents--adjustable in opening and direction. I'm not near our records so I can't say where I found them; possibly on Amazon.

Tom

 

[williaty-TNT]

Lots of info

You mentioned a couple of times that you use a diesel air heater with this setup, which is what I'm actually working on right now. Do you have a thread about your heater setup? I couldn't make the search function turn anything up for me.

 

[Shadow Catcher]

This is an Espar heater with fuel tank, the hoses are a bit higher temperature. However I switched to using the heat from our water heater so it is not being used.

 

[williaty-TNT]

This is an Espar heater with fuel tank, the hoses are a bit higher temperature. However I switched to using the heat from our water heater so it is not being used.

Further question about your previous Espar setup. The deck plates you used are rated to 180F while the air from one of these diesel heaters is 220F or more. How did you keep the air heater from melting the deck plate once you glued the duct to the deck plate insert?

 

[Socal Tom]

This is an Espar heater with fuel tank, the hoses are a bit higher temperature. However I switched to using the heat from our water heater so it is not being used.

Further question about your previous Espar setup. The deck plates you used are rated to 180F while the air from one of these diesel heaters is 220F or more. How did you keep the air heater from melting the deck plate once you glued the duct to the deck plate insert?

Where did you find information that the air coming out of the espar is 220F? That would be hazardous to human skin.

 

[williaty-TNT]

Where did you find information that the air coming out of the espar is 220F? That would be hazardous to human skin.

Multiple people on youtube show temperature measurements of a bunch of different places. All of them show the output air for the interior heating being in the 180-240F range depending on heater setting, inlet air temp, etc.

 

[Socal Tom]

Where did you find information that the air coming out of the espar is 220F? That would be hazardous to human skin.

Multiple people on youtube show temperature measurements of a bunch of different places. All of them show the output air for the interior heating being in the 180-240F range depending on heater setting, inlet air temp, etc.

The safety cutoff kicks in if the heating chamber gets over 240F, it seems odd that the output air would get almost that hot on the way out. Do you have a link to one of the videos. I looked at several an none did the temp testing.
Tom

 

[williaty-TNT]

Where did you find information that the air coming out of the espar is 220F? That would be hazardous to human skin.

Multiple people on youtube show temperature measurements of a bunch of different places. All of them show the output air for the interior heating being in the 180-240F range depending on heater setting, inlet air temp, etc.

The safety cutoff kicks in if the heating chamber gets over 240F, it seems odd that the output air would get almost that hot on the way out. Do you have a link to one of the videos. I looked at several an none did the temp testing.
Tom

Timestamp takes you right to the outlet air temp reading.

 

[Socal Tom]

Where did you find information that the air coming out of the espar is 220F? That would be hazardous to human skin.

Multiple people on youtube show temperature measurements of a bunch of different places. All of them show the output air for the interior heating being in the 180-240F range depending on heater setting, inlet air temp, etc.

The safety cutoff kicks in if the heating chamber gets over 240F, it seems odd that the output air would get almost that hot on the way out. Do you have a link to one of the videos. I looked at several an none did the temp testing.
Tom

Timestamp takes you right to the outlet air temp reading.

I'm surprised it gets that hot, but that is worst case. I'm sure it loses some heat as it moves through the hose.
Tom

 

[Shadow Catcher]

The hose is high temp and quite frankly this was never used with the tear, it was in the garage. We have a small marine electric heater and my wife is shall we say a fair weather camper. I probably should sell it as it is not being used.

 

[StandUpGuy]

I have added a picture of the inside of the adapter.

Hey I remember this thread from when you were creating it way back then. I was considering all of this in my soon to be new build. It seems that there are several short comings in all of this. One being that it needs to be set up at campsite each time and two, being that the restriction of the hoses creates a flow problem. Obviously all of this is to try to eliminate some of the bone rattling noise of an AC in a small trailer.

I am trying to work out a different version where the window AC unit is permanently housed in a tongue box with some sort of sound buffering short ducting perhaps made of soft rubber. The storage box would also need to be somehow insulated from the trailer frame to further reduce vibration and noise. The controls would need to be rewired to be inside as you have done. Is it possible to greatly reduce the noise this way?