A/C on tongue...

[Chip]

You know what we are trying to do might be like trying to put sunglasses on a hog,,,no matter what we do it just aint gonna fit,,all we can do is make the best fit we can for most of the situations,,speaking of rain,,,we got another hurricane heading this way,,,gonna be a wounderful weekend coming up,,,never mind the galley getting wet,,I wonder what the "float factor" is on a teardrop

[mikeschn]

So you must be talking about Gaston, and maybe later, Frances?

I would probably just turn the teardrop upside down to float it.

Maybe we should build tears shaped like upside down arks? LOL

Mike...

[McTeardrops]

I haven't taken my A/c out of the box yet, but the plan is to spend a good part of the day on Autosketch figuring out mounting the unit and interior arrangement of the TD. The logical location seems to be either in or behind the rear bulkhead. I'm thinking of two approaches, one of which I haven't seen elsewhere.

1) High in the rear bulkhead: This requires a drain pan and drain piping, as well as circulating air around the coils. My thought is to solve both problems with a BIG drain, maybe six inch PVC, possibly with an inline fan, under a standard roof vent, possibly with fan. Drawbacks are high placement of forty plus pounds, and additional roof penetration, probably in a curved area.

2) In a well behind the rear bulkhead: My thought is a telescoping open box arrangement to lower the unit below the floor for operation. This would condition the galley area, place the coils in the open, and eliminate the drainage and sealing problems. It couldn't hurt to have the cooler surrounded by cold air!

[BufordT]

Mike,

Been looking at the weekender and a/c problem. I'd place the a/c in the back of the trailer below the kitchen. Let it stick out a little so that you didn't have to worry about using a vent. Or you could place it on slides and only slide it out when you are going to use it.

Don't make two doors in the back and make the a/c have it's on little box that blows into the tear above your feet. Like a mini hall way.

Bufordt

[mikeschn]

Buford,

Is this what you are talking about. The A/c is mounted directly under the counter, with the back of the a/c flush with the back of the teardrop. I takes in air thru one side of the teardrop, and exhausts it directly thru a hole in the back?

Like in this picture...


I am still working on the a/c as you can see in the above picture. It's a real catch 22 though... to get the scoop in I have to angle the hatch... but then I can't fit the coffee pot on the counter...

Mike...

[BufordT]

Yep,

That's it. You could do several things here. Mount the a/c a little farther out so that the intake vents are sticking out. You could use a slider and slide it out when you are using it. You could do it the way you are talking about with a different intake vent. You could place it in the center on the left side or on the right side.

I wouldn't cut a hole in the floor like you did on the last one.

You wouldn't have to worry about rain.

Some where I say one that sticks out the side of the tear and it looked really good like that. didn't affect the shape of the tear at all.


Bufordt

[Guest]

Mike,
Is there anyway to mount the AC a bit lower and/or more forward, to have a smaller dormer at the roofline? (Probably not, huh?)
If I remember correctly, Cary's set up used the small vent (kinda looked like a spoiler) for both intake and exhaust.

[mikeschn]

but the plan is to spend a good part of the day on Autosketch figuring out mounting the unit and interior arrangement of the TD.

Are you doing any good in Autosketch yet?

Mike...

[Laredo]

maybe i'm dreaming because I can't find it on google anymore, but awhile back didn't somebody post (on one of the older boards) about a homemade a/c that weighed like 12 lbs and drew like 3.5 amps?

it was folks who did a lot of desert camping & were appalled at the $ for a ready-made RV unit.

anybody remember reading that?

alternatively ... there's a company out there that makes under-dash a/c units for 40s and 50s hot rodders ...

[mikeschn]

You're not thinking of the swamp cooler, are you?

As for auto a/c... got a good example of something might work?

Mike...

[Chip]

gentlemen,,and ladies,,, we got a few brilliant minds on this board and a few less so,,like myself,, :idea: :idea: take a conventional a./c unit out of a window,,tear it down into components and re assemble with seperate pods,,compressor and coil outside and a small inside cooling coil with fan ,,,mount the compressor on the tongue in a box etc,, and run two copper tubes into the cabin with a fan to circulate air across the cooling coils,,it would take a bit of fabrication and a lot of head scratching but could it be done,,,a small box mounted in the overhead cabinet could house all the inside stuff,,,basically I am suggesting adding a bit of wire and copper tubing and seperate the housing rather than having one large box to deal with,,,any HVAC specialist out there got any ideas,,,It may not be feasible,,thats why I am asking

chip

[mikeschn]

I wonder why engeld didn't take his apart any further than he did???

Mike...

[dmb90260]

I had an A/C unit put in mine from Freedom. It is a stand alone unit placed in the passenger side cabinet. There is a vent door on the side next to it and the back side of that particular cabinet has a door with a lattice work screen. It works fine to cool things down for my dogs but you will never have it freezing cold inside. There is a tube from the unit running down a corner of the galley to the outside. :biggrin:

The side vent and galley hatch must be open for it to work properly. I can stow some items to the back of the A/C unit but they have to be moved when it is operating. For a small unit, it does throw some heat.

[dmb90260]

I have posted pictures of the A/C in my albumn. This is a small Samsung unit with zero information on it's size or output. Over this last weekend I was in the Sierras with 95 deg temp. At the Spamboree my older dog acted like she was in prison when I left her inside with the A/C. This time with the hotter temps she did not want to leave. I got it mainly for the dogs, I have a blender to help me cool off.

[Laredo]

kinda spendy ...

www.vintageair.com

but then sometimes u get what u pay 4, no?

Hmmmmmm ......... CSI repeat shows a guy with a fan, a block of ice in a baking pan, and his chair downwind. Way lo tech.... (also the guy dies when a short in the powerstrip meets meltwater from the ice 50 ft away)