Question about carbon monoxide

[blue66]

When I am using the air conditioner (window unit attached to the back) do I have to open a vent or will the air conditioner cycle fresh air in?

[eamarquardt]

Depends upon the design of your air conditioner as some introduce fresh air, some don't. Not a bad idea to keep a window or hatch opened just a bit. Not to worry about carbon monoxide as air conditioners (unless they're on fire) don't produce any.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Gus

[working on it]

When I am using the air conditioner (window unit attached to the back) do I have to open a vent or will the air conditioner cycle fresh air in?

Here's my experience, repeated from a good thread http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=40667&hilit=air+tight My trailer is sealed tight, with extremely tight fit around the doors (67-72 Chevy truck seals), which must be forced shut. The inside is sealed with paint, the exterior with poly and paint. All seams are sealed with PL adhesive. I have tight butterfly covers on the cabin vents, and the windows seem to shut very tightly. I experimented with the A/C and electrical system a while back, and found out, among other things, that the trailer is too well sealed. In a matter of just 10-15 minutes, with no external airflow or A/C running, the humidity inside would rise from comfortable to miserable (48% to 99%). I guess that there was a considerable CO2 build-up also. And that's with just one person in the 4x8. I guess that I must leave a vent cracked open at all time to avoid this, since the little A/C has no "fresh air" feature.

[Shadow Catcher]

The AC unit we have picks up some outside air and it would be no trick to put a small hole in the intake air hose up stream of the bilge blower to suck in some outside air.

[Ron Dickey]

If you are worried about that get a carbon monoxide detector like you use in your house. Battery operated and put it in your trailer. Your seals on your doors should never be that tight. When it hits you just want to sleep it is not like a fire that gets you going, people have died in tents because of carbon monoxide from a something that makes heat, cook stove, or light.

[mike_c]

Just to be clear, what's the SOURCE of carbon monoxide you're worried about? CO is much more toxic than CO2, but it's produced by hydrocarbon combustion (including cellulose, in wood and charcoal). An electric air conditioner doesn't produce any CO, but conceivably one could suffocate from CO2 in a sealed trailer with the AC on if it isn't sucking outside air into the cabin. Also, just cooling the air without replacing it will make it really moist when you're inside respiring, so it's always better to leave a vent or window cracked for air exchange.

[eamarquardt]

One thing to keep in mind is that in air conditioners bigger isn't better. A big factor in the issue of comfort is the humidity of the air. As you cool the air the relative humidity increases if you don't remove some of the moisture. In order to dehumidify/remove the moisture from the air the air has to make several trips over the coils while being cooled. An oversized unit will cool the air fast with few trips over the evaporator coils not allowing them to condense and remove the water.

Sooo, a 9 gazillion btu unit won't do as good a job as a 5K btu unit in a small trailer. You want the unit to run long enough to remove the moisture not just cool the air.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Gus