Air Conditioner Location Ideas

[Patrick Star]

Alright. I have to come up with a good place for my AC in my standie build. Modified 73 caveman copy

I do not want the AC sticking out the side of the camper, but unsure where exactly to locate it since I despise seeing window units sticking out in awkward places

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[working on it]

* Build it inside a cabinet, with only the exhaust pointing outside, thru a louvered vent grille to disguise it, with the enclosure supply both ambient air to cool the chassis, and drawing in cabin air to recirculate it. The unit can drip condensate directly underneath the trailer, by attaching a small hose to the drain pan. Fasten the grille directly to your exterior wood/siding/coating, leave it in white (or painted to match), and nothing will show.

use a flat-front A/C unit like this one (my LG unit is angled, not good for cabinet enclosure placement)

5k btu Frigidaire air unit.JPG (151.25 KiB) Viewed 4036 times

grilles can be sourced any size, anywhere, for little $$

12 x 16 louvered grille white steel.JPG (81.97 KiB) Viewed 4036 times

* Thousands of trailers and RV's use similar covers for internal equipment, and it will look normal; plus, the cover will be held against the finned exhaust, keeping out critters and insects, and also will radiate heat away from the unit.

* I should've built my fully internal A/C system this way, instead of using a fabricated right-angle, insulated duct (w/internal axial duct fan, and modified lift-up vent cover.

my way to vent hot exhaust flow out of a fully enclosed A/C (at night) in my 4x8 TTT's closed-hatch galley area 4x8 TTT, so I angled it 90 degrees outside

Air conditioner exhaust ducting.jpg (244.49 KiB) Viewed 4036 times

[Chasein70]

Use a through the wall AC unit like I did. All the intake and exhaust vents are in the rear. I put mine in a cabinet inside. When I want to use it I have a door that opens up on the outside.

[Atomic77]

I have a 5000 btu Frigidaire unit that works great. My camper is 120 sq ft and roughly 600 cu ft. July 4th weekend it was high 90's for 4 straight days. It kept the coach between 70-75°. Mine is built in a cabinet, with the rear exhaust ducted into the floor. Out of sight and out of mind with no obvious exterior vents, etc.



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[Patrick Star]

Nice!!!

Through the wall looks like the ticket for my locations

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[Muran123]

What about all the water dripping from the ac unit ?


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[Chasein70]

I don't think any AC units drip water. That's been gone for many years. Now you hear a ping ping noise. That's the droplets hitting the fan then turning into a mist that's shot out the back.

[Muran123]

Thanks I didn’t know that


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[working on it]

I don't think any AC units drip water. That's been gone for many years. Now you hear a ping ping noise. That's the droplets hitting the fan then turning into a mist that's shot out the back.

* But, just in case the humidity is so high that an excess of condensate forms, wouldn't you rather have any overflow drip into a drip pan, or onto the ground? Even though most condensate is used internally to cool the unit, current manufacturers installation manuals still demand that the units be angled back for proper function, but not to drill holes in the bottom rear, even if excess water pools there.

* My 4x8 TTT uses a LG lw5012j 5k BTU unit, that I bought because my experience with LG units showed little or no dripping (from a 8k BTU unit in my wife's office-in our old house), whereas we had lots of condensate overflow from our Frigidaires (two 15100 BTU, and one 10k BTU units) most of the time, despite their lack of drain holes. All units were 2011-2013 year models.

* Since its' installation in my TTT's so-called "galley", the little LG has never dripped into the pan I hand-formed for it (from flex-seal on plywood, with drain tube to the underside of the trailer), and probably gets ejected out the exhaust ducting, instead. But the Frigidaires all dripped like Niagara, during very humid weather.

hand-formed drip pan.jpg (94.59 KiB) Viewed 3765 times

ducting overhead, drip pan below.JPG (69.56 KiB) Viewed 3765 times

[Tomterrific]

I'm not thinking of AC in my camper right now but... what about a boxed in unit with the cold air exit set over the vent on top of the camper? Set the unit over the vent, open the vent and plug it in. There would be no need to lug the A.C. around except when you need it.

Tt

[Atomic77]

I don't think any AC units drip water. That's been gone for many years. Now you hear a ping ping noise. That's the droplets hitting the fan then turning into a mist that's shot out the back.

Not entirely true. I have a 5000 btu ducted out the floor. I glassed in a pan to catch condensation and depending on humidity levels it gets wet. Above 5000 btu they have slinger rings that sling the water into the rear fan blades and onto the condenser. Others have drains and drain tubes built in for this purpose.

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[featherliteCT1]

Atomic77,

Where is your air intake for your air conditioner? ... I looked at your build page and could not find an answer to my question... thanks

[Atomic77]

Atomic77,

Where is your air intake for your air conditioner? ... I looked at your build page and could not find an answer to my question... thanks

Sorry, that's because it's not there. Towards the end of the build the journal was getting neglected in lieu of finishing up for the camping season.

The rear of the unit ducts into the floor, cool air comes into the side of the cabinet via computer fans. Here's a couple shots:





I would check out Little Guy's Silver Shadow. I am currently installing custom AC in a teardrop much like that. It has air vents on sides and I saw one with the same fan as mine on the bottom.





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[Chasein70]

You should have used a through the wall AC. Everything is in the rear. No ducting, no fans or holes in the floor.

[featherliteCT1]

Atomic77,

Thanks for the photos and feedback ... I watched a Little Guy youtube where the guy was drilling two holes (intake and outflow) to be used with a Climate Right AC unit, where the unit sits outside the trailer and where the two holes circulate exterior air (not cabin air) to cool the unit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqr4TX37qFw


I did not see any such holes in your trailer.

Is your cool air being drawn from inside the cabin rather than outside?