Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

My most-likely camping areas will be in the Midwest and South, so AC seems required. (It is unbelievably hot and humid today for example.) And I realize everything is a trade-off, but I am really stuck....

I have read about 100 posts. And I can't see if a consensus has emerged.

Some put the AC in the lower galley at the foot of the bed. How have people vented this?

I have seen AC units in the front of the unit, on a sliding shelf with a closing hatch, or built into a tongue box.

Somebody even put the unit up high over the galley/cabin storage.

Then there is the door. The "pet cool" style - where the AC is separate and ducted...

I probably missed some.

If the made a 5000 btu RV-style unit I would put it on top of the Tear, but a 15,000 btu unit would make the tear a refrigerator ... or not run enough to exhaust the humidity.

I went for the door approach.

1) It was an after thought.
2) With two doors I felt it was an easy trade off if a/c is needed.
3) With a a pick up for a tow vehicle I didn't have to worry about carrying the a/c if I needed it.
4) Paid $50 for the 5,000 BTU unit when it bottomed out in price at Home Depot after the summer season ended.



Barb

...there is no consensus...just like everything else about these tears, there are about as many ideas as there are people to build them...AC's in the lower galley are usually vented down thru the floor...you did miss one method of mounting...some folks have used a 5K window shaker , made up some duct work for them and used them like a PetCool would be used, sitting seperate from the tear and ducted into the trailer...........
madjack

AC on ground piped in through dryer vent. Works great, and not too much $$$$$$

Try and think about how you are going to install and use it and what that would be like. If you put it at your feet, it could get pretty cold down there, but you could also point the vents up and slide your feet to the side. At the front, you could get a brain freeze, but you could also point the vents up to reduce that a bit. A front-mounted pet cool might cut down on the brain freeze since the air entry is small.

I was thinking to put mine on the interior shelf just forward of the galley which is a ways away from your body, but the air might just whip around the top and smack your head anyway. The side is good (like the one pictured in the door), but that also has to be relocated while going down the road etc. So, I think the reason there is no consensus is that no matter where you put it there are challenges and compromises. You just have to decide what you can live with.

After trying it a number of different ways, I like mine up high!



Mike...

Mike

I really like the idea of the ac mounted up high but how would you trim something like that out if a person was using aluminum?


Seth

As with everything, A/C placement is a matter of trade-offs in other areas of design. What attracted us to teardrops was the idea of "hook up and go." This dictated a lot of our design considerations such as cooler in the galley and permanent mounting of the A/C. We don't want to spend a lot of time loading the tow vehicle as we do with tent camping.

I wanted to place my petcool in the galley close to the axle, but my teardrop is only 10 feet long. I have a cabinet at the head of the bed that already comprises the room in the galley. My electrical supply/convertor/ distribution will be located in the galley. If I had placed the petcool in the galley, there wouldn't have had room to keep my cooler and dishes and pans there too.

So elsewhere the petcool had to go. I will be placing it in a tongue box and will be ducting the supply air through the top of the front cabinet. I will place a return air vent at the foot of the bed (tall enough to clear the mattress) and duct the return air back to the tongue box, so I'll have "flow through" heating and cooling.

Tom

ZendoDeb wrote:Some put the AC in the lower galley at the foot of the bed. How have people vented this?

Like MJ said, there is no consensus and there problably never will be due to the diversity of the ideas and the builds here. What works great in one application may not work so well in another.

I placed mine in the galley and vented it through the floor. It works well for me.

Here is the link to my build: Air Conditioner

atkryder wrote:Mike

I really like the idea of the ac mounted up high but how would you trim something like that out if a person was using aluminum?


Seth

I would trim it out with dead soft aluminum angle...

View from the rear after skinning...


Interior view...


Mike...