Thermoelectric a/c & heater?

[frank_a]

Does anyone know anything about these 2500 btu units?

http://eicsolutions.thomasnet.com/item/ ... 151-4xt-hc?

It seems very difficult to get a cost from the web. I was wondering if anyone had bought one of these, if so how much they are, and how they work in a tiny camper.

Thanks!

Frank

[madjack]

frank, it has been 3r4 years now BUT the last time I saw a price on those, they were prohibitively expensive...somewhere between 1500-2500 bux(like I said, it has been a while)...you can of course click the "request a quote" button on the website and find out for sure...I also seem to remember, a member here, had gotten one for next to nuthin, installed it and found it was about as effective as what he paid for it..........
madjack

[frank_a]

That's what I was looking for, thanks! I started to get a quote, but it sure looked like I was about to buy something...

I see where a lot of folks love these pet cool units, but I can't seem to find anyplace that still has them in stock? I mean, $500 or $600 bucks is a lot of moola, but for a/c, heat and dehumidifying, maybe 600 bucks isn't bad.

Frank

[eamarquardt]

That's what I was looking for, thanks! I started to get a quote, but it sure looked like I was about to buy something...

I see where a lot of folks love these pet cool units, but I can't seem to find anyplace that still has them in stock? I mean, $500 or $600 bucks is a lot of moola, but for a/c, heat and dehumidifying, maybe 600 bucks isn't bad.

Frank

The petcool unit is just a resistance heater. A 1500 watt electric heater can be had for very little. For example:

http://www.air-n-water.com/product/754200.htm

You can get a 5500 btu window shaker (and it would be more efficient power wise than a Pet Cool) for less than a hundred bucks. With a little work installing it in your trailer or fabricating ducts for it and perhaps remoting the controls you could have the same capabilities as a PC for about 1/5 the cost.

My sons no longer consider me pathetically cheap, just cost effective.

Cheers,

Gus

[frank_a]

I looked at a lot of the A/C stuff on the site Gus, and it seems for ease of use, noise, size, and convenience of placement, pet cool is the way to go. Not only does it heat and cool, it dehumidifies, which folks with the $100 A/c units (mostly around 5000 btu) seem to have problems with in muggy heat, which we get around here.

I'm more than open to suggestion, but I'd like to have a good all-around unit that would work as well in northern Quebec or Florida. Pet Cool just looks easy to do.

Frank

[eamarquardt]

I looked at a lot of the A/C stuff on the site Gus, and it seems for ease of use, noise, size, and convenience of placement, pet cool is the way to go. Not only does it heat and cool, it dehumidifies, which folks with the $100 A/c units (mostly around 5000 btu) seem to have problems with in muggy heat, which we get around here.

I'm more than open to suggestion, but I'd like to have a good all-around unit that would work as well in northern Quebec or Florida. Pet Cool just looks easy to do.

Frank

All a/c units dehumidify. The "trick" is to use a unit that isn't too big. If you use an oversized unit, the air isn't cycled over the evaporator (cooling coils) enough times to condense the water vapor. Several folks have modified window shakers to be as convienent as the pet cool.

I agree that having the unit sit on the deck, not attached (except for hoses to duct the air) to the trailer so that noise and vibration are minimized is the way to go. I don't sleep well at night when the forced air heater in our house cycles on and off (fortunately we don't need to run it at night). It's cool enough here that I haven't run my home air conditioner but half a dozen times in the 27 years I've been in this house and we have never needed it at night.

So. Cal. has it's advantages (but government, taxes, and congestion aren't among them!).

Your "argument" that it pet cool is convienent is valid but with a little effort you can achieve more "cost effective" results.

Cheers,

Gus

[frank_a]

Boy Gus, I really appreciate the advice. I have never owned any kind of travel trailer, so I have a lot to learn. I'll take a closer look at other options. Would you have one or two links to installations on the site here you would recommend?

Thanks!

Frank

[Shadow Catcher]

I do not yet have pictures becuse I still do not have the trailer, but we have a 5,000 BTU windowshaker that was modified to take 4" hoses for both the goes inta and the goes outa (closed loop) and the hoses will go through 4" maine deck plates. The AC unit will be controlled by a digital thermostat inside the trailer. Those same deck plates will acomidate the hoses runnning from the Espar diesel heater.

[Engineer Guy]

Read about some AC sizing 'rules of thumb' below, while recalling they likely assume an 8' ceiling. You might want to run some simple numbers on cubic volume of these Room examples, and then do the same on the Trailer cubic volume space you're trying to condition.

Note the well known Low/High settings trick with regards to dehumidifying, and speed of Air throughput.

AC Insights

LOTS of small TT ACs [I have a 14'er] are 13,500 BTU. I'm not suggesting that RV BTU size [or RV high price unit] for a moment. 13.5k BTU, and somewhat-smaller, are widely-used TT BTU sizes because it gets the job done in marginally-insulated TTs and RVs. You could start your search with this AC BTU-size 'truism', and downsize your targeted BTU capacity from there. Note the typical Window unit BTU minimum available [per the Website above]. For calculations, treat a Trailer like a wheeled Room w/so-so Insulation and 'lots' of Windows for the cubic volume, and you'll at least be in the ballpark for BTU capacity needed.

I'm sure folks will chime in here with AC size success stories.

[frank_a]

Thank you folks for all the great ideas. I think I have a deal in the works to acquire a ttt soon, and it's just something I'm thinking about. I'll have to estimate cu. ft. A/C probably wouldn't happen right away anyways. Just me and this darn thinkin!

Frank