Portable vs. Window AC...the never ending debate

[jwhite]

I now have a 8000 btu window AC I bought on sale last year from lowes for 160.00 and I used it this weekend and it worked great,I had to turn it down at night because it got to cold,the portable ac I had was a 12000 btu and it never would cool down my trailer until after dark and then during the day it hardly worked at all.
I have mine in the rear wall that has wheels so I can open and close it.
I was afraid I was going to have to buy another honda 2000 generator because I need to also charge my golf cart at night but I did a test and 1st I got the AC running and cooling the trailer and then pluged in the golf cart charger and it has worked fine.
I don't think I would go any lower than a 8000 btu,I like the fact that in about a hour my 7x16 is really cool,before with the portable AC I was just wasting gas trying to get the trailer cool unless it was after dark.

[Glenlivet]

All this talk of air conditioners gave me the bug.

I put this 5200 BTU shaker in my 6X10 today.



It went pretty well. Made two angle iron frames for inside and outside, and where it rests it is weighted maybe a pound toward the outside, negligible. The forward vertical member, already interrupted for the window, is right in line with the compressor inside, the heaviest part.

The outside angle iron frame is fastened to the inner steel support members by 1/4" x 20 tpi bolts, and for the rest of the metal skin 3/16" pop rivets are plenty enough to keep the weatherstripping foam tight.



The inside frame is held to the 3/8" inner wall with wood screws, plenty of them. There's a weather protected male plug on the trailer outside, so I can plug in an extension cord supplying power to the A/C either from a shore source or my 2000 watt genny.



I'll have to remount the Wave 3 heater, is all.



Sticks out less than eight inches, and the wheel and fender on the side is out there 11.5", so it should be reasonably safe. Once it was fully fixed in place it's in there pretty good. I can grab the A/C from the outside and shake the heck out of it and the whole trailer shakes but the A/C ain't moving in its mounts one bit.



I was testing it out tonight and the darned thing at highest setting is still cycled on when it's 55 F. (13 C.) out! That's some serious cold. A guy could probably hang meat in there!
Seems to work well so far. The genny runs it just fine and hardly gives a blip when you cycle the compressor on. I just have to get busy and silicone bead the edges now, and reinstall the catalytic heater. This ought to be good this summer.

[flboy]

Did you make/weld the frames yourself? Is this a standard dimension or is it custom for that AC? I have a portable now... but I will replaceit with a window unit at some point as I believe the are more efficient and I can run a 5500 BTU unit with my 1200W generator easily.

[Glenlivet]

From what I've seen those little A/C's seem to be all over the map, far as size goes. There's no apparent standard that I could ever tell. This one is a 'Simplicity', apparently made by Danby and it's 16" X 12" X 12" so I made the frames 1/8" bigger inside in order to clear. The steel top and sides case of the A/C is riveted onto the inside trailer wall frame and the outside one it just slides through and rests on, on a strip of 1 1/4" foam weatherstrip tape.

[b.bodemer]

That is a good looking installation!!!!!!
Barb

[linuxmanxxx]

Can you post what you did on the outside portion?

[Glenlivet]

Thanks Barb. That's why I post, just unashamedly hoping that someone will come along and praise my work.

I didn't take any pics during the build Linuxmanxxx, but I can describe it:
I cut and welded up two 1 1/2" X 1/8" angle iron frames to clear the case by 1/8", drilled the holes and painted them to sort of match the colour of the A/C and to fit in with the trailers outside colour theme. I located the 16 1/4" X 12 1/4" air conditioner hole so that it ran alongside the vertical rib of the outside of the window on the one side (1" X 2" rectangle tubing) and required the cutting of the Z vertical member under the window to help hold the other side.
Then I located the inside frame on the A/C body so that it had 1/4" in 12" of downward tilt on the outside, for proper condensation drainage, and drilled n' riveted the frame onto the A/C.
Then I located the outside frame over the hole I'd cut, marked where the frame was over the metal support members for drilling to fit threaded inserts, and attached the outside frame to the trailer wall using 1/4" Phillips bolts on the supports and 3/16" pop rivets where it was just sheet metal trailer skin.
Before putting the frame onto the trailer I stuck 1/8" thick weatherstripping onto the wall facing surface of the frame, and made holes in it at each drilled hole, with an awl.
Weatherstripping was laid on the bottom flat surface of the outside frame too, where the A/C would rest on it. Once the bolts were put into each threaded insert and the frame was in its permanent place I drilled the skin through each frame hole and put in the pop rivets.



Once the outside frame was attached I put the A/C into the hole, and when it was both resting on the outer frame and the inner frame was flat against the inside wall on all sides, I marked each inside frame screw hole center with the awl and drove in the #8 X 3/4" screws to secure it in place.

The power input is just a weather protected male plug, wired straight to a standard wall receptical above and on the other side of the wall, inside the trailer. The A/C has its own integral GFCI in its plug.
I think I'll run my Ctek battery maintainer off the other plug outlet though, and wire it to the 12 volt system. That way all I have to do is plug in to shore power when I park, and Bob's your uncle.

I borry'd an idea from thejonescompany1 from his "I’m tired of tents..." topic too, for my Wave 3 heater. I'd had ideas about making a stainless steel reflector on a hinge or some such thing, to make the mostly radiant heater bank it's heat at the occupants instead of some of it going straight up, but this piece of rolled edge ducting tin is so much lighter and easier and... elegant. It works like a charm.


Thanks bud!

[k1hog]

I posted to this thread early on, stating that our 10,000 BTU single hose portable air, worked great in our 7X14, very well insulated, black conversion. Update, DW and I went camping last weekend, down here in Louisiana, the humidity and the temps have gone Up, and Up, and UPPER. We did not park in the shade and the portable air just could not keep up in the day light hours. For many reasions I do not want to install a roof air, and all though the very fine instlation of the window unit above is great, I do not want that eather. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I did a great deal of reading about all the types of air conditioners for conversions. I finialy understand about the differance between the single hose units and the duel hose unites, and understand about the vacume in our conversion. So I am going to try a 14,000 BTU duel hose unit. I will post again when the new air is installed and tested. DW and I are going camping this weedend, and a shady camp spot is a must.

Johnnie

[8ball_99]

I posted to this thread early on, stating that our 10,000 BTU single hose portable air, worked great in our 7X14, very well insulated, black conversion. Update, DW and I went camping last weekend, down here in Louisiana, the humidity and the temps have gone Up, and Up, and UPPER. We did not park in the shade and the portable air just could not keep up in the day light hours. For many reasions I do not want to install a roof air, and all though the very fine instlation of the window unit above is great, I do not want that eather. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I did a great deal of reading about all the types of air conditioners for conversions. I finialy understand about the differance between the single hose units and the duel hose unites, and understand about the vacume in our conversion. So I am going to try a 14,000 BTU duel hose unit. I will post again when the new air is installed and tested. DW and I are going camping this weedend, and a shady camp spot is a must.

Johnnie

14000 Btu unit is HUGE for a 7x14. This reason alone is the reason I say a window ac or Roof ac is better then a portable. I was able to keep m 14 footer ICE cold with a 9k roof top unit on low cool. I guess if your always camping in spots with power Its not that big of a deal.. We dry camp pretty often so the less power I have to pull on the generator the less gas it uses.

I'm not sure why everyone seems so against a roof ac. Only downside to them is they are a little higher priced. Although after looking at some of these prices for good portable ACs they really aren't much higher. 500 bucks gets you a 13k Roof AC..

[linuxmanxxx]

Uh where are you finding a roof unit for 500? More like 1500.

[Pyrofish]

Uh where are you finding a roof unit for 500? More like 1500.

I thought that too before I looked into it:

This is the same 13.5K I use to cool my 20x8.5
http://www.rvpartwholesaler.com/servlet/the-78/Dometic-457915-457915.XX1C0-13.5k/Detail

Their selection
http://www.rvpartwholesaler.com/servlet/the-Appliances-cln-Air-Conditioners/s/51/Categories

IIR, shipping made the 13.5K around $500.

I bought the actual one I have used prior to finding them there while looking for the inside piece. I paid $500 delivered for a 6 year old one with no controls because I thought they were $1500 too... live and learn.

[cpinetree]

Thanks for the rooftop links.
I got an old rooftop unit for free, that works, but have been thinking about just installing a window unit because of my perceived rooftop replacement cost.

Thanks again,

[roadinspector]

Thanks for the rooftop links.
I got an old rooftop unit for free, that works, but have been thinking about just installing a window unit because of my perceived rooftop replacement cost.

Thanks again,

That's where I am. I already have a rooftop model but the replacement cost scares me off. But then again, go ahead and use it. I already have it so there is no up front cost. If the replacement cost is too high when it does die, I can turn the hole into another roof vent and install a window unit then. I'll save $100+ right now on the build. It's more work to install the rooftop model but my labor is real cheap when I work for myself.

Earnest

[linuxmanxxx]

You just changed how I cool my builds. I went to portable because of the pita it is to build the window units in to be pleasing to the eyes and functional. Time to close in the ac wasn't worth the effort but a roof unit is much easier and very eye pleasing at 500.

[linuxmanxxx]

You just changed how I cool my builds. I went to portable because of the pita it is to build the window units in to be pleasing to the eyes and functional. Time to close in the ac wasn't worth the effort but a roof unit is much easier and very eye pleasing at 500.