Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

tried to find my answer on previous threads, but didn't. i am going to build a wall 18" inside the back doors of the trailer. i plan on shelves and cabinets for storage and want to put a room a/c unit near the top center part of the wall into the living area, how much side and top clearance do i need around the outside of the a/c unit for it to operate properly? and do the doors have to be open fully?

thanks,

mike

Here is how I did mine. As long as you have good air circulation you should be good mounting it most anywhere. I mounted a funnel underneath it with a hose clamped on the bottom to direct the water away from the inside of the trailer. The top of the wall is tied in to both sides. I just used 1" X 3" for the header.

is that just a window unit that can be bought at walmart ?

if it is how far into the trailer does it sit, and how far out does it go

Getting closer to getting our own trailer and having a real hard time with how much they want for the roof top ac from the trailer manufacture

Yes, the ac is a typical window unit. I sat the ac on the floor inside the door about 2 inches from hitting the door. I marked on the floor where the window sill would be and that is where I built the wall. The wall is made of 1 x 3" and the back of the wall is about 6" from the door.

As long as you have all of the intake louvers on the sides of the unit uncovered you should be fine and yes it does have to vent/have hatch open.

Shodow Catcher is right. The side louvers need to be able to draw in fresh air. The rear sends out the hot air and needs to be vented. I know that 1st hand. During some of the inside build it was real hot outside and I thought that I would cool the CT off so it would be nice to work in. I turned on the AC and went into the house until I thought that is was cool enough. When I went back out I opened the side door to a blast of hot air. I never opened up the rear ramp and I just heated up the CT more than it already was. Live and learn.

I was wondering if a person could put a hatch in the floor
and use a cheap window unit vertically.
just take it in and out when moving the trailer, can't think of any
reason why it wouldn't work.

i believe they have to sit in a horizonal position to work properly, don't they? thoughts?

PraireSailor wrote:I was wondering if a person could put a hatch in the floor and use a cheap window unit vertically. just take it in and out when moving the trailer, can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work.

Compressor lubrication maybe?

A simpler solution for you might be to just put the A/C unit on the ground under the trailer, and rig a duct up through the floor for the cold air. Sorta like this contraption, but with a short duct through the floor versus an 8' snorkel up the entire side wall:

http://www.mikenchell.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=693028#693028

You have to decide if you want to mess with the AC unit everytime you set up. Do you really want to pick it up and hook up duct work each time? If you don't mind doing that that may be the way to go. I still have a job so when we go away it is usually only for the weekends so the less time I use to set up the better.

Window A/C operation is the same as the Compressor cycle in a Fridge. Conventional Fridges have to be used vertically. Std. advice is not plug in a Fridge for ~24 hours if one has to haul it home horizontal, say, in a Pickup Truck bed. A vague memory/explanation is that Compressor oil and refrigerant will mix while the unit is horizontal, and this is not good news. This is supposedly true whether the carrier gas is Freon or the present R-134. Check it out.

With some ingenious sort of latch-up holding shelf, or heavy duty Drawer Slides, you should be able to pop in the A/C in a moment at camp. I just bought some 100 lb. rated side slides at Home Despot for ~$8 each [2 req'd].

Just a thought but as you look at different window units, they fit differently in the windows. Look at the differnt casings and you will see some come inside 3" some 6" and they need to set at a slight angle. This is important to the person that sleeps by the unit if set inside a wall. In my tear I tried several ways and the one where I set it where it was inside the wife woke up with the a/c leaking on her side of the bed. I then set the tear off level a bit and a/c worked fine but she then kept hitting her head on it when moving around inside , so I got to sleep next to it. I then fixed it to vent from the outside and it worked well. On my next tear I will use a window unit I saw at Brand Smart that on intrudes thru the wall 3" instead of the cheap one I bought that comes thru 7".

Just a thought for ya

Cliff

I did mine a little differently. My left hand barn door is sealed shut and the A/C, outside shower and water heater are mounted through it. I installed a bulkhead wall to separate the rear storage from the interior of the camper. The inside portion of the air conditioner sticks through the wall.



The right hand door opens to gain access to the electronics / storage area. I vent the compartment with an inexpensive gable vent from Home Depot. This vent provides ventilation for the electronics and allows ambient air to enter for the air conditioner condenser fan vents on the sides of the air conditioner. The air conditioner works great and the water from the air conditioner drains outside so no drain pain setup is necessary.

edcasey, that is a very nice conversion except for the Tony Stewart photo. Just kiddin' about the photo. It looks well thought out. I have a ramp which is a little bit different than your barn doors. We use the ramp as an enclosed porch when camping. That is where we spend most of the time when at the CT. I could not think about cutting a hole in the ramp so the little wall was another option.

LShrew wrote:edcasey, that is a very nice conversion except for the Tony Stewart photo. Just kiddin' about the photo. It looks well thought out. I have a ramp which is a little bit different than your barn doors. We use the ramp as an enclosed porch when camping. That is where we spend most of the time when at the CT. I could not think about cutting a hole in the ramp so the little wall was another option.

Thank you. I haven't been on this site for a while and it's great to see all the new builds. Yours looks great and has some excellent ideas. I assumed the OP has barn doors because they asked if the doors had to be kept open. Either way, it can certainly be done. The Tony Stewart photo was a collector's clock that I bought a while back. My two year old decided to play with the hands so now it really is just a picture.