... and now , about those air conditioners...

[GPW]

I realize this is a stupid time of the year to bring this up , but camping season’s fast approaching whilst we babble on ...
I’ve decided to use a small door in the front to stick in a small 5K btu AC unit when needed... (Apr.-Nov. ) Transporting the unit in the back of the pickup for simplicity , and not having to worry about rocks and road bits damaging my unit .... no cover to make ... just another little close fitting door , with a good weather seal !!! Sounds easy !!!

Sure would be great to see some others Foamie AC ideas ...
I know Eagle has a door unit which is , excuse the expression , Cool !!

[Ratkity]

For the past 2 seasons, I've contemplated ACs. There are interesting threads about the forum about how to put a shaker unit in or even a petcool type.

One of the things I want to keep is my fantastic fan. I also have no desire to have to pick up an AC unit and position it when I get to camp (bad back). The hardest part of camping without AC is not being able to take the dogs. They would be too hot!

Hugs,
Ratkity

[packerz4]

keep in mind that is is VERY hard to weather proof an opening in the front of a trailer... with the water from the vehicle when it's raining, you'll have moisture... gauranteed.

[Shadow Catcher]

One of my considerations was keeping things water tight and I used marine deck plates. These wold be easy to reinforce for a fomie. One of my concerns in building a foamie would be stressing the exterior shell, and trying to hang an AC unit just strikes me as being a bit risky.





If you wanted to use simple PVC pipe with off the shelf caps...
I am playing with the idea of a floaty fomie and will if I decide to do this, use quite a few marine items.

[GPW]

P4, Hmmm? Water , that could be tricky ....
SC , Nice idea , avoiding any noise or vibration transmitted to the trailer ... Yours have a remote ? I lived in an apartment a long time ago that had a window unit blowing into a duct , it was slightly less efficient that way , but I guess on a Foamie that wouldn’t matter much ... all that insulation and all ...

Lucky those folks in drier climates , that can use an evaporative or swamp cooler ...

[eaglesdare]

shadow catcher: the way i have my a/c there is no stress on my shell. i have a door insert with a hole cut out. the a/c fits in that hole, then the front part inside the shell sits on a piece of foam that keeps it up. then i have a tripod i use on the outside that the back part of the a/c sits on. clear as mud right

[Shadow Catcher]

I used the original thermostat, removed and installed in a small Radio Shack project box along with an on off switch. The control wires go through the outlet hose. And yes it is almost silent even with the bilge blower.
Yes a water proof hatch can be made for direct mounting or you could use a marine deck hatch. The advantage of ours is it is two 4" holes and the AC unit has withstood a rain storm with no problem and no leakage.

[cuyeda]

@Shadow Catcher

Nice install. Do the 4" external duct plugins connect to any interior ducting, or just terminate through the interior? I hope my question is clear.

I wanted to look for possible RV ducting that has more of a flat shape so that it could be sandwiched between the walls. Haven't researched this yet, but was curious about your install.

[Shadow Catcher]

There is a complete write up of this AC hack as a sticky.

Yes there is no additional ducting on the inside, I used a conventional Rv louver on the inside, you can see the control wire sneaking through the lower one.



This in conjunction with the vent fans with vent closed circulate the coolth nicely.
There is a short length of pipe coming from the RV duct flange that actually had to be shortened to mate with the deck plate and I silicone caulked the slight mismatch in size so there is a seal. I used PVC pipe fitting that just fit inside the hose and wall opening and used some closed cell neoprene glued to the outside of the PVC reducer that inserts into the camper to give it an air/water tight seal.

[GPW]

SC , that’s very Nice !!!

I just need a simple hole in the wall mounting , with the weight of the unit resting on the floor ... RV Cargo door would be Nice , but probably not in my Foamie budget .... not on this one anyway ...

[cuyeda]

Thanks for the photo of your interior outlets! Wonderful!

[GPW]

Looking around , found a lot of RV cargo doors in many sizes , most were Pricy (for me anyway ) .. and why are “feed doors “ cheaper ??? Still didn’t see anything that couldn’t be simplified for our purpose and home built/sealed .. It’s just a door eh ? What about “other “ AC locations besides on the front ... sides ? , rear ? Eagles' door unit puts it in a good location almost mid trailer for overall cooling ...

One of the reason I’m into this now is because, this time of year presents a greater possibility of finding a small AC on SALE !!! Just trying to think ahead to our looong Hot summers ...

[eaglesdare]

once my taxe refund gets here i will be looking for window a/c also. i think its cheaper for us using the window a/c for our house then the main unit. my camper a/c is what i used in the house last year. my electric bill dropped a ton. like 200 dollars. we haven't used the main heater either this year, just a small electric unit in the main living room. has worked out great. and i love saving money.

i filed today, so i am hoping they are accepted. then i have to work on the hubby about our list of what we will spend it on.

[linuxmanxxx]

The unit I have decided to use in my campers is exactly this principle but with a heater inside it as well. 7k btu AC and like 7.2k btu heater and has the hoses hole saw included and everything needed to install. Pricey if you compare it to a window unit but if you then compare it to a window unit with heat pump it doesn't look bad at all. Simply plug in the hoses if you need it or just leave it put up if you don't.



I'm an authorized dealer and can sell at the lowest price authorized $579 for the 7k model shipped to your door or $549 for the 2500btu model. Not much sense going with the smaller unit for less than half the capacity with the larger only 30 dollars more jmho.


This is the control panel pretty straightforward no remote with it though is the only drawback but with the large one and its output it wouldn't take but minutes to equalize a new temp.

[GPW]

That’s very Nice for a heat Pump for a trailer !!! Having cool and heat sure would extend the camping season ...

Lucky Rex !!!!