KCStudly wrote:I wonder if it would be easier to control what air goes where by building your own enclosure, rather than adapting to the existing one. You said you where going to relocate the controls anyway, so why not (if it makes sense)?
Kharn wrote:Another thing to remember, a dripping AC is a happy AC. Some smaller units also rely on the fan splashing a bit of the water around, and lose efficiency if you drill a hole for a drain nipple in the condensate pan.
capnTelescope wrote:Howdy, J. I'm enjoying watching your build.
Air conditioning. Hmmmm. Interesting.
I haven't done this yet, but my time is coming. Just a few thoughts, based on my experience with automotive a/c (ASE certified, retired, expired). Both home and auto units run on the same principles, have the same parts, etc., so I claim they relate to each other.
I would leave the bottom of the enclosure open for condenser air intake. Leaves you with no worries about drips, and Kharn is right about the fan splash. Point the condenser side aftward for road debris safety. Leave the back side open for condenser discharge. Use expanded metal or heavy screen to keep out stuff that doesn't belong. I wouldn't worry too much about keeping the unit completely out of the weather, as the compressor/condenser end of things live outside in a home or auto unit. They're used to it.
The easiest way to get an a/c unit to not cool is to not have enough air flow through the condenser. So lots of air flow around the "hot" end.
On the "cold" end, you need to keep hot outside air out. I may be capnTelescope, but sometimes they call me capnObvious.
You also need to separate warmer returning air from outgoing cold air. Like with ducting/partitioning of some sort. That was Big Mike's problem.
Not enough return air will cause the evaporator to ice up. What you saw was normal frost. Not to worry about that. To "Ice up" means your evaporator is living inside an ice block, blocking air flow thru the evap. You have to wait for the ice block to thaw before you can continue cooling. I would be inclined to put your booster fan in the return air duct to get that return air to the evap. I don't have any sound scientific reason for saying that, it just seems right.
I hope this was of some help.
Keep going. We're all watching to see what's next. Enjoy the journey.
jseyfert3 wrote:The bottom of the stock enclosure has no vents...
. A qualified maybe. You need free air circulation around the outdoor half of the a/c unit. Ambient air needs to get in, and hot air out. If, as I understand it, you are building a box with a fold-down door around the unit, then an expanded metal bottom would let the air in, and the door lets the air out. Or, you can make your box as wide as possible, so plenty of air can get in on the sides of the unit when the door is open.jseyfert3 wrote:Do you just mean place the unit on supporting bars of some sort and not a plywood "floor"?
Fair enough. It's really not important which way it faces, as long as plenty of ambient air can get in and go through the condenser.jseyfert3 wrote:... If it faces back...
KCStudly wrote:Looking good.
Were about are you located? Looks eerily like New England. Maybe we are neighbors?
jseyfert3 wrote:Now that the outline was traced out, we used a jigsaw to cut the wall out. Didn't take very long. It made some dust, but that was okay as we were outside. Then we held it up to see how it looked.
Side One - Finished by jseyfert3, on Flickr
jseyfert3 wrote:Thanks. I'm located in Peoria, IL.
lthomas987 wrote:I notice on your foam sides the curves sweep down to the bottom of the trailer frame instead of the bottom of the 1x4 wooden frame, and if I recall the trailer frame is like 6+" back underneath. Are you going to add some sort of facia board on there? Or was that an unintended feature of redrawing the curve and looking at the flat view of the trailer in Sketchup or whatver you're using? I want to start building SOO badly. Today it was almost warm enough. Your progress is awesome!
Laura
kudzu wrote:Oh, yeah! That would be the fun stuff. Nice little profile of a teardrop you've got there. Looks good.jseyfert3 wrote:Thanks. I'm located in Peoria, IL.
Uh-oh. Now I'll have to ask to see your foamie next time we're in Peoria. BF is from Peoria & graduated (under-grad) from Bradley. We're there a couple times a year.
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