HVAC placement

[Shadow Catcher]

I have never been particularly concerned with things walking off, in part because all the connections and controls are unique. The control wires run inside the hose into the tear. The placement of the goes into and goes out of ports work, there are louvered grills on the inside and the goes into cold side is on top and directed upward. I run the vent fan with the vent closed which keeps the cool air circulating.

Mid summer we get 90 degrees and 90% humidity and the puddle of condensate is fairly large. Sizing how many BUT was based on a calculator I found on line that let me plug in six exterior surfaces and 400CF interior space and 5,000 btu was about right, It spends enough time running to dehumidify nicely.
We encountered some one who had a 4X8 tear with a 5.000 btu and their complaint is that it short cycled and they had cold wet air.

The picture is at Sully Creek State Park just south of Teddy Roosevelt National Park this summer the last picture is of an air purification system I am working on with a HEPA filter, I suffer from asthma and it is triggered by wood smoke and badly built camp fires. so far it is in the proof of concept ugly but it works stage. it can be stand alone or used in tandem with the AC.

[cmrcmk]

I like your work, nice job. I think you're making it harder/more complicated than it has to be. I would try really hard to get the whole control side and the evap into the headboard and get rid of all the cold side ducting. just the compressor/condenser hangs out in the utility box. You just need a few vent doors to let air into the box, to minimize/eliminate the ducting in the box I would just add a 6" muffin fan to continually bring in cooler outside air.

I'm sure your design will work too. It just seems like more work and possibly experimentation to get it right.

Good luck,

David

You're right, David, that sticking the manufacturer-made face out the front of the headboard would be far simpler to get done. The reason I'm not is that two part: 1) I'm hoping to maximize interior storage space and 2) I intend for the lower mattress to be reconfigurable into a couch with the backrest against the headboard (the upper mattress will also partially fold down to create another seatback opposite). This way the family will have seating inside in the event of bad weather. The original design of the 2+2 is the inspiration for such an arrangement.

[cmrcmk]

I used drawer slides and a cargo door for mine, it was pretty simple to do

Now that's something I hadn't considered. I could even place it in the opening above the headboard which I mean to use as a sort of nightstand. As long as the A/C get's deployed overnight, it would still fulfill that goal, too.

How do you ensure a water and bug resistant seal around the A/C when it's out?

[cmrcmk]

Shadow Catcher, is that 4" duct in your setup? I've been trying to figure out how large my ducting needs to be (interior or exterior) but all I have to go on is how large the vents are on an example unit. I know those are designed around the size of the coils inside, not necessarily the air flow, though. Have you ever felt 4" was a problem or in some way a compromise?

[bdosborn]

How do you ensure a water and bug resistant seal around the A/C when it's out?

I didn't ever seal around the A/C, there's about a 1/2" gap all the way around it. I figured I'd wait to see how big a problem it would be before I tackled the issue. The cargo door keeps almost all of the rain out and remarkably, I've never had an issue with bugs getting in at night. So I never sealed it up and 10 years later it's still open.

Bruce

[cmrcmk]

I didn't ever seal around the A/C, there's about a 1/2" gap all the way around it. I figured I'd wait to see how big a problem it would be before I tackled the issue. The cargo door keeps almost all of the rain out and remarkably, I've never had an issue with bugs getting in at night. So I never sealed it up and 10 years later it's still open.

Bruce

That's surprising but also gives me confidence that I don't need to overengineer anything here.

[Shadow Catcher]

Yes it is four inch, it did need a blower to help air flow. The advantage, lots of fittings easily available.

[cmrcmk]

Yes it is four inch, it did need a blower to help air flow. The advantage, lots of fittings easily available.

Thank you for the insight.