roof AC advice and questions

[GPW]

And unlike an RV AC , if it breaks , it will only cost another 98 dollars ...

[bearfromobx]

... are both easily overcome and I have used them in campers for years.
1) The standard configuration for these units have one exhaust hose for the condenser side of the unit. This style of unit uses room air for the intake of the coil that gets rid of the heat from the ac unit's operation and it the room is too well sealed (as is common for many of our conversions and custom builts) there is no place for the air that is exhausted to be made up from, choking the unit and causing much of the heat from the unit to be rereleased inside the trailer. The best way to overcome this is to use the two pipe configured units, which have an intake AND an exhaust which go to the outside of the trailer. Make sure you use the termination kit ncluded or run the intake and exhaust pipes away from each other so the hot air exhausted doesn't get sucked right back into the intake.
2) Many of these tower style ac units have dehumidification modes as well where the unit is drying the air by cooling it, then warming it back up to keep the temperature from dropping. If a 10K BTU/H unit isn't cooling a 6x10' or 6x12' trailer with at least luan walls, something is wrong.

Bear
HVAC/R Field Technician and general tinkerer

[jwhite]

I decided to wrap the exaust hose with insulation and it made a big difference = now the Vnose area doesn't get warm like before.
I wonder if the way I have the cool air vent cut out of the door is part of the reason it takes so long to cool down?
I think I will do another test with those doors open and see if it cools down faster,?
the AC cools the trailer but it takes a few hours to get the trailer down to the mid to low 70's= it works but not very fast it may also help if I open it up and turn on a fan to get some of the hot air out before I try and cool it down?

[NathanL]

Question for those putting the A/C unit in the back of the trailer and venting it outside with the door open.

What do you do when it's raining? I thought about doing it but I would have to keep the rain off the inside of the doors and the rear of the trailer.

[GPW]

May be best to put the AC IN the door itself ...

[bobhenry]

We finally got to road test my throw together periscope A/C duct and it worked very well.

At our Whitewater gathering 2 week ago it was in the high 80's and bumped 90 in the hottest part of the day. I let the little 5000 BTU window shaker run at mid setting all day and at bed time I was ordered to turn it OFF

It had kept the Barn cool enough during the heat of the day that it was not needed when the night temps dropped into the mid 70's.

Having more room out than in I decided to install the unit after arrival in the shade under the trailer and duct the cold air only inside via the vertical duct. It enters the trailer thru a vent I left open under the gambrel eves. I had planned on an intake and exhaut fan only thru this vent as I would be able to utilize it even in a worm drownding rain. The returm makeup air was designed to take in ambient outside air rather than recycling the already cooled air from inside. This fact did not seem to be detrimental to the performance. It is a 4 minute hassle to install the 3 piece setup but since we use it at home also it work well for us.

[NathanL]

May be best to put the AC IN the door itself ...

For a side swing door that would probably work out pretty well. I have a drop down door however.

I'm stuck in re-think mode. I had thought about building another teardrop and already purchased the wood. But then I already have a cargo trailer so I was thinking about doing it. I guess I just need to flip a quarter and get to work.

[Kixwy2]

***Total Hijack***

Nice job! I like the little window and how you dealt with the spare tire.

Is your wall a permanent structure or can it be removed?

[kstephenson]

Hi
My wall is stationary.....but works great.

[kstephenson]

I also like the fact that when I close the barn doors....it looks like a typical cargo trailer.....stealth looks.

[rjw758]

I like what you did with the AC in back door. I'd like to do a conversion someday and after seeing yours I had the idea of making that area a little deeper and putting the galley there along with some type of awning.

What do you think?

[kstephenson]

Good ideal....I thought about going deeper too for that reason.