| Author | Message | ||
| jerry liebler (165.121.32.178)
Rating: N/A |
Does anyone have any experience with 'portable' air conditioners in a bus conversion? In trying to find an alternative to roof airs I've come accross the 'portables'. At least some of them appear to be extremely efficient offering 10,000 BTU while using only 660 watts. They are reasonably small and require either 1 or 2 hoses to the 'outside'. For a bit of lost floor space they sure seem to offer extremely simple installation and prices about like roof warts. Regards Jerry 4107 | ||
| Tony (64.215.196.183) Rating: N/A |
Jerry The portables that I have seen put out as much hot air as they do cool so If you have a place to send the hot air I guess they would be ok Tony | ||
| James Maxwell (Jmaxwell) (66.81.214.63)
Rating: N/A |
At 10k btu, you'll need a bus load of them. The installation will be far more difficult than a roof air unit; besides a cabinet for the evaporator unit inside, you will need an open air space for the condensing unit outside. Not practical for a bus installation. Why not remove a couple of windows and put wall units in with plywood frames in the window? | ||
| Adame (129.82.229.195) Rating: N/A |
I looked at these too but the problem seems that if you push the heated air outside, that air has to be displaced by hot air drawn from outside. Some that use water to cool the hot section look interesting. Bob | ||
| TWO DOGS (65.179.193.151) Rating: N/A |
don't waste your money | ||
| Jerry Liebler (165.121.34.16)
Rating: N/A |
The question I asked is: Does anyone have any experience with 'portable' air conditioners in a bus conversion? I really do not understand the antagonisim toward and missunderstanding of them. Some facts: In a typical portable a dryer vent hose dumps the hot air overboard, they have no outdoor unit. Nearly all HVAC systems bring in a substantial amount of fresh outside air, for example the original coach air in my 4107 brought in 30% outside air according to the manual, so dumping the heat with cooled air is no worse than throwing cooled air out in the name of ventilation. At 10k BTU 3 is as much AC as most conversions have and only uses 1920 watts so all 3 could easily be run off of my 225 amp alternator and 2500W inverter. The installation amounts to finding a spot of floor and power and putting a hose thru a wall, considerably simpler than any other AC. The reason I asked the question is to avoid wasting my money but I still haven't gotten a useful answer as to how or why it would be wasted or well spent. Regards Jerry 4107 1120 | ||
| Adame (129.82.229.195) Rating: N/A |
I have no experience with these. But in the interest of not re-heating the cooled interior air by the introduction of hot makeup air which would leak through anywhere possible, maybe that air could be ducted in to the hot section through a dedicated path. I don't know why that wouldn't work just fine while parked. Going down the road the proper position of these two paths would seem to be more critical. I say go for it then you tell us. Bob | ||
| Dave (4.228.240.61) Rating: N/A |
Portable ac does work ok in small areas. You will need a drain for condensation or dump the pan often in high humidity. Dave | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks) (66.167.165.96)
Rating: N/A |
Adame, I don't understand your comment about reheating cooled interior air, but I don't know much at all about a/c systems. On my car, the manual says that one shouldn't use the 'recirculating' feature much, so it gets most of its fresh air from outside hot air anyway. And am not sure what you mean about leaking hot air. Jerry, I just saw these the other day at Fry's and was intrigued. Didn't pay any attention to current draw at the time. The question is, how can they draw less AC power and do the job that standard ones do? Hmmm... Also, the ones I saw said something like "No pan draining!" as a feature but it wouldn't be hard to run a drain line if necessary. (Don't know how they get around that) BUY a few and let us know how they work! Another benefit is you could store them in winter and free up the floorspace. | ||
| Jim G.Ohio (216.29.3.227) Rating: N/A |
WE have used ours and it is better than nothing. Our usage is intended as temporary until permanent AC's will be installed. The hot air goes out the vent tube and you empty the condensate tank when needed. Jim G. - RTS-II | ||
| TomNPat (67.192.110.243)
Rating: N/A |
The latest portable I saw used the condensate in the exhaust air to cool the condensor/evaporator, whichever makes the hot air. That, like the 'desert cooler' radiator cooler, would make for efficiency. Additionally, it had an intake for outside air so no interior air was exhausted. I'm really interested in these, but not the earlier ones that only have an exhaust, not an intake. Having them inside and not being sun baked on the roof might make them more efficient, too. Probably be able to answer Jerry's original question by summers end, sorry I can't relate experience right not. The place I saw will sell them for less than a roof air, but they are only 12000 btu. But how efficient are roof airs? TomNPat | ||
| John that newbie (199.232.244.28) Rating: N/A |
I don't know if you're familiar with the auxiliary AC systems? (http://www.welchindustries.com/auxacsys.html) They run independently of the coach air and are powered by the engine. The bus I'm considering has one. After close inspection, it appears that I might be able to run the separate compressor with an 120v electric motor. I'm sure that there may be a 12/24 volt motor that's capable to do the chore also? This auxiliary wall unit's condenser and 24v fan is mounted on the lower right side next to the engine in that compartment. Mounting and running a conventional home window unit inside the bus and having the condenser well ventilated (with a fan?) to the outside -and- providing a means to discharge all the accumulated water, seems feasible to me. Your plan is the same as I had been considering also, so you're not alone in this quest! | ||
| Jerry Liebler (165.121.34.150)
Rating: N/A |
Well, I took Adame's suggestion, I've ordered two and will soon know if they work. I ordered a Soleus MAC 12k for the rear(bedroom above the engine), it's a 12k BTU unit that draws 1000W cooling & has seperate air in and out ducts to the condensor and has a 900 W heat strip. I also ordered a Sunpentown 10k BTU heat pump unit which only has an exaust hose but it's very efficient only drawing 660 watts while heating or cooling. I'll put the 10k unit on the right of the copilot's seat with the cold going forward. My bus is a gutted shell with most interior out but I'm nearly finished installing the generator, inverter, shore-generator-inverter transfer system and Webasto so I'll finish up the electrical 'infrastructure' and try them should make it a bit more comfortable inside while I work on the rest. If I need some more cooling I'll get another of the Sunpentown units. Eficiency of air conditioners is compared by using the energy eficiency ratio, EER, which is the BTU/h divided by the watts. Roof airs are in the range of 8 to 10. The 2 I chose are 12 and 15.2 We'll see. Regards Jerry 4107 1120 | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks) (69.3.74.213)
Rating: N/A |
That's great, Jerry! We'll expect a situation analysis on or about June 1!  | ||
| Rob Talbot (12.150.3.226) Rating: N/A |
Jerry, Where did you purchase these units? I have plans to get a couple myself. Rob Talbot | ||
| Jerry Liebler (165.121.33.58)
Rating: N/A |
Bob, Ebay, the seller is Compact Appliances. The buy it now price was slightly below Fedders distributing in Calif. and the shipping was also less. Just search on portable air conditioners & you'll find them. Regards Jerry | ||
| John the newbie (199.232.240.103) Rating: N/A |
Is this the same place? http://www.compactappliance.com/ |