| Author | Message | ||
| Peter River (Whitebus)
Registered Member Username: Whitebus Post Number: 38 Registered: 4-2009 Posted From: 204.62.111.51  Rating: N/A |
my bus has this HUGE AC above the engine compartment. I figured since I am in the desert, it would be a good idea to keep a heavy duty AC system, but it does take up about 4' of room in the back. does roof AC do enough to keep your bus cool? if you were in my shoes, would you rip out a perfectly working AC to gain 4' of space? just brainstorming... | ||
| Nick Badame Refrigeration Co. (Dnick85)
Registered Member Username: Dnick85 Post Number: 297 Registered: 2-2006 Posted From: 76.124.92.192  Rating: N/A |
Peter, If you decide to rip it out, I'll take off your hands... Redundency is KING! leave it alone and use it! Nick- | ||
| FAST FRED (Fast_fred)
Registered Member Username: Fast_fred Post Number: 758 Registered: 10-2006 Posted From: 208.100.193.1 Rating: N/A |
I figured since I am in the desert, it would be a good idea to keep a heavy duty AC system, but it does take up about 4' of room in the back. Only you can decide if you do enough hours on the road to make the choice. In the desert , if you ever shut off the engine and go camping, a swamp cooler might be enough , some will use so little DC a solar panel will keep them happy. NO noisemaker , little sound and cheap, Works for me, FF | ||
| Jack Conrad (Jackconrad)
Registered Member Username: Jackconrad Post Number: 1051 Registered: 12-2000 Posted From: 71.3.157.139  Rating: N/A |
One thing to consider when making your decision is "How much of the time you spend in the bus will the bus engine be running vs. how important is that 4' of space". In our situation, the bus engine is running less than 5% of the time we are in the bus (we spend much more time camping than traveling) and the space was more valuable for other uses. YMMV, Jack | ||
| john w. roan (Chessie4905)
Registered Member Username: Chessie4905 Post Number: 1441 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 71.58.110.9  Rating: N/A |
Don't rip it out; carefully remove it. Since you have so little under floor space, that 5 feet is critical. You can rig up roof airs to do the same job and more. | ||
| doug yes (Dougg)
Registered Member Username: Dougg Post Number: 83 Registered: 1-2007 Posted From: 174.131.114.223 Rating: N/A |
Maintaining the stock coach a/c is the largest expense for our fleet. | ||
| Gus Causbie (Gusc)
Registered Member Username: Gusc Post Number: 889 Registered: 11-2005 Posted From: 208.54.200.93  Rating: N/A |
I agree with Nick, leave it in until you decide for sure you won't need it. It would be a disaster to remove it then find out you really need it. The only downside I can see is having to run the engine so much. You will need a minimum of three rooftops in the desert in the summer. I have two and they don't do the job even though my roof is padded and white. What I do is stay out of the desert in the middle of summer and out of the summer sun as much as possible. Swamp coolers might do the job but it is a very hard job to cool a metal bus in the hot desert sun. Most buses are not very well insulated by the factory. | ||
| R.C.Bishop (Chuckllb)
Registered Member Username: Chuckllb Post Number: 684 Registered: 7-2006 Posted From: 70.212.130.64 Rating: N/A |
Amen and amen...forget the swamps...I use them in my house (Southern NM)...too much hassle, too much H2O, too much elec, too much pain. Keep the on road. and figure a way to use it, if possible....generator?..power pole??? where there's a will....well, you know... BTW...our Basement unit, if hooked to 50 amp does it just fine. I use it when I am working in the coach....(98 degrees here tomorrow)  FWIW  RCB (Message edited by chuckllb on May 06, 2009) | ||
| Peter River (Whitebus)
Registered Member Username: Whitebus Post Number: 42 Registered: 4-2009 Posted From: 208.54.14.29 Rating: N/A |
yeah, I figured I would let it lie... I had a bus mechanic offer me money so I could buy the roof air, but I guess I have to learn to live with it. I can make cabinets to fit on the side of the AC unit. I don't know why there are so much wasted space in this vehicle... |