Air Conditioner Install Idea

AuthorMessageRolf

Squirrel

Joined: Apr 30, 2003

Posts: 71

Location: California

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2003 10:35 pm   Post subject: Air Conditioner Install Idea

I picked up an air conditioner for my '79 Yuma I. I was thinking of installing it in the window, but today another possibility occured to me. The A/C is small enough to fit in the cabinet on the non-door side of the camper, and that cabinet has an access hatch to the outside. If I installed the A/C in the cabinet with a piece of plywood blocking the back of the cabinet, and then opened the outide hatch, could I get enough air to flow around the back of the A/C to make it work properly? If I needed extra air flow I could add a small fan or two in the hatch opening to help draw air into the back of the cabinet. I'd lose some storage space with this method, but the setup once I get into camp would be much easier. All I'd have to do is open the cabinet doors, plug in the A/C, open the outside hatch, and turn it on the A/C. I'll be spending about six days in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada this summer, and a well functioning A/C would make life much easier. If I can install the A/C in the cabinet I might be able to rig up some sort of filter on the outside to keep some of the alkalai dust out of the A/C, and out of the camper, too. My guess is that the cabinet, with fan-fed filtered air, will be a better invironment for the A/C than if it were installed in the window and open to the desert air and dust.

Michael

Squirrel

Joined: May 28, 2003

Posts: 66

Location: Boise, Idaho

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2003 10:47 pm   Post subject: Burning Man!

You must be going to Burning Man! We MAY have our Apache there too, although we just have a 12v swamp cooler that sits on the counter 

Should we start an Apache Village?

hehehe

Anyway, I have seen some really slick AC installs that mount in the wall under the front bunk and go out on the tongue a bit. I think I saw some on the old site, you might check there.

~Michael

Lorna

Squirrel

Joined: Apr 22, 2003

Posts: 52

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2003 6:51 am   Post subject:

Rolf, We've run 2 Ac units that way. They burned up long before they should have. Our last one lasted 1 summer. They don't have enough air circulation around them (we had 3" on sides of ours). My personal solution will be to use a Cool Cat in ours. It is made to fit inside a cabinet and vent to the outside. It's a bit pricey (about $900) is the best price I've found so far...still looking) but I haven't found a better solution. Putting one on the tongue would involve cutting thru the front bezel & losing any space I have for LP tanks. Also I would have cold air running on our feet (that will our dining table area). The Cool Cat can be ducted, so while it will be under the dinette seat it can be vented out side and ducted elsewhere under the floor. In our case we will duct it to the rear and put one duct near the front. This is not OEM. But it is just what we are going to do, so it works for us.

timsch

Vesely Prodigy

Joined: Apr 20, 2003

Posts: 2133

Location: Auburn Hills, MI

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2003 8:11 am   Post subject:

The cool cat is a great little thing. It is a heat pump which means the system can be reversed and become an air conditioner. It's designed for climates with not a lot of big temerature swings. Humidity also affects it's capabilities so factor in your situation. What I like about the Cool Cat is that it serves a dual purpose. I live in the Detroit area and we have our share of heat and humidity. I have tried a few air conditioners in just about every restoration I have done with large and compact air conditioners and have found that on an 85+ degree day that it is nearly impossible to cool these things down to my compfort zone. Add to the fact that I do not sit inside my camper from the time I get up till the camp fire is done. We use ours for sleeping compfort, to take the humidity out of the air and cool it down. I use an old portable window unit which is compact and fits in the window. Some call them suitcase airconditioners, they have a more straight up and down center of gravity so they do not pull outwards on the side and fit in the aluminum window track nicley. I cut a piece of ABS plastic sheet to fit the opening above the air conditioner and use a turn lever system like the corner pieces use to hold it in place. It will not cool this thing during the day so I do not run it then but about 6pm or so I start it up and by the time we are ready to go to bed it is beautiful inside. I also connect the power cord directly to the post and not to the camper, it will pop the circuit breaker on the converter everytime as the amperage draw is too much. I do not like the cabinet situation for this fact, the condensation must be drained off and with it being in the cabinet you need a pan system and a drain tube thru the floor. Any condensation that does not drain will probably slop all over the place when you are traveling. Like anything else you must first consider what your situation is and how this would adapt and fit your situation, what do you need the air conditioner to do. Then you can decide on a unit size and installation needs to your circumstances. I am against cutting parts, like the bezel, that can not be found easily. The reasoning is that window aircondioner units run in different dementions and once a hole is cut you will need to fit it to that size. If the unit goes bad then you have to find a same size unit or fill or cut accordingly. That just starts a big circle that can get bad very quickly. If the bezel area is chosen, here is a solution to it. Buy a piece of ABS from a plastic warehouse. If you do not know of one in your area, call a sign shop and find out where they get theirs at. Remove the original bezel and cut a new one to fit the opening and install this way. You will have to reposition your front side markers but you can fit an airconditioner on the tounge better with this flat piece rather than trying to cut the odd shaped original bezel. This also saves the original bezel in its original form for future non aircondioning use. Good luck.

cimar78

Moose

Joined: Apr 22, 2003

Posts: 342

Location: Fayetteville, NC

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2003 10:42 am   Post subject:

A/C can be a wonderful thing in the South. Lorna is right the cool cat is really nice. Unfortunately, not in our price range right now. Tim is right too, bout the cutting on the bezel. We tried one in the window, after camping for years without an a/c. But, I was the one that that did not care for that. So, we called Ol' Elmer and he said some came from them with a/c ( I think he said the bezel was different). Well ours did not havae the cut out for the a/c. He told Reg how to do it. And that is where ours is...we moved the gas tanks up a bit and put 2 vents in for air intake. And we did not think about changing the bezel with another piece of abs. But, it will require some looking if and when this a/c goes out to find another the same size....or sneaking up to Tim's and changing the bezel out ...lol (j/k). We did not have to worry about the air flow coming out under the table..we don't have one. We have the captains chairs. There are many solutions to the a/c thing. You just have to pick the best one for you and your Apache. Happy Camping Deb

ron

Can't Back-up Straight

Joined: Apr 26, 2003

Posts: 5

Location: stcloud, fla

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2003 3:00 pm   Post subject:

i put a window unit in a van and it did not work, these things give off a lot more heat than cool. i had it vented with a fan to the outside also.

Rolf

Squirrel

Joined: Apr 30, 2003

Posts: 71

Location: California

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2003 3:32 pm   Post subject:

Well, now I have a few more options to consider before I install the A/C. The cabinet install would have been temporary anyway, because I plan to add a 3-way fridge in that cabinet space eventually. My original idea was to do a window installation, but with out using the wall of the camper to hold the weight of the A/C. I was thinking of building a box or table that would sit outside the camper and hold the A/C, and then I'd build a window-size flashing out of 1/4" plywood to hold the A/C into the window. The walls on my Yuma were a little tweaked when I bought it, and it was a pain to get them straight again, so I don't want to repeat that problem.

timsch

Vesely Prodigy

Joined: Apr 20, 2003

Posts: 2133

Location: Auburn Hills, MI

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 8:00 am   Post subject:

Here are some photo's of an airconditioner install I did on a 1979 Ramada. The counter tops were also replaced with new.

This is the "Suitcase" airconditioner I spoke of.

Guest

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 2:30 pm   Post subject:

Hey, finally woke up and realized you're talking about Cali/Nevada desert! Have you considered one of the portable evaporative coolers? They're sort of like a big box fan with a water reservoir. You might like the extra bit of humidity in the desert. Just a thought...

Guest

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2003 2:27 pm   Post subject:

timsch wrote:

This is the "Suitcase" airconditioner I spoke of.

Neat Idea Tim, I do have one of those air conditioner made by Panasonic. Very light and portable. While I was at Walmart yesterday, I think a saw a bunch of them (not Panasonic, some other brand) in the middle of the isle if anyone is looking for one. Check your local Walmart.

timsch

Vesely Prodigy

Joined: Apr 20, 2003

Posts: 2133

Location: Auburn Hills, MI

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2003 7:29 pm   Post subject:

The Walmart one sounds close to what I have. Here are some facts about it. Fedders A6X06F2A 6,000 BTU Window Air Conditioner $148.99 Electronic Touch Controls Full Featured Remote Control 24 Hour Time Energy Star Lightweight & easy to install 1-degree temperature adjust BTU 6,000 Volts 115 E.E.R. 9.7 Dimension WxHxD 18-5/8 x 12-1/4 x 15-1/8 I will check dimensions of the unit I have and put as size comparison in a post. This sounds promising!

Gerald Young

Guest

Joined: Apr 30, 2003

Posts: 71

Location: California

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2003 12:54 am   Post subject: Garage Sale gods Come Through Again

I've been holding off on garage sales lately, because I'm collecting too much junk. But today, my wife came home from errands and told me there was a garage sale down the street, so we leashed up Charlie the dog and headed out. It was actually two sales next door to each other. At the first, I picked up one of those propane tank fittings that let you run a lantern and other propane toys off a bulk tank. It came with an old three gallon tank, still full, which will probably get me through the summer before I have to get it refitted. At the next sale there was this odd looking fan, sort of the typical big box fan you see everywhere, but about twice as thick as the average box fan. Well, I'm pretty well stocked up on fans for the summer, and I didn't really pay much attention until I read the tag on top... "Swamp Cooler, $25.00". Hmmm, maybe that would work in my little Yuma. But, since I already have the air conditioner I left it there in the driveway and went home. Later, I decided to go back and see if it was still there, and the sellers were packing up. They didn't want to keep storing this thing in their garage, so they let me have it for ten bucks. I plugged it in at home and it the fan and the pump work, and it seems to blow cold air, so maybe it has possibilites. It's a bit larger than the A/C, but I won't have to do any cutting or modifying to install it. I'll be bring the Apache home again next weekend, and if it's a hot day I'll put the swamp cooler to work and see how well it does. If the evil homeowners association that runs my neighborhood would let me keep my Apache at home instead of in storage I'd have tested it today, but I'll have to wait until next weekend. After my tests I'll have either an air condtioner or a swamp cooler to get rid of. Either way I'll offer it here first, but with the shipping charges it might end up costing more than it's worth.

Lorna

Squirrel

Joined: Apr 22, 2003

Posts: 52

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2003 6:39 am   Post subject: