Replacing Air Conditioner on my '71 Caravel

[bobmstein]

I had hoped that airconditioners would have their own catigory under say electrical or maybe plumbing. I could have overlooked. My question is I have removed the original unit, filled in the 50 or so rivit holes with new rivits and rigged a cover over the fourteen inch hole to keep the weather out for the time being. And now find myself looking for a low profile unit that will conform to the roof profile. Does anyone have suggestions as to where I can source a unit and are there special considerations I need to take into account?

[Melody Ranch]

The Dometic Penguin low profile will fit the bill. Go with a 15,000 unit...even though you think a Caravel is small and you don't need 15. You do. Search around and you will find varying prices....all hover around the same area and if you buy online watch shipping costs. Be sure the drain line is there and cleaned out so that it works.

[idroba]

I disagree with the 15,000 btuh suggestion. Really, the Caravel is only 15' long inside. A 15,000 is overkill, even a 13,500 is too large. An 11,000 would easily do the job.

[Zeppelinium]

my Caravel did reat on 13,500, even in Vegas. I agree that 11,000 would be adequate. You want the smallest possible so you can boondock with a generator (like at Burning Man, where you need to button up now and then for the dust storms).

Zep

[Kevin245]

Originally Posted by bobmstein

I had hoped that airconditioners would have their own catigory under say electrical or maybe plumbing. I could have overlooked. My question is I have removed the original unit, filled in the 50 or so rivit holes with new rivits and rigged a cover over the fourteen inch hole to keep the weather out for the time being. And now find myself looking for a low profile unit that will conform to the roof profile. Does anyone have suggestions as to where I can source a unit and are there special considerations I need to take into account?

We moved your thread into the forum for Air Conditioners. There are several units on the market that could suit your application. 11 to 13.5K btu should be more than adequate IMO.

[TouringDan]

I agree that the 15k is overkill. If you went with an 11k unit you could probably power it with a 2k genny.

I am at the other end of the spectrum. I cool my TW with a 5k unit and it does just fine for me. Nice and quiet too. This allows me to boondock with a 1k genny.

Dan

[FC7039]

Though advertised by many, and in some sales material by Dometic, as 15K BTU, the Dometic Penguin II is not 15K BTU. It is the same as the 13.5K but called HC. What they do to the 13.5K to make it HC I do not know. If you order the 15K, look at the specs when you get it and you will see the 13.5K label. You may want to call Dometic directly for an answer.

http://www.hill-family.us/serrano/Ma...tionManual.pdf

[bobmstein]

I have read the comments regarding cycling so I know where your comming from. Thanks

[Lumatic]

A couple of considerations:
1. A low profile AC is noisier inside the trailer than a standard profile.
2. If you boondock the more BTUs the bigger generator you will need. As far as Honda eu2000i gennys, One might just be able to run a 11000 BTU with nothing else on line with one 2000eu2000i genny. For 13.5 you need 2 eu2000i parallel gennys. For 15000 BTU you will need a bigger and heavier and more expensive generator

[Lumatic]

Originally Posted by TouringDan

I cool my TW with a 5k unit and it does just fine for me. Nice and quiet too. This allows me to boondock with a 1k genny.

Dan

I guess this depends on your area and your tolerances. I am in the southwest and have a 13.5 Dometic Penguin in my 71 Tradewind. It is adequate. but when you are pushing 100 outside I figure I can get it down to about 80 inside. Still warm by some standards. On the other hand I wish it was a little quieter.

[TouringDan]

Lumatic

Keeping cool in the heat of the southwest, I suspect is very difficult.

Where I camp and live in Virginia, I don't care if it is 100 degrees outside, I can keep cool with my 5k A/C unit. Here's how. Improve the effectiveness of your A/C by either reducing the amount of area you are cooling or reducing the heat load on the area that you are cooling. I don't cool the bathroom or if necessary, the front living area. I only cool the middle area where the A/C unit is located; this is only about 40 sq ft. Park in the shade. Extend your awnings. Tint your windows. Keep your curtains closed. Use LED lights. Insulate your closed vents. Have a small fan blowing on you so the air feels colder. This all works quite well for me.

Dan

[quiltbike]

We have a 1967 Caravel that we installed a Coleman Mach Cub 9200 BTU, low profile unit for the incredibly hot Florida Panhandle summers. We are very happy with the unit. It pulls a little over 10 amps. It looks much better than the Armstrong unit the trailer came with. Penguin also makes a low profile unit that Airstream uses for factory installation. See picture ....

[bobmstein]

It looks nice. I'm wondering it has been mentioned that the low profile units make more noise. How would you rate your satisfaction with respect to the noise level?

[quiltbike]

We used the Armstrong unit that came with the Caravel first and it was very loud. The new unit is quieter than the Armstrong unit. We are happy with it and sleep very comfortably.