Replacing A/C with Fantastic Fan

[tracker]

Iam thinking of replacing my air conditioning unit with a vent fan such as a fantastic fan. What should I know and when should I know it?

[handn]

Why? Put a Fantastic Fan in one of your vents and you will have both A.C and ventalation.
If it is real hot, a Fantastic Fan won't pull it. It will circulate the air and keep you comfortable in moderate temps but you will swelter if it is hot and humid.

[clydecrashcu]

I just put into the trailer a fantastic fan in one of the original ceiling locations. We bought it on others recommendations - rain activated sensor, etc.

I replace my old AC last year with a Penquin Heat Pump. It seems as though you might regret down the road if you take out the AC completely. I know the AC replacement is a high additional cost but might be worth it if you are camping in a location with high humidity and or temperatures. You might look into finding a used AC or Heat Pump. There should be a trailer junk yard near you to look at or a supplier that has a used one. Heat pumps both cool and heat. The heat side is pretty good down around 40 degrees, depends on your comfort level. We have an additonal small heater if needed. Our furnace I haven't replace it yet, but will in the future.

[DreamStreamr]

We use our air conditioner maybe five days in a year, average. In a way, it isn't worth having for 5/365 or under two percent of the time. We don't plan to go places where we'll need a/c, but every now and then end up there.

Almost three years ago friends needed tlc and support. It was August in Bakersfield, CA, and it was 106 degrees. Not the hottest place on the planet nor somewhere we would otherwise choose to stay. We would have fried without a/c, and even with a/c it was 88 in our trailer during the midday.

If my trailer didn't have an a/c, I myself wouldn't add one. Expensive and lots of weight, and our windows open really wide. But job #1 is keeping DW happy, and I'm really glad we have an a/c for those few days each year we need it.

Good luck,
Jim

[tracker]

Thanks for the info. The reason that I was thinking of repacing the a/c was that its the orginal unit in my 69 safari and the line to the compressor is broken. And the unit is the source on leaks during the rainy season. Does anyone know the cost of repairing the old unit vs installing a new one or installing a heat pump? Thanks.

[Lumatic]

Originally Posted by tracker

Thanks for the info. The reason that I was thinking of repacing the a/c was that its the orginal unit in my 69 safari and the line to the compressor is broken. And the unit is the source on leaks during the rainy season. Does anyone know the cost of repairing the old unit vs installing a new one or installing a heat pump? Thanks.

As far as repair a factor will be the availability and cost of Freon.

[blickcd]

Usually repairs are not cost effective on an old unit. I replaced my dead AC unit with a heat pump (Carrier AirV, no longer manufactured) and think that is the best way to go.

If you decide to go with a fan, I suggest a Turbo Maxx. You can run that rain or shine. I have a Fantastic Fan and like it, but the rain sensor will shut it down for half an hour or more, leaving you with no air circulation if just a quick shower rolls through the area.

Christopher

[DreamStreamr]

Christopher's right about the Fantastic Fans and it's funny how FF says not to put a cover over their fans. We added a Maxxair Fanmate 9000 cover over one of our FFs and finally can run our the FF rain or shine, or at least keep it open for gravity venting.

The cover makes a big difference and really beats listening to the FF hunting, open and closed and open again, at night while we're trying to sleep.

[airstreamz]

I am also wanting to replace the Air con with a vent, as we are based in New Zealand with cooler weather, and never had to use the air con. The extra weight is not worth the extra fuel to pull it.

My question is, is there any 12v wires available around that part of the ceiling? If not then is it possible to pull a new 12v cable in at all?

If it's easier, will I be able to recycle and rewire the existing 120v cable to 12v?

I have a 20ft Flying Cloud 2010 model. Hope to get some feedback here, thanks!

[MADwyer]

Hey there! Not sure if you ever got an answer to your question - but I have the same one ; ) I have a 27' Overlander that I owned in California for 10 years and now have brought down to my home in Australia. We keep it on a block of land by the beach and are off grid - had to remove the air-conditioning unit to get it into Australia anyway, so I'm looking at putting a Fantastic Fan vent in there. There's plenty of wiring running right past that but wondering if you found a good solution to patching it into an existing circuit, or running a new wire.

[64airstream]

tracker,

I installed a new A/C last year and went with a High Efficiency Coleman Mach 3. I did that so I could run the A/C with our 2200w Ryobi generator. The cost of the unit was about $600 with the interior trim and a drain kit. I did the installation in a couple of hours. (Note I had to cut a new hole in the roof, which you would not need to do, but you would need to remove the old unit.) I'm not sure what RV tech time costs now, but I'd guess between $100-$150 per hour? So my guess is, you're looking at about $1000 to have it replaced. If you already have the existing power and drain line, it's not really a difficult job (except getting the old unit down and new unit up.) I'm including a link to our recent project here if you're interested. Thanks to another forums member (WayneG) I figured out a way to install it by myself (although that was not my intent.) https://www.airforums.com/forums/f39...er-155180.html

Recently I installed a Fantastic Fan in an existing vent (near the end of our thread). You'll want 12vdc for the fan, not 110vac as stated by airstreamz. As he indicated, if you can trace the wiring, you can re-purpose it for DC. You can also route the power through the ceiling to the nearest overhead compartment and hide it's route that way. A side note, I'd get the Maxx, if I were doing it over for the reason stated by DreamStreamr.

Good luck and let us know how it works out,

Roy and Marie

[64airstream]

Oops, just noticed this is an old thread, so, I should have addressed it to MADwyer, for their recent question. Sorry.

[MADwyer]

Originally Posted by 64airstream

Oops, just noticed this is an old thread, so, I should have addressed it to MADwyer, for their recent question. Sorry.

No worries - and thanks Roy! I can see all the wiring that runs along there from when I pulled the AC unit out (just put a cheap manual vent in there to ship it as i didn't have time to install the FF. I've replaced all the light fixtures in the Overlander previously so I'm pretty confident around the 12v - and I've got the wiring diagrams from the service manual so hopefully this weekend I'll get it sorted! Liked the idea about slipping the wiring under the ceiling panel to overhead locker too. I'm going to put solar on the roof (at the moment I have a portable solar panel that I hook up to when I'm out there, but want to have some continuous power feed as I'm putting in a composting toilet and need power to run the fan.

[airstreamz]

[Lumatic]

I am removing the old ceiling vent from my 93 to replace it with a Maxx Fan. Sure is a lot of caulk up there! Any suggestions on pulling the old vent? Should I add any ceiling reinforcement such as wood 2x2 as part of installing the new vent fan?

[airstreamz]

Hardest part would be to clean it out, if you are replacing you shouldn't need to install timber or reinforcement, but if you have to put one in, I wouldn't want to use wood either, aluminum is better. Use roof sealant suitable for aluminium, along with screws this thing is not going anywhere. Good luck with your install