Portable Airconditioner

[kevinkatz]

I am rebuilding a 1949 Curtis Wright and can’t bring myself to use a rooftop unit. Does anyone have experience with the portable units being sold at the big box stores that claim to be 14000 btu?

[Steamguy]

Popular Mechanics (the magazine) this month has an article on "the best" that they've tested. They brought it down to four or five.

[Bubba L]

Kevin, our Dometic blizzard turbo in the 55 blew a compressor. I don’t know much about the portable units. We got interested in the mini split units. I know the condenser will be on the tongue, but we purchased some 5052 .062 quarter hard from Westbrook Metals in SA. We’ll make a polished shroud for the condenser. We hope to place the air handler inside under the rear bed with return air. I’ve mocked up a transition duct from the air handler to the ducting intake. This is all experimental to get ducted air. Hopefully we’ll get the units and new narrower aluminum tanks within the next couple of weeks and start putting things together. Like mentioned, experimental. If the specs on a portable AC fits, give it a try. Good luck

[kevinkatz]

I have been anguishing over this for years and looked at all options. I am almost resigned to putting a low profile one on the roof and painting it silver. I know that they work well, are designed for the task and are the least hassle.

[Bubba L]

I’ve considered the same. You may consider removing the shroud from the roof unit and have a shop with an English Wheel replicate the shroud in aluminum. That would really blend it in nicely.

[Belegedhel]

There have been a few discussions on the portable units here on the Forums.

Here is one I found by searching for "air forums portable air conditioner":

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f7/...les-90026.html

But, to quote myself in an earlier thread, the portable units typically have one major design flaw: They only have one exhaust port. This means that air you have already cooled is being pulled into the unit, and passed across the condenser before it gets blown out the exhaust hose that goes through the window/wall. This means that the room you are trying to cool is constantly drawing in warm, humid air through every crack to replace the air that is being pumped out by the portable unit. Some portable units have two hoses, one that pulls air in from outside, and one that recirculates that same air back out after it passes over the condenser. Still, one hose or two, its a big hassle. The portable units generally top out at about 10,000 btu, which isn't going to provide a lot of cooling for your trailer.

They also cost 2+ times as much as a similarly sized window unit. There are also several threads about modifying the installation of a window unit to do the job. The conclusion that I have routinely heard about the under-the-bed window unit installation is that, since cold air sinks, you end up with nice cool feet, but the air up at your head is still hot. This might be dealt with by ducting and fans, but at some point, you are well past the point where it makes any sense.

The mini-split folks are usually pretty happy with the results. Not a trivial installation, though.

good luck!