Air Conditioning? Anyone tried portables?

[Eaglemate]

Yes, I want off cheap, but has anyone tried one of those cheap portable units or anyone know where I can get a good used one for my 24 ft. Argosy?

[slowmover]

Try COLAW's in MO for a used RV piece. The portables might be okay if you lived in Michigan.

[samb]

I use a $98 small window unit in my '61 Safari. I have the "gull wing" windows and the unit just fits in the center window curb side with a home built platform. Takes me about 5 minutes to put in place or remove with no alteration having been done to the trailer. A nice thing about it is that the unit will run on a 15 amp circuit easily.

This works if you would just want to be cooler in hot weather, but probably not for ultimate comfort. It would drop the interior temps from about 95* to about 76* in an hour. Heat doesn't bother me much so I generally use it only when the temps get up near 100*. I have some photos of it posted here somewhere, but don't remember the name of the thread. A little search might find it.
Sam

[slowmover]

I run a de-humidifier while I am gone during the day. A TT that is kept low on that score (50%H) cools off fast when I get back from work. Covers over vents, too. My new giant roof wart -- 15k Coleman -- takes it from 87F to 73F in just over an hour for this old Silver Streak. But heat and high humidity is a bear to control.

Shade, my friend, . . . shade. The oil boom won't last forever so a "set of tools" for cooling is mandatory.

.

[Kosm1o]

Actually i still have one, a 9000 btu unit that I used in a boat. Now use it in my shop and it works as well as the window unit in there. Bought it on Ebay but I think you can buy them at Home Depot. You have to get rid of the water, though which means you need to drill a hole in the floor and belly pan. You also need to get rid of exhaust heat from a flexible tube (8" diameter) through a window. Lastly, they arent cheap. At least double what a window unit cost and they take up a lot of room.

[richinny]

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f427...ner-64741.html

[robwok]

I've got one, a floor model I picked up from Sears for $75, and it's a hassle. It doesn't cool well, takes a lot of floor space, you have to keep changing out the water resevioir, etc. Though a window unit is a bit on the redneck side, it's the best option. I even built a specialized exhaust just trying to eek out some efficiency. I replaced the interior screen with a sheet of ply so it seals to the window. I then encased the flex tube of the AC with insulated flex duct to put as much of the heat outside the TT as possible. Even with all that, it made little difference. Shade will do more than anything else. I have a small dehumidifier that I may use in conjunction with a roof mount.

[Belegedhel]

If you want to go cheap, just go with a window unit.

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. 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.

I had been keeping an eye on Cragslist and saw many used RV style roof mount AC units for sale, but the price for on in reasonable condition was typically about $200.

good luck.

[SilverRanger]

Here are some pictures of how I installed a small AC unit in the rear window of my Bambi. Works great, and only uses 7 amps.


http://www.airforums.com/forums/f42/...tml#post821583