Tale of a '55 FC Whale Reno

[dbj216]

Bubba: You are the only Forums participant I know of that has a dosimeter sound level meter in the tool box. 41 Dba is whisper quiet. My overhead unit in the Overlander is into the 80s my guess. ROAR! But I don't have a dosimeter. I do have an air pressure gage for my tires.

David

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by dbj216

Bubba: You are the only Forums participant I know of that has a dosimeter sound level meter in the tool box. 41 Dba is whisper quiet. My overhead unit in the Overlander is into the 80s my guess. ROAR! But I don't have a dosimeter. I do have an air pressure gage for my tires.

David

Our 66 has the Dometic Penguin which is loud. Nothing we can’t live with, but was more fun to try and convert a mini split to ducted. We don’t have a dosimeter, but we use Decibel X which is a phone application for decibel readings. It was reading 1/2 decibel off what the unit specifications claimed. Anyway, I would much have a air pressure gage in my tool box than a dosimeter. Take care

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by Bubba L

Dan, the decibel level inside never got above 41.5 in the jet mode even with the inline fan blowing. So far so good. Thanks

Bubba- 68 degrees and 41.5 dB in the Texas heat makes me smile. That kind of performance plus the SEER rating of 20 plus low temperature heat pump performance shows why a minisplit is certainly the best heat pump for an RV. A great job of engineering on your part.

Dan

[dbj216]

Gee, I didn't know a smart phone could do that. I have trouble making a phone call on the darn thing. My Sovereign friend says I only use about 5% of my phones capability.

I guess I should learn more about it. Okay boomer.

David

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by dbj216

Gee, I didn't know a smart phone could do that. I have trouble making a phone call on the darn thing. My Sovereign friend says I only use about 5% of my phones capability.

I guess I should learn more about it. Okay boomer.

David

To be honest, I wouldn’t have a clue how to get decibel readings from my phone. My wife is a retired computer programmer, so IT is her cup of tea. Maybe if I had a few cups of beer I could figure it out. In our renovations, she has tasks that she’s good at and I do the rest. Take care

[Bubba L]

I've ordered some birch vent registers for the newly added fore and aft bulkhead vents. I made a couple temporary vent registers to cover the 4" duct hole while we are waiting for delivery.


I modified the footlocker doors with ornamental metal to make sure we have plenty of return air to supply the air handler under the bed.


We had a cold front the other day which gave us the opportunity to test the heat strip. It heated the trailer from 53 degrees to 66 degrees within 10 minutes and it ran even quieter than the air conditioner.

In the near future we'll take a quick camping trip to see how well it all holds up in travel.

[dbj216]

It's a Tale of a High Tech Whale. The interior of your 55 looks great. And now it is quietly thermo controlled.

David

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by dbj216

It's a Tale of a High Tech Whale. The interior of your 55 looks great. And now it is quietly thermo controlled.

David

Thanks David. The roof top Dometic AC on our 66 does a great job, but very noisy. We just wanted to try and achieve both cooling and eliminate the noise. We’ll see how things hold up. Take care

[Landshark]

You do beautiful work, Bubba. Especially those round vent covers that are just temporary. The interior is really a work of art.

Vivian

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by Landshark

You do beautiful work, Bubba. Especially those round vent covers that are just temporary. The interior is really a work of art.

Vivian

Thanks Vivian, but anyone can create with a little time and a few tools. The 55 is a labor of love and a whole lotta fun. Stay safe

[TouringDan]

I agree with Vivian- the interior of your 55 really is a work of art. Plus now with the minisplit your 55 will be quiet all the time, both in air conditioning and in heating mode. I know that RV air conditioners are extremely noisy but RV furnaces also can tend to be too noisy. Both problems solved.

Bubba, I like your foot locker cabinet latches in the photo. Where did you find them?

Thanks, Dan

[Bubba L]

Thanks Dan. The original cabinet latches were pinch latches. I had most of them though in rough shape. Steve at VTS started selling replicas a few years back. An exact replica as the originals. They work great and never had one vibrate open. Take care

[steinVT]

Bubba, first rate installation. Can't wait to hear about your camping trip. We went camping last weekend and woke up and it was 37 degrees F.

Are you going to have any kind of backup for the heat function? I am leaning hard at designing a heat pump into my build, but I do need an option of heat without 115v. - Mark

[dbj216]

Maybe an Olympian Wave catalytic heater would work. No electricity required, just a propane supply. You can get them up to 8k btu. Some folks use the Dickerson heaters too. They require a roof vent.

David

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by steinVT

Bubba, first rate installation. Can't wait to hear about your camping trip. We went camping last weekend and woke up and it was 37 degrees F.

Are you going to have any kind of backup for the heat function? I am leaning hard at designing a heat pump into my build, but I do need an option of heat without 115v. - Mark

Mark, Conifer David has a good suggestion. We considered adding a catalytic heater but ran short on space. Anyway, here in Texas our winters are much milder than New England or Colorado. Plan for the space. Thanks

[docflyboy]

I have first hand experience from last week that a no electricity required heater is to be considered. We went to Colorado last week and got stuck in a 16" snow just southwest of Colorado Springs. Our plan was to spend one night at a friends place in Westcliffe, and then go on to Salida for fly fishing on the Arkansas River. We were plugged into the friend's garage outlet, which kept us making 12Volts, but short of that, would have had few options with our fan forced furnace. We couldn't get the trailer pulled out, til a neighbor came and plowed the drive and a run into town to buy chains. Great thread Bubba.

[dbj216]

Wasn't that Colorado snow great? The best wildfire suppressant known to man. It was a pleasant surprise for the first week in September, but we will take it.

I hope your trip up in the mountains went okay. I don't pull in the snow. Chicken.

David

[docflyboy]

David-The snow was pretty. What gets in the way of nice camping is the precipitous drop in temp, winds and a biting feeling to the cold. Once the snow came, it was that dry cold that was pleasant, and the wonderful quiet. The worst part of pulling in the snow was knowing what my clearance was on my holding tank covers. I got red mountain dirt out of places I didn't know existed on my Safari and F-150. Jerry

[dbj216]

I call my tank pans "road debris removers." They act like a motor-grader blade. Things like road kill, truck tire threads, cardboard boxes and the like are no problem. I knock them off the road.

David

[Bubba L]

We don't have a lot of counter space and decided we needed a cutting board over either one of the double sinks. I have lots of wood remnants sitting around so made one.
I used small nail-in tabs to keep the board from marring the stainless steel ring around the sink that it sits on. Of interest here are the feet I found at Ace Hardware to keep the board from sliding off during travel. They are made of dense rubber that comes in many sizes; I was able to drill a pilot hole through the center to receive a recessed #6 flathead screw to attach to the bottom of the board. The rubber stops also act as feet if the board is used on a table top. The stops are positioned against the sides of the sink and the rubber doesn't mar the sink's surface. I finished the board using 4 coats of food grade mineral oil. A pretty easy project that will give us more working surface!