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I'm ready to replace our single roof top a/c unit.  It is a standard condenser compressor type.  It's job was to run off the batteries for over the road use, powered through one of the Vanners. And to provide a redundant cooling source. 15K BTU.  And it can run for a few hours w/o the generator, hopefully w/ the solar giving it a bit of extra run time. 

But it has problems, a bit much for the 3K Vanner inverter which powers it.  This causes the Vanner circuit breaker to occasionally flip.  And running through the inverter is not that efficient.  So I wanted to look at either the RV swamp cooler type, TurboKool for example (advertised on this site).  I'm also looking at some of the 12v models used in trucks and boats.

My specific question - I've been told that since the swamp cooler / evaporative types shouldn't be used with the standard a/c units as they operate in ways that are not complementary to each other.  Our basement a/c is a standard compressor type.  Is it true you shouldn't have both of them running in the same small space at the same time? 

I'm looking to swap out the unit around the end of January. 

Thank you and kind Regards, Phil

Ok Phil you have a great bus with everything hidden from the ground as you look it!

Forget Evaporative cooling as that will only really work in the desert. What you need is solar panels that can directly power a mini-split heat pump...

The normal route for solar power is via the solar charge controller to the house battery than via an inverter to the mini-split heat pump. The problem is the energy tax that you pay on each phase of the energy transfer (10-20%) to the battery and another 20% to AC power into the mini-split.

I recently saw a video of a heat pump that would directly run off of solar at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxmKiisAZ0I (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxmKiisAZ0I)

So hey sandwich the highest power panels as you can fit on your roof...

All restaurants use evaporated coolers for makeup air conditioning over the vent hoods with the AC units ,if setup correctly it should work in a bus 

Thanks Fred!, re: link to a video of a heat pump that would directly run off of solar at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxmKiisAZ0I (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxmKiisAZ0I)

That is really very interesting. Also like the tie in to the app showing which % is coming from solar, and which % from grid.  Also putting up a barn (we're in AZ) with a small office w/ a planned mini split. This solution looks promising.
Kind Regards, Phil

I had the Turbokool in my bus several years ago. As mentioned, it only works in the dry SW climate. I had to clean it fairly often, mostly because I was drawing water from the main fresh water tank that would plug up the filter with minerals. Ideally, you would have a dedicated water tank for it with distilled water. But that involves another water pump...

Humidity is a double edge sword to much the wood swells to little it shrinks AC can take to much humidity out.I have to watch the Cherry wood in our RV and keep the humidity close to 25% or it will shrink,covered plywood doesn't have the problem but solid wood will drive you nuts finding a balance   

Yes Clifford!  When we moved the Moose bus #1 out to AZ from Illinois, I could not believe what happened to the interior of the bus - all knotty pine wood throughout.  Unbelievable shrinkage.  I'd never lived in a dry desert climate.  All locations we'd lived in were high humidity and I did not know that wood could shrink like that.  Let's just say it didn't look quite as pristine as it did before the 15% humidity put its finishing touch on the interior.   >:(

Kind Regards, Phil