Cheap Driver's A/C for the SpaceShip

[Dallas]

Brian,
This may not do you much good, since I have a 4103 and you don't, but this was my solution....

The front of my bus has a license plate frame that flips up and out of the way with a compartment behind it. This is also where the fresh air intake for the drivers vent and heater core was, but I have removed the heater core and will probably never replace it there.
I've stripped out everything under the dash from the drivers panel to the passenger wall. It's now insulated with blue 1" styrofoam and a layer of reflectix.
Where the fresh air vent was I installed a 6Kbtu window air and built a duct around the exhaust to blow it out the old vent hole.
The little A/C draws 5.4a and will run from my elcheapo inverter.
I also built shelving around it and put a duct down through the floor into the spare tire bay to provide incoming air for the exhaust.
While sitting, it keeps the front 1/4 of the bus comfortably cool in about 85° outside temperature. We have a swivel house fan  in front of it to move the air up and farther back into the room along with a 12V furnace blower on top of the fridge to blow warm air toward the front.
When moving, I can put a board on the lower step up to the salon area and keep the driver and passenger seat cool.
This is a project in progress and is always evolving. We've added a piece of reflectix to cover the Windshield and covered that with a sheet so it doesn't look quite as "Beverly Hillbillies" this cuts down a bunch on the heat through the windshield.
We also have an 8Kbtu in the bedroom installed in the roof curve, which I'm not thrilled about, but does work well, especially with another blower fan forcing the cold air forward to the kitchen area.
This A/C draws 7.0a so my total amp draw is 12.4a for 14Kbtu.
This setup works a lot better than 2 Coleman roofairs that I had before on my Winnie.

I have plans to install another 6Kbtu in the floor near the galley and vent it upward.

If you want, I can take some photo's and post them.

Dallas
                                GO BUSSING!

[Jerry Liebler]

Brian,
    I see from your picture that you have a front cap.  If you also have a rear cap I'd strongly recommend a conventional window AC in the rear.  I have a 10,000 BTU/h Sears energy star unit (got it for $100 in  a September clearance sale) there in mine And it cools the rear half of the bus very well by itself.  I have added a couple of louvered openings on the sides of the cap to supply outside air to the 'outdoor' portion of the unit and ducted straight back from the rear of the unit out through another louvered opening centered in the rear face of the rear cap.  A window unit installed similarly has none of the issues that the portables have.  The window unit is quieter than any of the rooftops and if I open the bathroom door to separate the bedroom & bathroom from the front of the bus it easily maintains 70 in the back on a 100 degree day. I do wish I'd have done one thing differently in installing the ductless split.  It would be better to have the indoor portion on the curb side, that way most of the cooled air would bathe the driver.  A 12000BTU/h ductless split's outdoor unit will fit easily in the old condenser area.  Whereas I had to modify the 18,000 BTU/h outdoor unit to fit.
Regards
Jerry 4107 1120

[Sojourner]

Brian.....you have great a web site.
About "portable A/C"......problem with this version that it only come with One hose  instead of two hose for condenser side....another word single hose will cause low cabin pressure instead of being neutral or zero pressure. What this mean after turn on a few minutes it will starve for more ambient air to cool condenser while slightly cooled air coming out of evaporator.

To improve this single hose or duct version is to add second hose to condenser's inlet and route it to outside. However exhaust hose that came with being small, should be use for condenser inlet and add a larger hose to allow expanded (warmer) ambient flow more freely to outside. I suggest to have a grill lower front of coach for your hose's inlet while other to wherever there is vacuum effect while traveling.

Bottom line is to keep both inlet & outlet condenser's air out of cabin or room area.

Better yet....do what Jerry Liebler or Ed Roelle or Dallas have done.

FWIW

Sojourn for Christ, Jerry

[brojcol]

Brian,

I had one of those in my bus for the same purpose as you (driver's air).  It worked great.  I routed the exhause and condensation out the floor and never had a problem.  I had ideas to try to mount it under the front dash eventually, but soon gave up on that idea. 

These are great little units if you're just using it to blow directly (like on the back of your head).  And mine had a heating element in it too.  The heater actually worked better than the air conditioner. 

Jimmy

[Buffalo SpaceShip]

Great responses, guys! Wish I had of researched my A/C options before we went with this "impulse" buy. Sojourner Jerry's explanation of the low cabin pressure now makes sense to me (I'm a little slow when it comes to visualizing airflows and the like). And Jerry Liebler's suggestion of a window A/C in my back cap (yes, I have a square aftermarket one) is a great suggestion. Dallas gives some nice ideas, too.

I like the price points of the window units, and they seem to be more efficient that the RV rooftops. Does anyone have exterior pics of a rear cap installation of a window A/C?

Thanks, folks!
Brian B.

[Don4107]

Another thing you can do which will help a bunch is change the colors of your Buff.  The dark colors you have look great but soak up a bunch of BTUs.  Take your infrared heat gun or your hand and check the temps of other RVs on the next sunny day in a RV park.  Compare a stark white surface with anything else.  Will be much cooler.  Even some very light colors surprised me how hot they were compared to bright white. 

Our old bus is medium blue with stainless sides.  Both get very hot in the sun, the stainless would, as they say, 'cook eggs'.  I coated the roof with white and it made a huge difference. Our 4107 sitting beside it with the mostly white color scheme was not much hotter than ambient air temp.   Not that I do not like your colors, I do, but white is where its at for cool. 

All the glass we have in a Buff makes it tough to do anything but cook in the drivers seat.  Something I may put in the Buff that the old bus has are the OEM fans, three of them.  Makes for a nice, albeit not always cool, breeze.   One directed toward the copilots seat helps her too.

PS.  1:25 PM.  Just went outside with the infrared heat gun.  Old bus skin (med blue) in the shade 66 degrees.   Rear panel covering where rear window was in direct sunlight, 103 degrees.   Cream colored metal hood on Cub lawn mower right next to bus was 82 degrees. (Buff is inside now.)  For an easy 20-40 degrees difference I'll stick with mostly white.