A/C working

[captain ron]

I got a bur under my but early this evening and decided to finish some more wiring on my bus. The outlet behind my microwave is now functional and I don't have to unplug something else and run a cord to it. I also put in an outlet in the rear of my bedroom in one of the cabinets for my A/C and now my bedroom is comfy.
I installed mine like Jerry did his except I haven't run the to intake vents outside yet, but it works great. If I don't have any problems the way it is I won't run them out the sides. It's just a $60.00 walmart window unit, very quiet and cool.

[Tom Y]

Ron, You have a window unit and just circulate the air? No outside air? Did you build a pan to catch and get rid of the condensation?  I have been thinking about this for a small unit with a roof air also. I have seen window units in the basement but not sure of the controls.  Thanks Tom Y

[Busted Knuckle]

Ron,
Show us some pics. I'm confused! BK 

[boogiethecat]

Shouldn't be confusing... just look at it this way... a 2 foot cubic box inside which a little bitty Captain Ron clone is making all the cold air to go this way and all the hot air to go that way.
  Setting a small AC inside a room with no vents to the outside will do just that... the cold air can be aimed at your face and the hot air out the back goes the other way.  The average temperature of the room won't go up more than the amount of energy that the AC unit consumes... like running five 100W lightbulbs in the room, maybe eight depending on the AC unit.  Just that one area will get colder at the expense of another area that will get hotter. 
  The humidity drip out of the AC can be a bit of a problem, however it shouldn't be a hard one to deal with.
In some cases, much better than banging a big hole in the side of your bus
...although I still like my roof airs 

[DavidInWilmNC]

Tom,

I'm doing the window unit in the basement for my bedroom.  The bedroom isn't big enough to justify a 13,000 btu roof air.  I also plan on keeping the escape hatch, which pretty much eliminates using a roof air.  I bought an 8,000 btu unit from Home Depot for around $100.  I adapted the output to a 6" round duct and the 'return' to about 4" x 14".  It'll blow up through duct in the wall separating the bathroom and bedroom and into the room near the ceiling.  It has electronic controls, so it won't be much to remove them and mount them in the wall.  The exhaust blows down through the bay floor.  Air intake will be through a vent mounted in the rub rail on the bay door.  It's not exactly installed yet, but I have run it with all the ductwork in place and it still blows plenty of air into the bus.  If it needs a boost, a duct booster fan will help out.

David

Ron, You have a window unit and just circulate the air? No outside air? Did you build a pan to catch and get rid of the condensation?  I have been thinking about this for a small unit with a roof air also. I have seen window units in the basement but not sure of the controls.  Thanks Tom Y

[Hartley]

Ron,

Those are called "dehumidifiers" when setup in a closed space...

If you dump the heat overboard then its an air conditioner. ( Ohh...I Get it.. You already knew that!!!! )

It IS rocket science after all......

[captain ron]

The hot air is ducted out the rear cap on my bus. The intake air is what is not ducted outside. I built a pan with a drain in it that drains via hose into the engine compartment. The unit is centered above my bed and built into the cabinets, works great. I have a second one I am installing in the front of my bus just behind the drivers seat, the hot air will blow into the compartment where my a/c condenser was, the one with the big vented door. I will draw intake from the room if that works, if not I will vent to outside. This one will be built into a cabinet also that will double as an end table. I had to turn it off last night it got so cold even after turning it down

[Stormcloud]

I would also like to see a few photos, as I'm getting to the point now in my conversion that I have to decide rooftop or basement air units. I've read lots of posts about the rooftop units being the easiest to replace when they fail, but I kind of like the idea of a larger unit in the A/C bay ducted to the inside of the coach.

[captain ron]

Well I went back in my ice cold bedroom to take some pictures of my window air I installed and bragged about so proudly to prove to you nay sayers how it will work just fine. As I was making the bed for the photo I noticed a big wet spot on my barn siding cabinets. After further investigating I found that I had pulled the plug out of the a/c unit and had quit working for the night (installation was done last fall) forgot to drill the hole and put the hose on and DID NOT put a pan in like I previously stated and sealed everything up without finishing the job as I was just test fitting every thing. So now I have to remove the a/c and do the job right. Pictures to follow.

[Sojourner]

All self-contained air conditioning units, window-type or RV overhead units have a divided partition inside the unit, and one-half is the evaporator (cool air).

About window units: Room air goes through the bottom two-thirds and the other upper third is the cold air outlet. The other rear half of the unit is the condenser department, which is exposed to the outside ambient air to remove heat. The outside ambient air intake is on the end (grill) of the rear half of the AC unit. The ambient outlet is on the side louvers.

In Ron's situation, perhaps his is installed correctly, if the front part of the AC is inside the room and the rest of the AC is to the outside ambient air area. If he wants fresh air makeup there is a control to open air valve between condenser and evaporator department.

FWIW
Sojourn for Christ
Jerry

[captain ron]

Jerry, Post the pictures you sent to me, Yours is a nicer looking unit than mine.

I'll post pictures of mine in a few minutes

[captain ron]

The unit is sealed from font section to back section with styrofoam panels. I then put the furnace fittings on each side of the unit to draw air from outside but didn't hook them up because it will rob me of closet space. If it works like this I'm going to leave it if not I will finish venting out the side of the bus.

[kyle4501]

Lookin good so far Ron,
A question about the fresh air intake. . . . Do you have roof/ celing vents like a fantastic fan? If so, could you turn that on & have a fresh air intake near the intake for the A/C unit ducted from under the bus (cooler air when parked) with ~3" flex (how big do they make that smurf pipe?) or maybe a couple of pvc pipes ? ? ?

Just a thought so you can field test it before I spend the effort on mine

Thanks for sharing your sucess with this.

[captain ron]

The only hole in my roof is the emergency escape hatch which I'm making a snap in screen for so I can use it as much as possible for fresh air instead of a/c. Most window airs have a switch to go from circulating inside air to drawing fresh outside air. So far it keeps the room too cool. I'm removing it in a few minutes to see what I need to fix water drainage issues. I think it will work satisfactory without venting fresh air to it but if any of you know something I don't let me know. (let me rephrase that) If it's really a problem let me know. Jerry?

[Kristinsgrandpa]

WOW... Ron you've got A/C in your closet. That ought to keep your skivvies cool. (just as long as it doesn't frost your b***s)

I thought about doing that and put the heat out into the engine compartment also, but found a good deal on a couple of mini-splits.

One is going in the bedroom and the compressor unit is going in the engine compartment.  The other one will blow cool/heated air on the drivers comp. with the compressor in the spare tire compartment.

Look good, Ron.

Ed.