Air Conditioning advise

[JT4SC]

Hello All (and Eddie),

I am looking at purchasing a bus that does not have air conditioning installed.  So I am interested in learning more about what is available and what you have found works well for the money.  I tried to read a post below relating to air conditioning but there was way too much technical stuff and I couldnt understand much of it. 

I am hoping you can steer me in the right direction in regards to which brand to buy, what to look for, and what has worked best for you.  I assume I want a roof mounted unit, but one of the posts below was adament against doing a roof unit, for reasons I dont understand.

Thanks for any help you can give me!!

[Jerry Liebler]

JT4SC,
   I for one am strongly against 'roof warts' for the following reasons:
1. And by far most important, my barn door opening is only 11'8".
2. I don't like the look of them.
3. I've had to be 'towed' on a landol twice and will probably in the future and my bus is barely below the oversize limits when on the landol.
4.  I now have a system that works and uses far less power, on under 15 amps I can maintain 70 inside when it's 95 outside.
5. I strongly suspect the actual cooling, in real use conditions, by most rooftops is but 2/3 of their ratings.
On the other hand they do offer low price, ready availability,easy installation and other benefits.
For reference I have an 18,000 BTU/h ductless split for the front and a 10,000 BTU/h window unit through my rear cap for the bedroom.
Regards Jerry 4107 1120 

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi JT,

Roof units are the most bang for the buck for sure....  But, as Jerry states, they are very visable on the roof of a bus!

I personally don't like them either, I have basement systems but, most folks would rather put that extra money in a better need for their conversion.

If you are a first time bus owner and not too knolagable about the hi-tech stuff yet, then stick with roof airs for now.

If you are feeling up for a "challange" or a better system, we can answer som of your questions on how to meet your needs.

Good Luck
Nick-

[Jerry Liebler]

JT,
   I'm also able to give the voice of experience to 3 alternatives to rooftops.  There are other alternatives, one that many use and I have no experience with it, ducted basement units, and another I'll just mention.

Best alternative for cost effectiveness and effective cooling is an energy star window unit through the rear cap.  It does take a bit of installation creativity as it must have air ducted into the portion that's normally outdoors and it's exhaust air must be ducted out through the rear.  This alternative, in terms of material cost is actually well below the lowest priced rooftop, but if one paid for installation that saving would surely be gone.

Best alternative for energy efficient cooling performance is a modern 13+ SEER ductless minisplit. The price of the unit is about 2x that of a rooftop and the installation labor and materials are also about 2x that of a rooftop.

Absolute Worst alternative, which should not ever be considered, and my sad expensive mistake is the so called 'portable' air conditioners that roll around on casters and vent hot air through a hose.  Since there is no government regulation or large customer the manufacturers are extremely dishonest in their claims of cooling performance. 

The fourth alternative, I believe  is about as costly as the minisplits, in both material and installation, and may offer similar performance, this is, I believe, what Nick has.

A possible fifth alternative that a very select few have chosen is to modify window units into ductless splits.  This is only for the truly mechanically gifted.

Regards
Jerry 4107 1120

[musicman]

I had 4 roof tops in my coach and in Arizona when it was 105+ I had to run all 4 just to keep it bearable in there...I went to Custom Coach here in florida and told them to yank them out and put in ducted unit..It took them 3 weeks and several thousand later it was done and works great...The reason it cost me so much was they had to patch my holes when the old units were,redo the entire ceiling in my coach and most expensive was in time trying to figure out how to run it since the coach was already finished..If you have a gutted unit its much easier to start from scratch..Like JT4 said ..you can drop it to 70 in no time...In 2005 we were going to the Grammys in Cali and going across the desert it was 115 degrees and the unit worked like a dream

[Jerry Liebler]

Musicman,
    I'm really curious, what exactly,make model,ratingsetc., do you have now that works so much better than 4 roof warts?
Regards
Jerry 4107 1120

[Kristinsgrandpa]

Basement units and mini-splits also are heat pumps, making them dual purpose as opposed to the 2000 watt heating elements on a ceiling unit and nothing on a household type window unit.

The heat pumps  aren't very efficient in sub freezing weather so if you are going to be a snowbunny and not a snowbird they may not be your cup or tea.

I'm going to be a snowbird so they are exactly what I was looking for.

Ed

[Jerry Liebler]

Ed,
    Right on about the heatpump aspect.  My sad mistake with the portables did show that heat pumps work,  I could keep the inside of the bus at 65 with just them down to 25 outside.  It'll be interesting this coming winter how the new minisplit heats I suspect it'll be good down into the single digits.  My house has a heat pump and the backup heat hasn't come on down to 5 degrees.  There are some window units that are heat pumps but they are rather rare, expensive and probably not worth it.
Regards
Jerry 4107 1120

[jjrbus]

 I recently had the opportunity to inspect a roof air that was replaced because it would no longer cool the bus. As far as I could tell there had not been a filter in place. The evaporator coil was at least 60% blocked! If your roof air is not doing the job before replacing the unit. replace/clean the filter and vacum the coil. This can be done from inside the bus. Once a year the outside cover should be removed and the unit cleaned with compressed air. HTH