A/C-it was a bust!

[Pamela H]

Ok - took our little burro out-on its build a little camp alittle philosophy- and brought our 10kBTU portable A/C which stories told should have froze us out...

Didn't happen-very hot weekend- 100+, and temporary set up- A/C on the bed, hose out the window- (yes, red neck extraordinaire-) and it couldn't keep up at all-by late afternoon, it was registering above the 80's, and that was in the dinette area, the rest of the trailer was hotter. We had to remove the carpeting in the center strip-does that account for all our heat? Has anyone else seen this? Its like there was no insulation at all.

Pam

[Per Walthinsen]

I must have missed the lead-up to this: can you fill me in on what kind of unit, how it was connected (# of hoses, etc.)?
10K Btu should be more than enough to freeze you out of a small Burro, but if it was one of the single-hose floor-standing portables that might account for it. More info?

[weldon freeman]

Ok - took our little burro out-on its build a little camp alittle philosophy- and brought our 10kBTU portable A/C which stories told should have froze us out...

Didn't happen-very hot weekend- 100+, and temporary set up- A/C on the bed, hose out the window- (yes, red neck extraordinaire-) and it couldn't keep up at all-by late afternoon, it was registering above the 80's, and that was in the dinette area, the rest of the trailer was hotter. We had to remove the carpeting in the center strip-does that account for all our heat? Has anyone else seen this? Its like there was no insulation at all.

Pam

The carpet down the middle on the ceiling was standard, and had no insulation on either one of the two I owned. I know the heat was deflected by the carpeted area. I had a 5,000 btu a/c in mine and it was very.. cool in hot weather.

[Ken C]

I also had a 5,000 btu a/c in a small 14 foot trailer and it would be cold even in the 105 Nevada desert heat. It hung out the window on a homemade wood platform and small foam bits closing off the air gaps around.

[Bob H]

For what my 2¢ is worth...

If little bit is good, a lot must be a lot better isn't true regarding Air Conditioning.

You can actually overdo it by having too large a AC. If you use a air conditioner that's too big, it'll start and stop too much,(called short-cycling) that not only wastes energy, it wears out the AC, and most importantly, it won't be able to dehumidify the room air, making things less comfortable as well. It'll feel like it's NEVER getting cooler.

Figure first the square footage of the area you intend to cool, to determine the size of AC you need...figure the length, times the width to get the square feet.

Then determine the BTU's using a rule of thumb
reference of:
Room size: 100-250 square feet, Air conditioner size: 5000-6000 BTU

Room size: 250-400 square feet, Air conditioner size: 6000-8500 BTU

Room size: 400-550 square feet, Air conditioner size: 8000-11000 BTU

Room size: 550-875 square feet, Air conditioner size: 11000-15000 BTU

For the record...13' Scamps (like mine) need a AC of only 5000 BTU

Ask.com has a good article on the subject.

ConwayBob

[Nancy]

I am also confused on how you vented this unit.

Any indoor air that is vented out has to be replaced with...outside air coming in. You exchange hot air for hot air.

I don't like the portable air conditioners with the hose thing.

With a regular air conditioner the inside air gets cooled to be returned inside the room. The condenser and all the heat stays outside. If you used a standard air condition I can't figure out how you vented the heat generated, and what air replaced it.

Good luck.

Nancy

[Harry Young]

I am with Nancy, as the primary reason and with the short cycle issue on the secondary or aggravating issue...Lastly I have seen many of these returned because at 100 plus degrees the compressors are overheating and have been cycling off.

My 5000 btu window unit worked fine in N.M when we broke down and Nissan had to order a part...I have no insulation.

Harry

[Pamela H]

It was a portable stand alone unit, designed to have a hose out the window, which it did. The challenges that we had was that the hose was too long, causing instead for it to project out vertically instead of horizontally. (did it make a difference? I wouldn't think it should.) The hose was pushed out the window and had several feet outside as opposed to just the opening at the window.

It wasn't short cycling-it was running too hot. It does put quite a bit of heat out of the back-and gets its intake air from the back of the unit. Perhaps too close to the wall? it was 1 ft closer than usual.

Sorry for the slow delay...the responses didn't come up as new posts.

[Per Walthinsen]

There have been a number of discussions and reports about using these units. I recommend searching for them, because the verdict is mostly thumbs down.

The ONLY way a unit such as these can possibly work properly is if they have one intake hose and another exhaust hose. I understand there are units with combination hoses (one inside another) and with care they could be terminated so they do not cause a closed airflow circuit.

In my opinion the single hose units are actually fraudulent designs, and any knowledgeable AC person will tell you so and tell you why, as a couple here have done already.

IF it is a single-hose (or even if it is a double hose) see if there is a way you can recoup your money, then consider installing a regular window-type unit or an AC on top of the trailer. Sorry to contribute to the bad news.

[Curtis F.]

Ah, sorry to hear of you disappointment. I am certain the problem you experienced was that the system was causing thr trailer to suck in hot outside air to replace the super heated exhaust air. That is a common issue with using a single hose A/C. I have a dual hose A/C 8K and it generally does a good job. The only real problem came in Autin, tx durning 105 degree temps. There just wasn't enough moisture in the air for the unit to cool the interior much more than 25 degrees below outside temperature. In Florida and other areas with higher humidity, it would cool to what ever I set it to in a matter of a few hours.

Dual hose units are more difficult to find and a little more expensive.

FYI, the same air exchange problem can occur with the small portable A/C units if not installed properly.

Good luck.