Frigidaire FRA054XT7, condensation?

[dylanear]

You may not get ideal air flow, but if it's working for you the lack of major shell modifications is a huge plus. Talking to Scamp however they did say they stopped selling the closet configuration because all the new small window units they've tried have had reliability issues when lacking good air flow. They say it may not be a problem for users who don't mind replacing a cheap AC unit every few years, but they couldn't reasonably warranty that situation.

So I think I will be venting the condenser directly out, but I still need the right hatch/vent for that. But do the air intake from the dinette seat like you did.

I opened up the unit last night and did some experiements. First thing was to stuff some plastic bag into the little buzzer on one of the circuit boards and then cover it in tape. It makes a SHREIKING beep at any control input, so now you can barely hear it. Then I tried pouring a little water on the evaporator to see where it would flow, and end up if I kept pouring. Seems it flows to the back area under the condenser and as expected gets kicked up by the fan on the condenser. If it gets deep enough it flows over a small ridge of plastic and out a hole under the compressor. It's in a great spot on the back corner that I think is clear of the wheel well. It actually looks like it's made to have something plug into it. But something could be attached I'm sure. I may tap the plastic bottom of the AC under the condenser fan area and put drain there too, that way I could put a valve on there and prevent any build up of water or drain built up water before I got underway and sloshed it all out into the closet. Or just do the drain pan thing. I would like to see how your's fit.

I'll get a few pics I took up.

[dylanear]

Pics.....


You can sort of see the overflow hole here.



The compressor and control side of the unit.



The main circuit board. You can see the black foam tape I've put over the extremely loud buzzer. I also stuffed plastic bag material into the buzzer to bring it to less than ear shattering volumes.



Top down view.

[dylanear]

OK, I took some more pics of the bottom of the unit, including a close up on the overflow drain hole. Notice how it looks like it's made for something to plug in that hole and turn to lock?

Drain hole:


Overview of the underside:


Vent of unknown function, importance:


And I think, at least temporarily, I'll be using two of these to vent the hot air out of the side. Cheap, available locally, They should keep rain out and can be opened for cleaning, or stuffed with insulation in winter. Not as pretty as I'd like. A custom door/vent will eventually be ordered I suspect.