My idea for air conditioner

[GordM]

Man, I love this site! I'm posting like crazy. Anyway, I'm a brand new Boler owner, and I'm thinking of putting in an AC (air conditioner). I've looked at a whole host of ideas on this site, and youtube, and bolerama (I think), and others. Anyway, I'm not keen on cutting a big hole in the side of my camper. And I know from experience, you can't just put one in a closet, because they need to exhaust heat and have outside air access too. So here's my idea, and I want to know everyone's opinions of it if you don't mind. I was thinking of mounting my AC in the closet across from the kitchen counter. Anyway, I'm going to mount a drip tray below it, to collect water, and have it drain out of the side through a little hole that I'll drill. That's the first hole. Then I want to drill a 4" hole in the side, and mount a regular bathroom shower vent. And inside the cabinet (above the air conditioner) I would mount a 50 cfm bathroom exhaust fan and attach the vent to it. I would use a down facing vent, as to blow the hot air downward. And then either above that hole, or beside it, I would drill another 4" hole and another vent, for passive air intake. The hole assembly inside the closet would be semi sealed. My thinking is the 50 cfm fan would force enough air out, less the exhaust air from the AC, that there would be enough negative pressure to draw outside air into the cavity, thus minimize make up air coming from the inside of the Boler. Obviously some would anyway, but nearly as much because of this. And then other cosmetic things, like a shelf above the assembly for the closet, shortening the closet door to make it all seamless etc.

What are your thoughts on this one? Thanks everyone!

[RussL]

Hi Gord,

I've done something similar to this in my Boler, although I have cut some fairly big holes. I'm using a couple of modified dometic refrigerator vents over the area I opened up. I've put some shrouding around the back of the air conditioner to direct the exhaust air to the upper vent and the intake to the lower. With your plan I think you might want to reverse your vent positions to take advantage of the natural tendency for hot air to rise. Putting your exhaust vent lower could be less efficient because the hot air coming out of it might rise and be pulled back in to the intake.

I don't know whether a 4 inch vent with a fan attached would supply an adequate amount of air to the unit. I might be inclined to put fans in place for both intake and exhaust in that situation but I'm no HVAC expert. I don't have any pictures of my install available at the moment but I'd be happy to post them if you like.

Russ

[GordM]

I hear what your saying. I think that I would put them side by side, with baffles in order to direct exhaust air to here and there, and so on. I don't think want to put the exhaust on top, as it'll blow downward (rain vent), and just go back in the intake. I think side by side is the way to go now that I think about it, and what you recommended. Or the intake could be lower, but to the side. And I could face the exhaust vent a little skewed away. Hard to describe.

In regards to the 4 inch fan, it is 50 cubic feat per minute exhaust, which is pretty substantial I would think? I guess I could use another fan, in reverse, but to me that seems like too much? Maybe not.

[Markz]

I hear what your saying. I think that I would put them side by side, with baffles in order to direct exhaust air to here and there, and so on. I don't think want to put the exhaust on top, as it'll blow downward (rain vent), and just go back in the intake. I think side by side is the way to go now that I think about it, and what you recommended. Or the intake could be lower, but to the side. And I could face the exhaust vent a little skewed away. Hard to describe.

In regards to the 4 inch fan, it is 50 cubic feat per minute exhaust, which is pretty substantial I would think? I guess I could use another fan, in reverse, but to me that seems like too much? Maybe not.

I was thinking about a similar install. Please show us some pics as you go alone with completing the project.

I really would like to hear from someone who knows about heating and air conditioning. I will be installing a 5000btu unit in the closet.

[GordM]

I'll definitely post pictures, that's for sure. I think I might post this in the HVAC section at askmehelpdesk. Just see what they think about the fan exhaust thing.

Also Russ, I was thinking after, its not a 4" fan. Its a 4" exhaust vent, but the fan is larger. I couldn't say the exact size of the top of my head. Maybe 6" or 8". Good air flow though. The guy at the store said I might want to think about noise from the fan, but I'm pretty sure the AC will be louder

[GordM]

I didn't really get a satisfactory response over at askmehelpdesk, so after some thought, I think I'm going to give it a shot. At the very least if it doesn't work out, I can cut out those holes and make an access hatch to that closet from the outside. Hopefully it'll work though.

I'll take pictures and show my progress when I'm done, hope to start next week.