Air Conditioner idea

[Takamine]

Anyone ever tried setting a small window air conditioner on the roof of their popup and directing the air flow though the roof vent using a wooden box/baffle. Any thoughts?

Thanks

[PattieAM]

One would think it 'do-able', as there are light-weight window units on the market.  You would need some kind of rubber pad bewteen the unit and the roof of your PUP,(vibration) and you might need to adjust how it sits for the condensation to drain properly.  Assume one could secure the unit with bungee cords hooking into the roof edges.  One could construct a duct to attach to the AC and run to the hole in the roof, but, it would limit air circulation, so an oscellating fan inside the PUP might disburse the cooled air adequately, and maybe the use of the bunk end fans.  Window units generally re-circulate the air - so I'm not sure how you could deal with that.

It would look a little different - that's for sure!

[wavery]

Here are your obstacles:

How would you turn the AC on & off? You can't just disconnect the power and reconnect it again. You must use the "On/Off" switch on the AC or you will ruin it in short order. I suppose you could buy a unit with a remote (most of them come that way now) but those remotes are unreliable and get lost easily.

You would have to run one duct down through the roof (preferably at one end of the roof) for the cold air to come into the camper from the AC. Then you'd have to run another duct (preferably at the other end of the roof) for the return air from the camper back to the AC. That's what makes AC work. The air must be recirculated, getting cooler on each circulation. If you don't have a return air duct, the AC will be useless.

How would you fasten all this (including the AC unit) to the roof. Roof AC is a 2 part design. The top part (the compressor) just sits on a big rubber seal on the roof. The inside part (the air handler) bolts to the top part making the roof into a sandwich. The AC unit isn't actually bolted to the roof at all.

Then you have to contend with sealing this mess up real good and deal with wind resistance, vibration and all that stuff. My advice would be to forget putting it on the roof. That was just a bad dream that you had  :morning: .....it'll be better tomorrow  :sombraro: .


I love this picture. I post it every chance I get....

[heygirl]

I wound up buying a portable a/c and it works great.  It's a 7500 btu and was $279 on sale.  Yep, it costs more but all I have to do is sit it up and plug it in.  It is wonderful at night and I'm insulating the windows and then it should do a little better in the day with the almost 100 degree days we've been having.  I put a small fan inside to help circulate to the bed ends.  I take the exhaust out of the corner of my pup and for now bought a fabric remnant to squish around the exhaust to keep the heat and the bugs out.  I want to have a hole cut in the side to vent the exhaust out, sort of like a dryer vent but just haven't had the time.
 
Just another suggestion for you, I believe Wavery was the one who suggested it to me.

[wavery]

I wound up buying a portable a/c and it works great.  It's a 7500 btu and was $279 on sale.  Yep, it costs more but all I have to do is sit it up and plug it in.  It is wonderful at night and I'm insulating the windows and then it should do a little better in the day with the almost 100 degree days we've been having.  I put a small fan inside to help circulate to the bed ends.  I take the exhaust out of the corner of my pup and for now bought a fabric remnant to squish around the exhaust to keep the heat and the bugs out.  I want to have a hole cut in the side to vent the exhaust out, sort of like a dryer vent but just haven't had the time.
 
Just another suggestion for you, I believe Wavery was the one who suggested it to me.

I just finished installing a window AC in our nu-to-us PU.

Check out this thread,
http://www.arveeclub.com/showthread.php?t=66464&page=3&pp=10

[Hargus]

.....it'll be better tomorrow  :sombraro: .


Wavery,
           You crack me up!!
When are you coming East for camping? We don't have earthquakes in New England just tornadoes. I'm waiting.

[dthurk]

I remember seeing somewhere of someone who had rigged up a 5000 btu window air conditioner on a shelf at the height of the bottom of one of the windows in the box of their camper.  They cut an opening in the vinyl/screen and sewed zippers in both so they could open and close them at will.  The window air conditioner simply fit through the new zipper opening and worked as it normally does sitting in a window.  It looked neat and clean.  Don't remember where I saw it, it was quite some time ago.

[wavery]

I remember seeing somewhere of someone who had rigged up a 5000 btu window air conditioner on a shelf at the height of the bottom of one of the windows in the box of their camper.  They cut an opening in the vinyl/screen and sewed zippers in both so they could open and close them at will.  The window air conditioner simply fit through the new zipper opening and worked as it normally does sitting in a window.  It looked neat and clean.  Don't remember where I saw it, it was quite some time ago.

5,000BTU won't cut it in a PU when it gets hot out. There's too many ways for the cool air to escape and hot air to get in. Even with our 13,500BTU roof mounted Carrier AC, we had to seal up all the open places with duct tape and towels to get it nice & cool on a hot day.

A 10,000BTU window AC unit is less than $300 brand new. I know that you can pick up 5,000BTU units for under a $100 but it would be a waste of $100 in my opinion. A $30 fan would do a better job. At least it would move a larger volume of air. Those 5000BTU units hardly blow any air. What little air that it does blow may be a little cooler but there's not enough movement to do anything unless you have a small, well sealed room with decent insulation (that's not the description of any PU that I know of... :p )

[dthurk]

5,000BTU won't cut it in a PU when it gets hot out. There's too many ways for the cool air to escape and hot air to get in. Even with our 13,500BTU roof mounted Carrier AC, we had to seal up all the open places with duct tape and towels to get it nice & cool on a hot day.
 
  A 10,000BTU window AC unit is less than $300 brand new. I know that you can pick up 5,000BTU units for under a $100 but it would be a waste of $100 in my opinion. A $30 fan would do a better job. At least it would move a larger volume of air. Those 5000BTU units hardly blow any air. What little air that it does blow may be a little cooler but there's not enough movement to do anything unless you have a small, well sealed room with decent insulation (that's not the description of any PU that I know of... :p )

Well, I'm going on memory here on something I saw 2 or 3 years ago.  I do remember it was less than 10,000 BTU.  I don't remember where they were from.  I don't believe it was anywhere in the South, either west or east.  That would make a difference.  5,000 BTU's would probably do quite well in the NE and maybe in the NW.  Don't know for sure, I've never been in the NW.  I do remember the rig worked well for them and the concept would be valid for this thread.  Adjust the BTU's of the AC to match the camping conditions you encounter.  Use bunk end covers to reduce the load in hot climates.  An interior fan would most likely be necessary in any situation without an RV type roof AC.
 
 I have been in Palm Springs in July, not camping.  Can't imagine camping there and then in a popup!  It was 115 during the day all week and barely break into double digits overnight.  You know that "but it's a dry heat" phrase?  Forget it!  Hot is hot.

[wavery]

Well, I'm going on memory here on something I saw 2 or 3 years ago.  I do remember it was less than 10,000 BTU.  I don't remember where they were from.  I don't believe it was anywhere in the South, either west or east.  That would make a difference.  5,000 BTU's would probably do quite well in the NE and maybe in the NW.  Don't know for sure, I've never been in the NW.  I do remember the rig worked well for them and the concept would be valid for this thread.  Adjust the BTU's of the AC to match the camping conditions you encounter.  Use bunk end covers to reduce the load in hot climates.  An interior fan would most likely be necessary in any situation without an RV type roof AC.
 
 I have been in Palm Springs in July, not camping.  Can't imagine camping there and then in a popup!  It was 115 during the day all week and barely break into double digits overnight.  You know that "but it's a dry heat" phrase?  Forget it!  Hot is hot.

If I remember correctly (and I probably don't :morning: ), it may have been Austinboston that had that setup. He doesn't post much anymore so he probably hasn't seen this thread.

[Hargus]

As I recall I think it was brainpause that had a window air conditioner propped up to his pu.

[sacrawf]

It would look a little different - that's for sure!

I'm sure it would work.

At a local campground I have seen the version where you stack concrete blocks up against the side of the camper, set the AC unit on top of it, and plumb the airflow into the side of the camper canvas with duct tape and cheap blue plastic tarp material.

And we also wonder why some campgrounds discourage or don't allow pop-ups?