Adding an AC.heater to my Haulmark Concession trailer

I would put 2 ac units in the roof, and a Fantastic Fan in the center. Just leave the fan open, and you have ventilation. I doubt a single AC unit will provide much cooling for a 26 foot trailer with that much heat rejection of cooling units and heat lamps inside.
Another idea is a pair of portable AC units, with dual hoses. Cut small holes in the outside wall for air in and out for the cooling unit. I would get the ones that evaporate the condensate in the exhaust stream - no buckets to drain.
As for heating, I would mount infrared lights above where people work.

p3tron64 wrote:
I appreciate all the comments but I forgot to add some pertinent information.


We only use the trailer for after school High School events.

This concession trailer has a permanent AC electrical hookup. Power is not an issue. We never cook in the trailer.

We have outdoor grills.

The trailer runs Pepsi Coolers, heat lamps, Industrial Fridge, Industrial Freezer and so forth.

I need the AC to remove humidity form the trailer as everything sweats and ruins itself and all the bread.

The Heater is only to cut the chill I don't expect it to heat the trailer fully.

The Health Inspector wants a exhaust fan installed so I thought with the 3 openings in the roof that I would install an AC in the center opening and on the two outer openings I would install a blower fan (one that always open). I have to rely on volunteers and they don't always pay attention to rules posted.
The last opening I was thinking of adding an always open vent so the trailer breaths when not in use.

Please correct me if I am off base with this thinking. I am spending Booster money and we don't have much so I want to ensure that what I install is the best thing for the trailer in the long term.

Thank you for all the help

RV roof mounted A/C units are terrible at removing humidity not to mention expensive and power hogs (IE not energy efficient) along with the fact that you would need to BUY the additional heating element AND when using that heater the A/C compressor is not going to operate.

For humidity control you are better off buying a standalone dehumidifier. Many of these now days have extended low temp operation down to 40-45 degrees F. Unfortunately it will take some floor space and require a drain or constant bucket emptying. There are some though that have built in condensate pumps to solve drain problems.

For actual A/C needs I would suggest simply using a standard residential window A/C. Cut out a hole in the trailer wall and you have a low cost A/C solution.

For heat, since you have a permanent setup, you could buy and install a couple of baseboard style "hydronic" electric heaters. Mount them down near the floor and the heat will rise up and keep you warm. They are actually rather low cost per foot and if you have 240V you can buy them at any Lowes, Home Depot. You can buy small 32" long 500W 120V ones on the Internet for $30 without a thermostat (you will need to buy a thermostat designed for 120V/240V heating)

If the baseboard style doesn't work, you can buy 240V electric wall mounted forced air heaters...

I appreciate all the comments but I forgot to add some pertinent information.


We only use the trailer for after school High School events.

This concession trailer has a permanent AC electrical hookup. Power is not an issue. We never cook in the trailer.

We have outdoor grills.

The trailer runs Pepsi Coolers, heat lamps, Industrial Fridge, Industrial Freezer and so forth.

I need the AC to remove humidity form the trailer as everything sweats and ruins itself and all the bread.

The Heater is only to cut the chill I don't expect it to heat the trailer fully.

The Health Inspector wants a exhaust fan installed so I thought with the 3 openings in the roof that I would install an AC in the center opening and on the two outer openings I would install a blower fan (one that always open). I have to rely on volunteers and they don't always pay attention to rules posted.
The last opening I was thinking of adding an always open vent so the trailer breaths when not in use.

Please correct me if I am off base with this thinking. I am spending Booster money and we don't have much so I want to ensure that what I install is the best thing for the trailer in the long term.

Thank you for all the help

The overhead heat in most RV air/cond ain't gonna cut it ! As said above , go with port electric heaters or propane running of your cooking tanks .

I would recomment a pair of Fantastic fans. You can set them to blow in or out. They move about 250 CFM at 12 volts, you can run them without hookups if you need to.

For the A/C then the largest one possible.

For the heater, I would use a portable one. This way if you are limited to a 30 amp circuit, but might be plugged into a 15 amp receptical, you can always find another circuit for the heater if you really needed it, but if it is wired into the A/C unit, you could not use that and still stay below the 15 amp limit, without shutting off everything else in the RV.

Besides a A/C system the heating element option is normally well over $100, they are not worth it, a good portable heater only costs about $19.

If you have humdity problems, consider a 65 pint per day $250 dehumidifier from Home Depot. Rated to remove 1.85 pints of water per KW of energy used, it will work on much less power than the A/C unit, and effectively dry out the air.

Fred.