Portable Air Conditioner?

[havasu]

As we spend most of the time in the desert with temps well north of 100F, good a/c is something that we really need.

I have 13.5k units (ducted) and could upgrade them to 15k units but I am considering a portable a/c unit.

After I removed the couch from the slide, I have a perfect space for one where I could actually install a vent in the slideout for a semi-permanent installation.

I am thinking about a dual hose version - one that sucks and blows air from outside to cool rather than one that sucks air from the coach and blows it outside and which creates negative air pressure in the coach meaning that it sucks hot air in somewhere else.

Anyone have any experience of using a portable a/c in an RV?

[prstlk]

In the desert when humidity is below 40% a "swamp" cooler provides a lot of cooling. Down side is the units are big and use water. If you don't move the rig a roof mount will work the best.
If the humidity is up consider replacing a window with a window mount ac designed for homes. You will likely have to fabricate a stand for the outside support, and do some fab for the window it runs through.
there are also both ac and swamp coolers that are portable and use large flex tubes to move the hot air out, walmart has both
jw

[JiminDenver]

I bought my parents a single hose portable a while back. The hose puts out so much heat that anything behind the unit cooks. They used it in their trailer with the back right up to the door and the hose outside.

[DaHose]

You have it absolutely right, havasu. A single hose model pulls in air from the living space and exhausts it over the exchanger coil, so you lose tons of efficiency.

With a portable unit, dual hose is absolutely the way to go. Especially for use in an RV. Did you get a 14K BTU model? The next size down is usually less than $100 more, so I would not skimp on the capacity.

Jose

[buta4]

TyroneandGladys wrote:

havasu wrote:
Thanks - I did check out Home Depot but they only have the single hose design and they don't work in an RV - it needs to be a dual hose.

In a basement the single would work great as it pulls the cooler air from the rest of the house.

Believe it or not the portable AC does not know if you have put it in a house a workshop a garage or a RV. If you do not believe me go get it from Home Depot put the window adapter that come with it in one of the windows in your RV the adapter will work on sliding windows, Run the single hose from the AC to the window adapter and you will see it works great, After seeing this then make your one permanent vent. If I am wrong, which I am not, and the AC does not work right return it to Home Depot.

I did that at my S&B and it worked great. I opted to run a small hose to basement to allow for the condensation from the AC.

On an RV, you can just let it drip onto the ground, it's just water.

Got tired of emptying the self-contained removable condensation container bin under the AC.

[C_Schomer]

I used to sell Cold Wave AC spot cooling units. They were water cooled and they took two 3/8 tubes, one in and one out and they were about the size of a portable room humidifier only taller. They had a modulating water valve to regulate head pressure and they were very efficient cuz hot weather doesn't drive up the head pressure. I usually put them in rooms where a company would turn a small room into a copier or computer room. I think they were available up to 1 ton net btuh... that means a full useable ton of cooling, not some phony net rating that requires unrealistic ambient conditions. The problem these days might be the one-pass water issue. Craig
I just did a search and they are still around - koldwave.com
Click on products and then the water cooled button. They have up to 23kbtuh now.

[Carolina_Moonsh]

We had a portable AC in our park model in the desert and it made our electric bill very high.

[FlatBroke]

My dad just bought a single hose a/c. Took him about 2mln. Of running it Before he had packaged up headed back to the store.

[jacques1]

gcloss wrote:
I had a portable A/C unit at home for a few years. It worked great, but it was very noisy.

Yeah Gclose i have one also noise like your one.

[Tiggs]

I have just tried out using my portable dual hose AC unit in my TT and, using only one Honda 2000, was able to cool down my 20" unit admirably. I do mostly dry camping without access to 30 amp service. Rather than buy a 2nd Honda 2000, I tried using my portable unit. It is a snug fit between the bed and the wall of the TT, but it did fit.

Rather than using the larger and stiffer 5" hoses supplied, I used 4" dryer hose. I had to modify the connections but was lucky enough to find, at Lowes, two kits (one for each hose) designed to use as a clean out point for 4" dryer hose. I flipped the connections around which gave me a 5" to 4" hose connector that fits into the AC unit and then connected to the 4" hose. The other half connected from the 4" hose at the other end.

I then dropped the hoses down through the "laundry shoot" and into the basement of the TT. I finally took a piece of foam board insulation, cut holes to fit pvc connecor and the inside of the hatch door. Now both hoses vent to the outside and I don't have to worry about humidity in the "basement" or rain getting in with the hatch door open. I wrapped this peice in white duct tape to help water proof it and try to make it look less hillbilly 😉

This unit isn't as noisy as the unit on the roof when it cycles on and off. Overall I'm pleased with the functionality of my "project" but I'm sure someone could come up with a design that looked better.

Carolyn

[havasu]

Tyrone and Bone - you are kinda missing the point. Single hose units suck air from inside the RV, blow it over the condenser and exhaust it out of the back. So they are taking air from the inside and blowing it outside.
The air that they take from the inside has to be replaced - it creates a negative pressure inside the RV so air enters the RV through vents, doors, leaks etc from outside.
At the same time, it also sucks in air that it passes over the evaporator which cools it and it blows this back into the RV

So the cooling has to not only cool the air in the RV 'box' but also has to cool the hot air that has been sucked into the RV.

A dual hose unit sucks outside air in and blows it over the condenser and then blows it back out of the RV - the only air being sucked in from the RV is blown over the evaporator and back into the RV.

On one of the web sites, they ran a comparison of how long it took to cool down an RV from 88 to 73 - the dual hose unit took 22 minutes, the single hose unit took 89 minutes.

Mine should be here tonight so I'll post some photos as I install it and report back on efficiency and noise levels.

[Bonefish]

Tyrone nailed it on the AC unit!

Being in the desert are you sure you are not looking for an evaporative unit. Good a cooling and circulating air through on non-humid days in the shop.

[Chris_Bryant]

I have to say, those portable units (at least the ones I have and have seen) are LOUD and hot. While they do work, you have the whole thing right there radiating heat, along with the exhaust hose. Personally, I wouldn't be able to stand the noise in an RV.
YMMV.

[jcthorne]

The single hose units are not very effective as all the hot air they vent outside is replaced in the cooled space by air leaked from outside into the space. IE if its 100 deg outside, you are using cooled interior air to cool the condenser and exhausting it outside. This air is replaced by 100deg outside air. The dual hose units use outside air to cool the condenser just like your roof unit does. Single hose units are VERY inefficient and approach 0% as the temp differential from inside to outside reaches 20 degrees or more.

[doxiemom11]

We had a portable AC in the campground wood log office that I worked in last summer. The office sat in the sun with asphalt drive all around it. When it was 90+ outside, the portable AC did cool the office from say 98 down to maybe 89, but it was hot and miserable all summer even with that running all the time. It was the biggest btu you can get without needing a 220 plug in. The office was small with a small porch and windows . It did not work well in extreme hot, sunny, weather. If you sit in the desert with no shade and in the sun all day, I wouldn't count on it helping much.