Window AC in vintage camper

[c.rainh20]

I installed a window ac unit in my vintage camper where the furnace used to sit. I have the exhaust vented so that it is outside (through a large grate) it is sealed off so that it can & does vent outside. The middle part ( I think its the outside air intake is sealed out & air vents to get outside air to it. The front of the AC where cold air blow is sealed off from other 2 areas and blows directly in the camper. The AC blows very cold air out of it, but it does cool the camper the campoer is only 16ft long total. Do I have the AC it sealed off in correct places? Suggestions, please.

 

[Boat Bum]

You need to strategically add a fan in front of the AC to blow the air forward to the rest of the cab, provided it is of sufficient BTUs for the area. These are not insulated for air conditioning so it will struggle in extreme heat.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

These are not insulated for air conditioning so it will struggle in extreme heat.

And "extreme" probably begins at 88-90 F.

 

[Rene T]

Can you give some pictures of inside and outside?

 

[c.rainh20]

Yes, I will... It will be a couple hours. Thank you for all your help.

 

[c.rainh20]

And "extreme" probably begins at 88-90 F.

Thank you for all your help & information.

 

[c.rainh20]

You need to strategically add a fan in front of the AC to blow the air forward to the rest of the cab, provided it is of sufficient BTUs for the area. These are not insulated for air conditioning so it will struggle in extreme heat.

Thank you for all your help & information.

 

[Domo]

The rear of the A/C requires air INTAKE as well as a way to exhaust it.

By simply sticking the end of the window A/C flush with the outside of your rig, you may be blocking the cooler air intake for the rear half of the A/C.

The "Inside" half that cools draws in warm air from your room and passes it through the evaporator coils which absorb the heat from the room air. The air is then expelled, giving a nice cool breeze into the room.

The "outside" half, that releases the heat into the outdoors requires cooler air from outdoors to be sucked in and blown through the condenser coil, thus cooling the condenser coil and releasing heat out the back of the window A/C.

If fresh outside air is blocked from going into the back half of the A/C the unit will overheat and lose efficiency quickly, plus, may ice up the inside and cause condensation damage when the water can't escape.

OP - if you've "sealed" the outside where the A/C sticks out, the Condenser fan is probably sucking nice cold air from inside of the coach (where you want to keep it) and using that to cool the condenser coil...

We had this exact problem on our old TraveLite trailer. They put a window A/C in a sidewall, but didn't know to put a duct for make-up air. (Very similar to how propane refrigerators work where there is a low intake grill for air and a higher grill (or rooftop vent) for the hot air to vent out. When we went to TraveLite to have multiple problems fixed I informed the crew about how an A/C actually works - their defense was that {some guy} did the installation and "read the book and everything." I ended up putting my own roof vent for the A/C after waterproofing the A/C cubbyhole so that excess condensate would drip out rather down between the wall panels.

So - maybe too much blabber... here's a basic diagram showing two coils - one inside, one outside. They BOTH need to have air flow in freely so it can be blown outside.

 

[c.rainh20]

I'll take pictures in a little bit. Could you please look & tell me if I have it ducted correctly,(after looking at pictures) please.

 

[c.rainh20]

 

[c.rainh20]

Pictures are of inside where we have put the air conditioner and it does blow very cold... Then there are pictures of the sides that I sealed off from the front and the exhaust as to one site I had read said that was what to do but it does sit inside the camper that portion... Then there are pictures of the back of the air conditioner that is flush with the camper that we have sealed around and then put a vent in front of and it does vent outside and that is hot air that comes out.

Do I need to vent the sides so that they suck air from inside the camp? We tried that last year and that did not work so that's how come I did more reading this year and they said that that had to be outside air that that portion of the air conditioner got so that is how come I sealed it off so that it only gets outside air.

Or with the best thing be to bring the air conditioner so the side vents and the exhaust truly sit outside the camper?

 

[Domo]

Yes you need to get air into the rear half of the a/c. Right now the is no way for the rear coil to get cooler air.

One picture shows Hager cardboard. I'll bet there are intake louvers behind that cardboard that are now blocked off from the outside.

You could bring air in from under the roof, or from under the trailer, using flex ducting or aluminum. Just needs to be open at the bottom and come up into the sealed area surrounding the rear of the a/c.

I hope those makes sense!

If you could put the a/c on a sliding shelf you could push it in when traveling and then pull it out when you want to cool! Bit of a carpenter problem but a good solution to get the outside half breathing!

 

[c.rainh20]

That does indeed make sense Thank you very much for your help

 

[John From Detroit]

I mounted a window AC in one of my trailers.. Where else. in the window (Front) I added some bracing so it handled bouncing better. Worked well.
You may find you need more "Cool" on a sunny day... RV's tend to soak up the sun. But even if all it does is cut humidity.. GOOD. .

 

[CharlesinGA]

The outside portion of the window unit needs to have the sides open as that is where the air enters that is blown out the rear thru the fins.

I saw a nifty installation on a van a guy was building out inside. He put the window unit on heavy duty ball bearing drawer slides, and put a snap on panel on the outside. When he stopped, he removed the outside panel (possibly it was hinged, not sure, but he opened it) and then pushed the A/C out till the flange on it sealed on a frame he made right at the outer skin of the van. Thus it stuck out like it was supposed to for use, but pulled in and closed up for travel and weather proofing.

The outside of the unit MUST draw in outside air on the side louvers. It will overheat if it does not.

Charles