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Subject Topic: Air conditioning units
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Personkwaked
31/1/2016 at 11:37am
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Anyone have any experience with air condition units please?

Seems i have 2 options

1/ Caravan specific type.
Expensive, inefficient, roof mounted

2/ Home type
Need to customise it to fit into a caravan, concern that the connections may fail as they're not designed to move or with vibrations in mind.

My caravan is a 2007 Sterling Elite Searcher so is just under 7m long inside x 2.3m wide x 2.5m high

Will be looking to cool it down around 15c.
According to my calculations i'll need at least 7000 btu maybe as much as 15,000 btu
This rules out all but the largest caravan specific AC units.

Wonder what your thoughts and experiences are please?


Cheers
Mark


PersonNick J
31/1/2016 at 11:50am
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We use a roof mounted Dometic 2200, does the job for us, quiet and takes little power. Any reason why you require such a low temperature?


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Personkwaked
31/1/2016 at 12:02pm
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Thanks Nick,

We usually see temps around the low to mid 40c's in summer, i find much above 25c and i struggle to sleep.

I can sleep in warmer temps but i figured the insulation on a caravan would be pretty pretty so would sooner have a unit that's slightly over rated than a unit that's running flat out.

What sort of internal dimension is your caravan please?


PersonNick J
31/1/2016 at 1:40pm
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We have ours set around 19-20 when in Spain and it works just fine, our caravans internal dimensions are 7mts x 2.5mts but the insulation is good.


Personkwaked
31/1/2016 at 2:19pm
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Looks to be around the same size then.

Quick question please, if you were to buy another would you go for the same size or the next size up?


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Personsuggett1976
31/1/2016 at 2:50pm
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I'm an Air conditioning engineer by trade.

Firstly it is pointless over sizing a a/c unit thinking it will give you a colder temperature.

Its very unusual to get a system with a thermostat lower than 16 to 18 deg as you are then going into refrigeration and not air conditioning.

If you over size the system it will get them room temperature down to the set temperature (say 16deg) faster than a correctly sized system meaning it will cut out on its thermostat quicker. It wont get the temperature any lower than the set point. (16deg)

All it means is that the compressor is banging on and off quicker which could damage it.

The same works for a system that is under sized.
It will take longer to reach the set point (16 deg) meaning the compressor will run longer and may struggle.

Easy way to describe it is a fridge in your kitchen.
Its designed to refrigerate the area inside the fridge.
If you left the door open, would you expect it to cool your kitchen !!!

Regarding a domestic mobile unit. It could work.
It would have to be transported upright, with the least amount of vibration possible and left to stand for a while before using it.
This is why the fridge in the caravan is a absorption system as it has no moving parts.

Purpose build a/c units for cars and caravans etc use rubber hose to eliminate split pipes etc.


PersonHairywol
31/1/2016 at 3:05pm
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If my caravan was 15 degrees I'd put the blooming heating on pronto.

Have you considered that you'd be better off in a milder country?


-------------
Camping Gear expands so as to fill the space available for its transportation.


Personkwaked
31/1/2016 at 3:14pm
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Hi suggett,

Thanks for your input.

In my experience with AC units the BTU ratings are not telling the whole story, we've had AC units in our bedroom that were over rated but still struggled on certain nights to get the room to a reasonable temp.

In the years i've been living in Greece we've had to replace AC units that were slightly over rated with ones that are dramatically over rated.
The over rated ones seem to last longer and are cheaper to run.

They also cool the room down quicker so we don't need to leave them on for hours before we go to bed.

They also run better as they get older and slightly less efficient.

My concern with the roof mounted caravan specific AC units is
1/ They will not be powerful enough on hot humid nights in a caravan (which is not insulated as well as a house)

2/ If in the future i need to replace parts these are not going to be easy to find in Greece compared to the home units.

Not spent long on Greek camp sites yet, so i think it will be worth having a look see what the locals use.


PersonNick J
31/1/2016 at 3:57pm
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Quote: Originally posted by kwaked on 31/1/2016
Looks to be around the same size then.

Quick question please, if you were to buy another would you go for the same size or the next size up?


Same size, it's fine for our requirements...


Personjeff juke
31/1/2016 at 5:51pm
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Maybe this would suit you ? Click

-------------
Animals have feelings..

JEFF................


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Personkwaked
31/1/2016 at 6:00pm
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Thanks Nick.

Jeff, interesting design.
I think if someone was only visiting warm climates for a week or 2 each year it'd be a good idea.

For us though it's almost certain that the AC will be on every night we're in the caravan for around 4 months, so the design does look like it'll be in the way.

It's looking like the roof mounted AC units are better than i had thought they would be, so i think i'll have to weight up the option of adapting a home AC to fit or paying twice if not 3 times as much for a roof mounted version.

Decision decisions.


Personnavver
31/1/2016 at 7:29pm
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If a caravan unit is absorption type it will be silent in operation and can potentially run on gas. It's the same principle as the caravan fridges.

We were stuck next to a big American RV and I had to ask them to switch theirs off because it was so noisy.

A big unit will require a big power supply. The RV had a huge thick cable and a 50amp plug. He'd made an adaptor to get it in the 16A socket on site.

In office buildings we allow the internal temperature to rise with the outside temperature. If you go from a very cold inside to a very hot outside you will not fare well. You will get used to a higher temperature and be comfortable as long as it is cooler than outside.


PersonNick J
31/1/2016 at 7:30pm
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You could do either, I have seen both but I would recommend you go for the roof mounted unit....


PersonAndy Higham
31/1/2016 at 8:29pm
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You will always need the condensor outside. A/C units work by moving heat around, all the heat you remove from the caravan interior has to be rejected outside. Portable units usually have a large pipe that needs to be routed to the outside for the hot air to escape. If you just open a window and put the pipe through, then you will be trying to cool the whole site


Personkwaked
01/2/2016 at 7:17am
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Quote: Originally posted by navver on 31/1/2016
If a caravan unit is absorption type it will be silent in operation and can potentially run on gas. It's the same principle as the caravan fridges.


Do the caravan type AC units run on absorption chilling?

Quote:
We were stuck next to a big American RV and I had to ask them to switch theirs off because it was so noisy.

A big unit will require a big power supply. The RV had a huge thick cable and a 50amp plug. He'd made an adaptor to get it in the 16A socket on site.


Can't see any AC i'd consider buying to be a problem power wise.
Both the caravan type and home type will be fine on a sites power, i'm only talking about going slightly over powered not commercial sized.

Quote:
In office buildings we allow the internal temperature to rise with the outside temperature. If you go from a very cold inside to a very hot outside you will not fare well. You will get used to a higher temperature and be comfortable as long as it is cooler than outside.


If there's one thing i've learnt living here, it's you never get "used" to the heat in summer.

You just need somewhere cool to get away from it every now and then.

2nd question is

If i buy a caravan type AC should i buy and get one installed while the caravan is in England or wait till it's over in Greece?

Logically it's be better to buy and have it installed in Greece as that's where the caravan will be spending most of it's life, so any problems with the unit/install i can go back to the seller/installer.

In reality though caravanning isn't popular here so the choice of sellers is dramatically less.
It'll no doubt be more expensive over here.
The quality of workmanship can sway dramatically.


Personiank01
01/2/2016 at 11:24am
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As we lived in the tropics, air con was a way of life. When we came to England we thought ti unnecessary however the summers in the south of the country can get very hot and humid with humidity being the killer.
We had a Dometic 2200 Freshjet fitted and you cannot hear it even when stood next to the caravan. We set the thermostat to about 18C and if out during the day, we have all the shades up covering the windows stopping the sunlight.
When in the caravan we just close the shades where the sun is shining in and it keeps the temp comfortable.



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