air conditioner surgery- central air sort of

[sportyrick]

If you go to the gallery and see sportyricks bus you will see the latest pictures I added of my divorced air conditioner. I cut a window unit in 2 parts and installed the evaporator in the kitchen and the compressor and condenser in a slide out directly under it. I did this for 2 reasons: 1) I want the least amount of JUNK on my roof for aeirodynamics, a clean roof line looks better too. 2)I have noticed while scrounging parts to build my bus that most RV's and trailers eventually have leaks (air conditioners, vents etc.) with accompanying structural problems that eventually lower the value of that vehicle greatly. When you think of old trailers and RV's you think of leaky rotten roofs and soft walls and floors, no one wants an old leaky RV. So i eliminated that problem before it raised it's ugly head. I didn't get my lines hidden (hind sight) so I ended up putting a shop vac hose around them to hide them (I don't have that pic yet). Sand all lines where you plan to cut them (pipe cutter only, no hack saws) so they will be easy to solder back together and you won't get sanding grains in the lines. A good comercial air cond guy can direct you how to do it and can help you silfloss the lines and charge it back up. You will have no idea how much R22 it will hold so pressure gauges and a sight glass are musts. If I had it to do over again I would consider just putting the window unit under the bus and using ductwork to do the same thing. Then if you had trouble you could just slide the unit out and replace it. Ignorance and fear are the only things holding you back, imagination and persistance are omni-potent. Sportyrick

[busone]

This is the exact thing I am planning on doing. I don't like the cost of the roof units and the look/leaks. I always see used window units in the paper cheap. Even new they are not very expensive.

I am also planning on doubling up the condenser coils to make the units more efficient. I also plan to use a squirrel cage blower for the evaportator. I hate those noisy fans they come with.

[sportyrick]

Luckily I ended up with a high efficency unit. Remember theoretically your evaporator should have 400 CFM for every ton (12,000 btu) of cooling. I put in a 200 cfm and it's a little slow but a larger one would make it seem like a small tornado coming off the inside roof like it does. I figured it would be like a window unit on low at 200. At least it's up where the heat is. Remember you will have a 3 speed condenser fan to play with. Everything in life is a compromise. Good luck. Sportyrick

[Sojakai]

Rick, Add this to your "Signature". That way it will pop up on all your posts and we dont have to hunt for your pictures in the gallery.

http://www.skoolie.net/gallery2/v/Sk...portyricksbus/

The AC unit is on page two by the way. ^.^

[jkindt]

Originally Posted by Smitty

Monochlorodifluoromethane

And what would that be in laymans terms? R-something-or-other???