THINK!! before removing your factory A/C!

[PatrickBaptist]

Originally Posted by Sleddgracer

here's the rears off that bus

Blame it you stop that, I need some new rubber LOL.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by PatrickBaptist

Blame it you stop that, I need some new rubber LOL.

...........................................

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by PatrickBaptist

Blame it you stop that, I need some new rubber LOL.

I have a full set mounted on wheels, 2017,2018 date codes. All 6-$1K

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by o1marc

I have a full set mounted on wheels, 2017,2018 date codes. All 6-$1K

What size and when are you headed back to Bainbridge Island?

[cadillackid]

I need a pair of 11R's mounted on 10 bolt STUD pilot..

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

What size and when are you headed back to Bainbridge Island?

No time soon, when are you heading this way? I'd like to help Chris, but I hate to break up the set.

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by o1marc

No time soon, when are you heading this way? I'd like to help Chris, but I hate to break up the set.

If we were closer, I would be seriously interested. Unfortunately, I would not trust the tires I have to get me safely to Georgia. So, unless you had a trip planned, it probably won't be practical.

Ping me if, by any chance, your plans change.

[PatrickBaptist]

Originally Posted by o1marc

I have a full set mounted on wheels, 2017,2018 date codes. All 6-$1K

I'd love to but you are 4 hours or more away from me (Chattanooga is atleast 3hrs).
Gotta put tire on my truck soon too (no tread left on the front) so I sure can't bother with a road trip till I deal with it. My 5th child is due in Nov and the midwife only takes cash so I'm pretty strapped for dollars...
Don't have any plans to move anywhere till end of the year.

[Tammy1029]

It's amazing what happens when you do a search! I just started my demo and assumed I had to take out the non working a/c's. Started taking off the shrouds, got overwhelmed, and came inside to do a search on what to do. And this article popped up. I have no idea why they don't work or maybe they do and I just don't know how to operate them. But thank you for posting this and having me rethink not only my position on these but redesign my build. Now to figure out why they don't work.

[cadillackid]

so I just finished a 2900 mile trip in my DEV bus.. I have roughly 70,000 BTU of A/C working at full capacity. even with that as i ran through the likes of key west, georgia, interior florida, alabama, i couldve used more!!!.. however I definitely wasnt sweating in the seat.. when I was running my old condenser I was cracking a sweat in the same type of wicked hot humid weather. with 50,000 BTU of air running... this trip my biggest issue was water dripping from the Cold A/C ducts. because my bus being 30 years old doesnt seal real well apparently.. so lots of humidity gets in.. my main service door is undoubtedly the culprit.. im sorry but for me in 2019.. the idea that id have to drive across the heat-waves like i did sweating like a pig with the windows down just is not what makes a bus-ride fun.. so I have A/C.. and once i add another 40,000 BTU system. ill be able to keep the whole bus as cold as i want it..



Take care of your A/C and it will take care of you..

[Ronnie]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

so I just finished a 2900 mile trip in my DEV bus.. I have roughly 70,000 BTU of A/C working at full capacity. even with that as i ran through the likes of key west, georgia, interior florida, alabama, i couldve used more!!!.. however I definitely wasnt sweating in the seat.. when I was running my old condenser I was cracking a sweat in the same type of wicked hot humid weather. with 50,000 BTU of air running... this trip my biggest issue was water dripping from the Cold A/C ducts. because my bus being 30 years old doesnt seal real well apparently.. so lots of humidity gets in.. my main service door is undoubtedly the culprit.. im sorry but for me in 2019.. the idea that id have to drive across the heat-waves like i did sweating like a pig with the windows down just is not what makes a bus-ride fun.. so I have A/C.. and once i add another 40,000 BTU system. ill be able to keep the whole bus as cold as i want it..



Take care of your A/C and it will take care of you..


Attachment 36675


Attachment 36676

Guess I better have a winter coat if I ride with you.

Do agree it is not fun riding in a hot bus. I did do a better nozzle instead of my "hose" and this can swivel 360 degrees so that it can blast right at me, and leave my wife a bit warmer.

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Ronnie

Guess I better have a winter coat if I ride with you.

Do agree it is not fun riding in a hot bus. I did do a better nozzle instead of my "hose" and this can swivel 360 degrees so that it can blast right at me, and leave my wife a bit warmer.

actually right now all you'd have to do is go to the back of the bus.. behind the clear shower curtain I had draped across.. it was definitely roasty back there..



which incidently, if you dont need your whole bus cool, the clear shower curtain worked out oretty well... I still maintained good rear visibility and up front the A/C did well, even with the leaky service door..



for those that keep 1 of their A/C units or in a cutaway with just Dash air, portioning off a "cab" of sorts with magnet hooks stuck to the ceiling and a clear shower curtain makes things much more comfortable...



I was traversing some of the hottest most humid weather of the season..

while those in the desert southwest like to boast that their A/C's work the hardest because its 114 outside, in actuality the likes of georgia, alabama,missisippi , interior florida, have some of the highest humidty along with actual temperatures close to 100.. dewpoints of 76-80 were common... this will reduce the cooling abilities of an A/C system by 30-35% over how it can cool in dewpoints of 55 or less.



more than one person waved and pointed at my bus or ran up to me at a rest area and said "you are leaking gas!" or "you have a coolant leak".. apparently locating my A/C drains about 1/3 of the way back makes people think its the gas tank.. ?? nevertheless the water from the A/C units was a steady stream and not a drip drip drip. ..



all that water is lost cooling capacity as it takes a lot of BTU to condense that water out of the air onto those coils..



sizing your A/C for being parked or driving needs to take into consideration whether you will be travelling to humid conditions or not..



Minisplits do a MUCH better job at removing humidity (parked A/C) than do camper units or window units... Minisplits like to maintain cold coil temps and slow down the indoor fans when set to auto.. this has the effect that you can remove lots of humidity in fairly quick time..



Engine driven A/C in good working order has typically a design of. 30-35 degrees drop across the coils on high speed.. which means if your coild are taking in 75 degree air you'll get 40-45 out.. much below 40 and you'll freeze the coil so the compressor cycles in and out to maintain.. this has the effect of removing lots of moisture as well..



poorly maintained bus A/C systems or where pepole didnt vacuum them down before recharging.. or used 10 cans of freon with stop leak in it.. (one is sufficient) will not be able to get those drops.. the result is the compressor runs and never shuts off... uses more fuel and doesnt keep you as cool..



-Christopher

[Ronnie]

Yes the curtain has helped with mine a lot. I did a "blackout" curtain, as it is a bit insulated, and I do not have any view out the back that it blocks.

[syntaxterror]

How much r134 does a topical system take my sticker is un readable.

[PeteinSF]

My problem is that the two large condenser units fill 100% of my available frame rail space. (small bus, big air).

My plan was to move the condensers to the roof or top-front (like a refer truck) and fab up a fiberglass shroud

Is there any technical issues with the condenser being the highest component?

[Doktari]

I had no idea it was even possible to have 70,000 btu of AC. I’m flabbergasted. Does a fog bank form around the bus and create a microclimate? That’s awesome.

[cadillackid]

you can definitely move them up to the roof.. there are condensers made for the roof and they are very similar to skit mount units. they just have a heavier frame and bigger standoff and are tilted such that the fans are on top where the unit fans are on top and sloped with fans facing up..

[cadillackid]

A typical full sized school bus built with road A/C from the factory will have 120,000 to 140,000 btu of AC. That’s why I started this thread.mNy people think they can pull out the original AC and just run a 12,000 btu camper unit or mini split and stay cool driving..

While heavily insulating your bus makes it much better than the factory school bus it still takes easily 1/2 of what the bus came with to cool it on a hot day cruising the highways.

My 70k surely kept me cool up front and I had a clear curtain draped across the bus about 1/2 way back which made it nice up front but I really need another 30-40k btu to fully cool that bus. Now it is 30 years old and has non tinted windows so even as a 7 window short bus it needs a lot of AC!

Your normal driving car has on average 12,000 btu.. a suburban usually has 18,000 and a full size 15 passenger van with front and rear vents has around 20-22,000(I think Nissan offers the biggest at 24000 in their full size NV

[Doktari]

I’m not much help with AC except small btu systems with solar. Thanks for the numbers. I did not know. I have AC in one of my vans. I turned it on once this Summer to see if it still works. Otherwise I forgot it is there. And I read somewhere it’s important to run it once in a while. Other than that none of my 6 buses have had AC except one and it quit after two months. But here by the Puget Sound I cherish every second of being too hot.
However in the future when I’m parked in the sun I do not want to roast. I have run a mini split on 100% solar one Summer when parked. I would take an afternoon nap with it on. It was nice. Then when I flew back from Florida the next year after 9 months away it would only blow ambient temperature air. Pretty disappointed to only get 2 months use from a new system . I may get around to trying to troubleshoot it. I’m guessing the compressor isn’t coming on for some reason.
I just took the AC off the roof of my new Motorhome. If someone wants it I think it works fine. Not sure what I’ll replace it with. Maybe another mini split or a window unit. Maybe just a crap load of fans. I took every single thing off the roof of the Motorhome. Except a few solar panels will go on. But most of the solar will be on the cargo trailer. So not much help here, sorry.
Interesting how different it is here in the Puget Sound.
Stay cool.

[cadillackid]

Minisplit likely most it’s charge .. the flare fittings on those if not tightened just perfect are notorious for leaking.

I live in Ohio. I love any summer heat we get!!
I’m outside most of the time even to work.. I’m a programmer.. I sit on coffee shop patios in the hot weather and my brain catches fire and lots of good creative code happens !!

BUT!!! I can’t stand to drive hot and I can’t stand to sleep hot. So at my house I may have the AC off most of the day until it sometimes reaches 90 inside or is evening and then I want to blast cool it down and still work the hunidity down.. so I built a custom system out of minisplit parts, computers, dampers, blower controllers, modulating gas valves (for heat). And a whole lot of software. The result is a 1400 sq ft house that an be cooled from 90 to 78 in less than an hour... then it slows he cooling slightly to take care of the humidity.. 10 years since I built the contraption and it kicks ass even in today world of smart devices..

Driving my bus I often find myself in very hot places.. on purpose. I most surely chase warm weather in fall and winter and work takes me sometimes to hot places on summer.. just finished 2900 mile trip through some very hot and humid places..

Sometimes I just like to run with my driver window open but not roast so the dash air itself is 20,000 btu so I can open the window and still blast cold air on my face legs and arms..

I’m not sure I could handle puget sound... my SADD would be triggered by all the grey damp days.. I need sun and warm or my creativity and drive for life goes away . It’s a rather dangerous situation for me playing with winter.. Columbus Ohio is no prize in winter.. lots of clouds here too . So to be frank I often take off in one of my busses so I don’t end up waking up dead..