i agree 1oo%. subscribed; will be posting for your comments.
you should do a "sticky" on this topic; thanks, blkjak.

 

I can tell you that after about 30,000 miles, the window unit in my van is holding up fine. Instead of pulling the a/c out in the winter, I used to put the original door back on, now just leave the a/c door on all the time.

 

Just a word of thanks for your excellent analysis, which I largely agree with.

Suppose I were to take your analysis as a starting point.

A) Buy $100 window AC or a slightly larger one for additional capacity given what I am trying to do.

Take it apart

B) Build a carrier

- potential locations

i) on hitch, in front
ii) on "spare" carrier
iii) under body

Fit a standard "suitcase" generator, with remote controls hooked up, to the carrier that carries the now stripped AC compressor and fan.

Plumb a flexible line with quick disconnects (if on hitch etc.) from the carrier mounted AC compressor / Generator module.

Bring the line inside the van and then internally, install a condenser / fan.

Potentially, that can be installed on the rear AC area / unit if your van is already equipped.

Alternatively, strip the rear AC ducts, outlets from another donor van and install it in yours.

OR, build a housing -- and a very modest (quiet) my fav is recycled computer cooling fans to draw air.

Duct the cooled air anywhere in your van.


Cost of this:

A) generator

B) AC to take apart (or salvage a 9,000 btu one)

C) Flex AC grade hoses with quick disconnect fittings

This is real money...

D) Interior housing

A lot of work..

What you end up with --- is a custom unit that have the best of all worlds, not the flexibility of a throwaway window unit....

But a lot more attractive an installation.

Ideas?

 

If your mounting gen & A/C on hitch carrier. How will this be a cleaner attractive installation ?

Will the quick connects work without loosing any freon at all ? because if they loose even the slightest amount, your adding additional issues / cost.

It could be done if you know how to do all the work yourself but paying somebody to do a one off job of this type could get very expensive.

Let's say you did pay someone to install this configuration and it failed for what ever reason. Your 1200 miles away from the shop that installed it, where do you go ?

With a window unit you can stop by Wal-mart or Sears and swap it out.

Also, It cost me 3 X more to build the first door sleeve because of the R & D and that is a simple project by comparison.

If I can offer alum. A/C door sleeves for say $100-150 with install instructions and people purchase 5000 btu unit for approx. $100 from Sears. Then assuming you have tools but need cutting wheels, caulking, paint,etc. along with having door panel upholstered. Your around $300.

If you had to purchase tools from Harbor Freight, your still under $350. Plus this can be used in enclosed trailers, RV, boats,etc. And afforded by all.

How much will it cost to provide a end product like your considering ? Pro's / Con's ? Demand at that price ?

I have spent thousands developing a diff. product that may never sell but I needed it for myself. Just depends how important it is to you in the end.

My ideas follow the K.I.S.S. theory for many reasons.

 

Thanks, that's good to hear.

Your in a E-350 which might ride a little harsh compared to E-150 also. So yours is a good testimonial.

 

People have contacted me about A/C kit so I wanted to follow up with a post telling everybody I am working on website and have not forgotten this project. Just finished editing pic and step by step instructions so now its up to my friend who is putting it together.

Too many projects, so little time...

 

If you were going that route, just get a "ductless AC". Check eBay.
They're far more expensive than a window unit, but more efficient, and would allow the evaporator inside to be totally separate from the condenser outside.

You might even be able to cram the condenser in front with the radiator and the normal AC evap... maybe? Probably not enough room.

 

30"x24"x11" approx. 9000 btu outside unit size and what about the 120 lb. of weight this baby adds along with carrier to hold it... I dont see split systems smaller than 9k btu. It may not run long enough to remove humidity in a small van, plus at 3+ times the cost vs comp. window unit, I wonder if you could use it enough to offset the cost using "efficient" as a deciding factor. The outside unit produces 52db noise which is the same as my Yamaha 2000 gen and louder then inside unit fan so your going to hear that noise inside vehicle. Kind of defeats the purpose of choosing split to reduce noise. You could argue the extra weight creates additional drag 100% of the time which offsets the efficient diff. in mpg loss.

Cons:
More money
More weight
More fuel
Where are you going to put outside unit 30"x24"x11"
Same noise db. since I can hear my 52 db gen over inside A/C fan.

Pros ?

 

At work, we installed one of these small window units in a studio apartment (used for office), and during this past very humid and hot NY summer it made it cool enough to be able to work. For a much smaller space such as this van, I was kinda expecting the temp readings reported by stkshooter to actually be lower.

In my case, most of the noise came from a rattling trim piece. For camping use its noise suppression it is a very valid concern.

I think there can be several ways to go about this -- another way would be to modify the lower side kick panel, place the unit there (if it fits of course) and duct it to the existing rear air manifold. But I think sdkchooter's system is simple, low cost, and it works.

In my previous high-tops I installed a thermo-switched exhaust, which helped a lot with removing the hot air upon start-up.

 

Look at these units based on the power they consume. If you had a 50 degree temp diff. in an un insulated van and attempted to use a 500 watt. space heater, do you think it would heat the van from 25 degree to 75 degrees. I can tell you for a fact it will not. If you bump that output up to 1500 watt. space heater it will do a pretty good job depending on other variables but will still struggle. You can only get back what you put in to any machine. If you only put in 500 watt. you cant get 1500 watt. back out for free. I said that to put things in perspective and hopefully educate.

If you factor in the FL sun beating down on van with no shade, the thermometer would read over 120 degree and the van without insulation has no way to stop that heat transfer like your house would. This is what your van is fighting along with sun shining in windows transfering consdierably more heat. You can design and insulate your vehicle to be as effieceint as you like. I was only showing results for a stock conversion van. Now once the sun goes down and your heat transfer is reduced by 40 degree, you will freeze within a couple hours provided you dont have a lot of appliances running or lots of people sitting inside. If you pack 2-4 people in van and they are giving off 10 degree worth of heat each to make the math easy, your right back up there with day time heat transfer. When I camp in van it is designed for me and nobody else. If you camp with 2 people and use the van for sleeping, the unit should have no prob. running in the 70's or less.

Just depends on your needs and how much money you want to spend.

I can replace rear door for $200 when I sell van if I dont want to sell it like this. And install this one on next van. If I cut a hole in kick panel on side, I have to sell everything with van. I've realized it takes a lot of time and money to get a vehicle the way you like it and if you can reduce that cost by removing everything from your old van and installing on new van your that much farther ahead.

I have solar roof vent which constantly draws the hot air out of van.

 

what solar roof vent are you using? blkjak

 

Stainless Steel Solar Ventilation Fan

I used a wood hole cutter the size of vent hole template since van is thin metal. went right through metal no prob. (you can buy them cheap at harbor freight.) Once hole is cut, put vent in place and drill rivet holes. Now seal with marine adheasive and rivet.

If you have interior, cut hole using same hole cutter and find a plastic bottle the same size which you can cut top and bottom off of to make tube. paint it black and secure in place in line with vent opening. Make foam plug to seal tube hole if you need to close vent because there is no way to turn it off. If the sun shines it's on.

The only down side to it running or vent being open all the time is you can hear some road noise as if window is cracked if the radio is off and van is quiet. I installed a 12 volt fan from wal mart which runs when key is on to circulate air and it is much louder than vent which should give you an idea of noise level. It works pretty good for the size.

If you want something to keep inside temp the same as outside temp then go with a big 14"X14" roof vent. Just remember if you leave it open the road noise is louder with larger opening. If you leave it open and it starts to rain your interior gets wet but this solar vent will not leak because of hood. The larger vent will also add more drag while driving. Many variables to consider. You could install several solar vents and they make one with batt. so it runs all the time.

I wanted something easy to install that wouldn't break down from the sun is why I went with stainless model. And something that didnt take away from van appearance.

I assume this vent is why I don't have humidity issues. Just enough to balance things out.

Good Luck!

 

On my high-top conversion van, I installed a thermo-switched exhaust fan. It had a few settings for turn-on and turn-off. If I recall correctly the turn-on was 80 degrees F, and would turn-off when temperature reached 75 degrees.

I installed the fan vertically on the rear (next to the stop light), butted against a mechanical flap (damper). This means that no outside air would enter through the fan to the interior.

I ran about 2 feet of flex-duct to a grille I installed on the face of the soffit-fascia of the interior.

This fan was powered in a scheme of a 2-battery set up, which had solar panels for trickle-charging the house batteries (deep cycle).

I also installed a 3-position switch at driver's control for On, Off and Auto. "On" and "Off" overrode automatic settings. "Auto" meant that the fan was controlled by the thermo-switch.

Besides other reasons, I liked this set-up for the simple fact that air blown from the front would be exhuasted from the rear.

I need to tell you that I did not camp. The van is used for travel and for naps in short stops (up to 2 hours).

 

Pictures ? Links ? Links to parts ? Cost ? instructions ?

Thanks
Jon

 

I did this project over 5 years ago, then I didn't know that these forums existed. Thermoswitch and fan were bought off eBay for about $ 50. Duct / flap, grille were bought at plumbing supply house, maybe another $ 30. You can use also a cheap electrical thermostat that all it does cuts power or lets power through. The probe wire was about 3-4 feet that I had stuck somewhere in the corner of the ceiling.

If you look into the upper doghouse in the rear of a high-top conversion van, you will see that installing is such an easy thing to do there. I the hole in the interior had a speaker, which I removed, and installed a simple grille.

2-battery setup though is a different matter. I have seen several threads in this forum about how to do this.

I sold that van 2 years ago.