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| | Lew Greger by MufflerMan Mike - March 27th 2024 5:15 pm
| | | Re: AC while camping | Joined: Jul 2011 Posts: 969 Likes: 1 old hand | old hand Joined: Jul 2011 Posts: 969 Likes: 1 | As you said not wanting a rooftop, but you can easily build your own 12 cooler. Take an ice chest, remove the lid (optional) cut out a board to fit snuggly inside but remain at top. Then cut 2 holes. One for a 12v fan and one for the cold air supply (following me at this point?) Fill cooler with ice and soda/beer or make one solely dedicated for cooling you then throw about 6 2 liter bottles of frozen water keep you cool all weekend.
Another option, but roof top, is a turbokool swamp cooler. But the price isn't nice. About 650 bucks… Interesting. I hadn't even thought about this. It's cheap, could be effective... Ice is, and always will be cheap, you could improve results with aluminum fins in the ice box... Might wanna first research why refrigeration is sized by the term "Tons". As in 12500 BTUs equal one ton of capacity or 6200 BTUs equal a 1/2 ton, etc. I'm just saying. funny you mention tonnage and BTUs. I'm a trained hvac technician... I know what it is. however if you're looking for better cooling just add more fans or a high volume blower instead, squirrel cage setup, to make up for the lack of tonnage (tonnage is measured in BTUs, 12000 BTUs equals 1 ton of air movement, reading your home ac system model number will show 12,24,36,48 etc. devide by 12 and that's your tonnage.)
Gone vannin' I'll call you later.
| | | Re: AC while camping | Joined: Jul 2011 Posts: 969 Likes: 1 old hand | old hand Joined: Jul 2011 Posts: 969 Likes: 1 | sorry, after posting think came off as cocky, my apologies.
Gone vannin' I'll call you later.
| | | Re: AC while camping | Joined: Jun 2010 Posts: 18,286 Likes: 559 | Joined: Jun 2010 Posts: 18,286 Likes: 559 | Does this mean we need 12,000 tons of Ice....
SUNSHINE VANS-VAN DIEGO ADRENALIN BY THE GALLON & CHASIN RACIN ONE FOR THE DIRT & ONE FOR THE STREETS '93 CHEVY G30 454 4X4 SPORTVAN EXT 146" WB '92 CHEVY G30 454 BEAUVILLE EXT 146" WB | | | Re: AC while camping | Joined: Aug 2012 Posts: 267 enthusiast | OP enthusiast Joined: Aug 2012 Posts: 267 | sorry, after posting think came off as cocky, my apologies. I didn't take it as cocky. Hell, I'm an engineer trained in the design of this stuff, though I haven't messed with it in years. I happily defer to people that play with it every day. The more I look and the harder I think... the more likely it is that there's a window unit in the back window in the future. I'm having a hard time getting over the cost of an internal system. Not giving up on a reasonable priced system, but I am accepting that it may not be too realistic.
2012 Ford E250 Extended Body. Black, of course. Man, you just can't buy good panelling these days. This new stuff is crap. | | | Re: AC while camping | Joined: Aug 2012 Posts: 267 enthusiast | OP enthusiast Joined: Aug 2012 Posts: 267 | Does this mean we need 12,000 tons of Ice.... Luckily, we're in vans and we can carry a a LOT of coolers. ;)
2012 Ford E250 Extended Body. Black, of course. Man, you just can't buy good panelling these days. This new stuff is crap. | | | Re: AC while camping | Joined: Jul 2011 Posts: 969 Likes: 1 old hand | old hand Joined: Jul 2011 Posts: 969 Likes: 1 | Does this mean we need 12,000 tons of Ice.... no, it only means 12000cfm of air movement. think as a carb, 4bbl, 750cfm. I just bought the goods plus solar panel to create very cheap cooling I'll post pictures once I get onto a computer long with return and supply air temperature to show it works plus with solar it's practically free cooling!
Gone vannin' I'll call you later.
| | | Re: AC while camping | Joined: Sep 2005 Posts: 9,855 Likes: 234 carpal tunnel | carpal tunnel Joined: Sep 2005 Posts: 9,855 Likes: 234 | Some of the early AC systems actually used ice to cool theaters, operating rooms, etc. The term "a ton of cooling" refers to the amount of heat (energy) in would take to melt a ton of solid ice in 24 hours. 12,500 btu/h (that's per hour) is the modern equivalent. Although the term "ton" continues to survive it mainly today is used as a reference for the BTU rating. My experience is that a well insulated light colored van, sitting in the sun on a hot day (like the Nats were in NY ) would need about 5000 to 6000 BTU/H to remain cool (72) during the hottest part of the day. If we average that to 4000 BTU/H for day/night then that would be roughly 96,000 BTUs per 24 hours. A "ton" of cooling is 300,000 BTUs per day so we'll need about 650 to 700 pounds of ice in 24 hours to get the same effect. Which means you would melt approximately 27 pounds of ice per hour. My calculations are based on experience, book learning, 41 years of running a commercial HVAC operation, a couple of wild guesses and 2 cups of coffee this morning.
Last edited by CatFish; June 28th 2013 7:46 am. Reason: KSFS
| | | Re: AC while camping | Joined: Aug 2012 Posts: 193 member | member Joined: Aug 2012 Posts: 193 | My calculations are based on experience, book learning, 41 years of running a commercial HVAC operation, a couple of wild guesses and 2 cups of coffee this morning. I'm going to shamelessly steal that quote and use it in my next engineering report! Funny...
Kevin | | | Re: AC while camping | Joined: Sep 2005 Posts: 9,855 Likes: 234 carpal tunnel | carpal tunnel Joined: Sep 2005 Posts: 9,855 Likes: 234 | BaconG I've had a cheapo unit in the rear window of my old Ford for years. I cover it with a vinyl cover when it's not in use to keep it from gettin' nasty (and to kinda hide it). I painted that bright white housing with Duplicolor to sorta match the faded paint (and again to keep it from standing out). The chrome grille guard is additional as well. It looks like a pimple on a hogs azz but it has worked better and lasted for a lot longer than I ever expected. | | |
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