inverter air con

[dapope]

I have been rattling this around in my head for several years. The swagman is in Karratha, where there are plenty of air con installers, just none wanting to play. If there was a way of mounting the out side unit any better, and hiding the plumbing with shorter runs and less holes through the roof, then we would be in. I cant even get comparitive costings! Assuming $100hr labour, theres likely to be 8hrs minimum on an install. Theres a bracket to mount the unit to be fabricated, lines to be run and secured, two ceiling casstes to be fitted and secured, then all covered and sealed so they dont leak. Or I can take the old one out, and drop in a replacement that will still be more efficient and likely be a job we can do ourselves......

[dapope]

I think also, that when going frm scratch, such as with Jons build, you have the opportunity to build in and design around the issues I face. One of my major issues is working around existing fittings, Presumably dometic have spent some time designing the new units to at least make them a viable option against the domestic units. If they are not up to the job, people will go back to using domestic where possible. Our current units pull around 20a on fan and up to 120a on cooling off the batteries. If I can halve that, it will be worth the exercise, and we will do the bedroom as well. Any more is a bonus. I do appreciate the input, but so far I am not changing my mind!

[El Gringo]

We have a Mitsubishi Electric split system in our bus, was in it when we bought it, been going for about 10 years now.
Had it serviced 2 years ago and all is well.
The outside unit is behind the rear wheels and the pipework goes right up the chassis and up the front windscreen where the screen is split to the head unit right at the top front most part of the bus.
It would have at least 12mt of piping and just with the standard house style insulated pipes.
Works extremely well both in the QLD summer 40+ deg to cool and the SA winter 5 deg or so as a heater.

Our eventual intention is to move either the existing compressor unit to the front or the head unit to the back and install a second split system at the other end of the bus to get better and more even temperature control.

The tradies must be busy in WA, but I reckon if you bought a good unit and mounted it up, someone must know someone who would be willing and able to run the pipes and gas it up.
Maybe try the A/C maintenance people instead of the installers.

Anyway, just my experience so far.

Cheers,

[bagmaker]

-snip

What I'd love to have the time to do is convert the original roof top rattler to an inverter compressor and water heater exchanger condenser, then pipe that back to the vehicle radiator/cooling system. Water can transfer 3 times the heat energy of air so the condenser unit on the roof is gone, the natural heat loss through the vehicle cooling system would reduce the fan run frequency and that system is already there anyway. The unit could even include a heat exchanger coil in the household hot water cyl, a heat pump water heater using the heat you want out of the house area.
This idea lends itself to fixed house stuff, store the heat during the day and via reverse cycle pump the heat back inside over night, ok for those places where the nights are real cold but the days are hot.

We have mused on this before.....
The main issue is that it would only work whilst the engine wasn't running as the A/C system is set to be just a few degrees above ambient - hence the big condensor coils used. IF that caveat was OK, the block and radiator would possibly make an excellent heat sink as described, for days when not travelling.

[jon_d]

Even with mine, being a fresh build, I was struggling for places.

I had the head up the front above the driver. (a perfect spot) but couldn't get a good spot for the outside unit.

It ended up behind the diff and then I couldn't find a clean path to the head. So, then raised the bed and put the head in there.

The power is via a power point. The pipes were bought on ebay and flared by me. (special tool bought on ebay.). I did everything except the gassing part.

The AC man came out, looked at it and flushed, sucked and gassed.

[dapope]

Even with mine, being a fresh build, I was struggling for places.

I had the head up the front above the driver. (a perfect spot) but couldn't get a good spot for the outside unit.

It ended up behind the diff and then I couldn't find a clean path to the head. So, then raised the bed and put the head in there.

The power is via a power point. The pipes were bought on ebay and flared by me. (special tool bought on ebay.). I did everything except the gassing part.

The AC man came out, looked at it and flushed, sucked and gassed.

I dont have the skills to do the welding or plumbing, so I am at the mercy of whoever I can get. My carpentry skills are just as bad.
Hence the appeal of a drop in replacement.

[Toolman]

Martin,
I reckon that a couple of those new Dometic Harriers as a drop in replacement would be just what you need. To do similar to mine would be alot of time and money. Good luck! if you were closer I could give you a hand.

[dapope]

Martin,
I reckon that a couple of those new Dometic Harriers as a drop in replacement would be just what you need. To do similar to mine would be alot of time and money. Good luck! if you were closer I could give you a hand.

You at least had the bin space to put your stuff in The irony is, the old unit still performs ok.....specs on the new one indicate up to 52 deg operating temp...thats house standard..and I know the old one struggles at 40, so definite gains to make.

[dapope]

Well,,new unit is sitting on the ground outside the swagman in Karratha. Was supposed to be delivered monday. Given that I ordered and paid for it on Thursday in Perth, I thought that was pretty good. I paid 2000 for the unit and 250 freight, so 100 extra to support a local business. Now to magic it onto the roof....

[Jon and Kay]

Good luck Martin. Will be pleased to see the results. Were your old rooftops 115v or 240v?