Interesting....expensive....

 

I agree, expensive, but it might be a good option for some and it certainly beats the ZeroBreeze unit.
I have pretty much decided in a 5000 BTU window ac on a slide through the side of the van, removable for the winter.

 

My window a/c works and is in my price range....wally world 5000 btu

 

Interesting. I think this would fit under my back passenger seat which would be ideal but reaaaally tight. Then there's the matter of whether there's enough clearance to vent it, which I guess would mean cutting another hole in my floor or out the side of the van. I wish there was some way to return it if it isn't going to work.

I had been planning to buy a cheap compact portable AC, sitting it between the front seats and venting out one of the front windows. I saw someone make an exhaust shim that seems easy enough. It certainly would be a lot cheaper and easier, but this setup could be potentially a lot cleaner and space saving.

 

Interesting. I think this would fit under my back passenger seat which would be ideal but reaaaally tight.

It’s over 20” high!

 

I don't know, maybe somebody could explain this.. There is no condensate drain line, it claims to have water evaporate technology.. That to me sounds like its simply dehumidifies thru the process of cooling the air and them it simply re evaporates back in to the same air being conditioned. That would be bogus, imo.

Why not just have a condensate drain line like every respectable mini-split or heat pump known to mankind?

Why does the guy look like Santa?

 

Why does the guy look like Santa?

Judgy-pants much? 😏

 

It comes with a condensate line, I saw it in the review video by “Hobotech”.

 

It comes with a condensate line, I saw it in the review video by “Hobotech”.
View attachment 85840

Something still doesn't smell right..

I can't find a good reason to why it's beneficial to allow the condensate to evaporate on the hot coil, I figured it did this, but what's the benefit of removing moisture from the air to only have it return to the room being cooled/dehumidified?

Not to mention in a small space humidity can reach high levels quickly, all other things equal, so why not remove it?

 

Here is another review, taking about the condensate evaporation when humidity is below 70% at about 4 min into the video

 

Lots of 120v window A/Cs and portable A/C us this same feature, a fan splashes condensation on to the condenser coil which evaporates and goes out the exhaust.

If you put it in a van connect the drain line or have it in a pan so you don't have to worry about water under your floor.

 

Any indication that and how long it can run on battery?

 

I think it'll be slightly more useful than having a zero breeze in a van, but less useful than a typical single hose portable ac that has a higher BTU rating. All of which are less useful than a dual hose portable ac, which is still only marginally useful in the hottest parts of summer.

I think the best option is still the ACDC minisplit that can install on the backdoor

 

I think it'll be slightly more useful than having a zero breeze in a van, but less useful than a typical single hose portable ac that has a higher BTU rating. All of which are less useful than a dual hose portable ac, which is still only marginally useful in the hottest parts of summer.

I think the best option is still the ACDC minisplit that can install on the backdoor

What about a small mini split? The first one is a cold climate model (-22F) heat and ac. They both turn down to about 3000 BTU. Although it would probably never run that low in a metal box (van).

Claims 16 EER. 9000 BTU Mini Split Air Conditioner - Heat Pump - SENA/09HF

or cooling only, 12 EER. 9000 BTU Mini Split Air Conditioner - Heat Pump - SENL/09CD/110V.

 

What do we think?

Specs suggest it’s not very efficient; at least at rated capacity.

EER is under 10 even during DC operation, and worse than that running on AC power. With newer 5,000 BTU/hr window A/C having EER of 12 or higher, I would have expected more.

 

These types of small single/dual hose A/Cs are spot coolers and have limitations. It's for blowing cold air onto something or into an enclosure. How it performs depends on the temperature - humidity - dewpoint.

 

I have been waiting for this to be released to check it out. Launch price $1,000

• True AC, not evaporative cooler
• 4000 BTU
• Portable, dual hose
• On AC power apparently averaging 450W
• Optional battery pack ($800)
• Can be connected to multiple EcoFlow power stations
• Not sure if it can be wired to nonxproprietary DIY battery setup, such as 12V lithium
  
  Here the product page https://www.ecoflow.com/us/wave-por...hD8ARIsAHChzRLlNm7hDtPrtW_1uTQrW1F3n-DwYbQvK4GHZ11_ZfI5_k1lNJRpIrgaAun7EALw_wcB
  
  First YouTube review
  
  What do we think? View attachment 85818

At

I have been waiting for this to be released to check it out. Launch price $1,000

• True AC, not evaporative cooler
• 4000 BTU
• Portable, dual hose
• On AC power apparently averaging 450W
• Optional battery pack ($800)
• Can be connected to multiple EcoFlow power stations
• Not sure if it can be wired to nonxproprietary DIY battery setup, such as 12V lithium
  
  Here the product page https://www.ecoflow.com/us/wave-por...hD8ARIsAHChzRLlNm7hDtPrtW_1uTQrW1F3n-DwYbQvK4GHZ11_ZfI5_k1lNJRpIrgaAun7EALw_wcB
  
  First YouTube review
  
  What do we think? View attachment 85818

At 3:

I have been waiting for this to be released to check it out. Launch price $1,000

• True AC, not evaporative cooler
• 4000 BTU
• Portable, dual hose
• On AC power apparently averaging 450W
• Optional battery pack ($800)
• Can be connected to multiple EcoFlow power stations
• Not sure if it can be wired to nonxproprietary DIY battery setup, such as 12V lithium
  
  Here the product page https://www.ecoflow.com/us/wave-por...hD8ARIsAHChzRLlNm7hDtPrtW_1uTQrW1F3n-DwYbQvK4GHZ11_ZfI5_k1lNJRpIrgaAun7EALw_wcB
  
  First YouTube review
  
  What do we think? View attachment 85818

I have been waiting for this to be released to check it out. Launch price $1,000

• True AC, not evaporative cooler
• 4000 BTU
• Portable, dual hose
• On AC power apparently averaging 450W
• Optional battery pack ($800)
• Can be connected to multiple EcoFlow power stations
• Not sure if it can be wired to nonxproprietary DIY battery setup, such as 12V lithium
  
  Here the product page https://www.ecoflow.com/us/wave-por...hD8ARIsAHChzRLlNm7hDtPrtW_1uTQrW1F3n-DwYbQvK4GHZ11_ZfI5_k1lNJRpIrgaAun7EALw_wcB
  
  First YouTube review
  
  What do we think? View attachment 85818

[/QUOTE

Judgy-pants much? 😏

I ju

That's an interesting little unit. However, I couldn't find out the one critical piece of info in that vendor link: how much electricity it uses (critical for us van people).

Also, and unfortunately, neither it nor any other AC unit can be easily split. The refrigerant needs a continuous path between the compressor and the head unit. And the path needs to be perfect, with no leaks whatsoever, otherwise the "freon" (not really freon anymore I believe) will escape. And so a leaky (even one that is only a tiny bit leaky) quick-disconnect type of fitting likely won't work well.

I've often bandied about hacking a window AC unit. Cheap and fairly low power (comparatively that is). I've been away from this forum a bit but I recall someone was going to try to hack in something like this last year, our famous @phil I believe. I wonder if some data came out of that experiment.

Theres enough junk in our landfills.. When the waiter doesn't know what's in the recipe, run!

 

If numbers being shared are correct, it’s too much for 4,000 BTU/hr. Also funny that person on website did not associate 1,200 Watts with cooling capacity rather than electric power.

Testing an air conditioner correctly takes a lot of work. Just because it blows cold air doesn’t mean it is cooling at 4,000 BTU/hr. On any A/C it’s easy to measure current, but everyone seems to compare that against “rated” cooling capacity on faith.

 

I too am interested in better efficiency, or to be specific, low power consumption. I am keeping an eye on developments and hope to see the advent of a low-power consumption, low-noise, and small form-factor unit...that is cheap. (Could this be pie-in-the-sky??!? 😀 )

This is to avoid the use of a generator or running the PM's engine for long periods to power an AC unit. If my battery/solar/engine-charging system is eventually upgraded to a sufficient level to meet the power requirements of said mythical AC unit, then I can deal with occasional bouts of unexpected extreme heat, and thus be a literal "happy camper".

For my part, I would try to make things easier on the unit by sectioning off parts of the van that don't need conditioned air (e.g. cab and bed area when I'm in my kitchen/office area).

Because I'm mobile and have no real requirements to be anywhere in particular (no longer working), I can drive to cooler spots. But it's the "unexpected extreme heat" that I'm looking to deal with. I might have planned to visit an area that I had researched to be fairly mild, weatherwise. But it seems nowadays, weather shifts can be extreme.

Witness my home town. Normally it's paradise here in June. If someone asked me "when should I come and visit?", I would have always suggested June. Guess what happened in June of last year?... [Record-setting heat; hundreds of people killed by it.]

 

I too am interested in better efficiency, or to be specific, low power consumption. I am keeping an eye on developments and hope to see the advent of a low-power consumption, low-noise, and small form-factor unit...that is cheap. (Could this be pie-in-the-sky??!? 😀 )

Yeah, pretty much a dream. 😀

Given a certain level of technology (commonly available to most designs and brands), making air conditioners more efficient normally requires them to be larger and probably more expensive as well. The biggest gains are made by having higher-capacity heat exchangers (evaporator and condenser) which reduce differential temperatures between refrigerant and air, allowing compressor to operate with less power — and that’s the biggest power user.

Larger heat exchangers can also provide the same amount of heat transfer with much less air pressure drop, which means fans and or blowers require less power also. Heat exchangers can be designed with lots of surface area in a small space, but that usually ends up costing more and require more fan or blower power. Larger size is cheaper and more practical overall.

Also very important, larger heat exchangers which have lower-power fans or blowers are typically much quieter not only because of lower-power fans or blowers, but also because air speeds are lower and thus make much less noise.

Mini split are efficient and quiet in large part due to their size. If we notice newest window air conditioners with highest EER, they are significantly larger and heavier than their counterparts of equal capacity with lower EER. There is no free lunch. Making an air conditioner (of same cooling capacity) tiny and light in order to make it more portable will likely preclude it being very efficient or quiet.

 

As best I can tell by looking at the parts available, making a unit that splits for season use is doable.
I've only look at r410 units.

Recovering the refrigerant, installing 4 refrigerant valves and 2 couplers, pull vacuum and refill. When you want to split close the valves and release the couplers, and remove the unit. You will lose a small amount of refrigerant every time you split it.

unknown cost because I haven't asked is the cost of recovery, vacuum and refill

 

Here is a guy on the Transit Forum who converted the Midea U-shape Window AC into a mini split. The Midea has a EER of 15.

Window A/C converted to Mini-Split Success

I know that this has been kicked around a bit on other threads, especially after the Midea-U window A/C unit came out, but I've just completed a successful "science project" to convert the Midea-U 8000BTU window unit into a "mini-split" by separating the indoor and outdoor sections. I have no...

www.fordtransitusaforum.com

 

I had the EcoFlow in my cart and ready to take a gamble on it, but then I found someone locally selling a Zero Breeze for $700. I think he'll probably take $600, so maybe I'll just go with that instead. Once I get it in there, I'll figure out a plan for where to place it and vent it.

This thing will definitely fit under my back passenger seat, but the one thing that stinks is that these tubes are really enormous. Do you think it'll do any harm to the unit if I downsize those intake and exhaust hoses somewhat so that I'm not cutting two enormous holes in the van?

 

Lol and you will probably want to get even bigger hoses (thicker, ie. insulated ducting) to improve the cooling capabilities. It will probably handle slightly smaller hoses, but I’m pretty sure they’re oversized to lower the volume of the unit.

 

I am currently leaning towards a lg lp1419ivsm for my ac when needed. It is an inverter based portable AC LG 10,000 BTU DUAL Inverter Smart Wi-Fi Portable Air Conditioner (LP1419IVSM) | LG USA. I only need AC on occasions and that will be at night time only. A portable will free up space the rest of the time/trips that is not needed. My intent is to put together a moto/toy hauler for weekend trips.

 

if i needed ac I would create a small air conditioned sleeping area by using heavy insulated curtains over a platform bed to seal off the bed area (60 inches wide by 72 inches long x 30 inches high). That way considerably less electricity can be used while sleeping instead of "wasting" a lot of electricity air conditioning the entire van. you could do the math to figure out how roughly how much electricity would be needed to air condition such a small space.

 

This is my thinking too and is why I was hoping I could get away with a (mythical) very low-power consumption unit. When not sleeping, I'd switch the AC to point to my desk/kitchen area instead. A DIY partition separates the cab from the living area and the cab would never get AC treatment.

One issue that I worry about is how effectively a small low-power consumption unit cools an already hot area. A big OEM dash AC makes short work of even a super-heated but small volume such as even the entirety of a passenger car or, in our case, the cab area. But dash ACs are very powerful like 20- or 30,000 BTUs (I believe). Could a small 4000 BTU unit cool down even a small but very hot area?

Say a little unit kept me cucumber-cool through the night. In some situations, by the time I roll out of bed, the kitchen area could be 90F/32C and still climbing. Could a small unit handle that, even in if the area were small?

Perhaps I would need to augment it with the dash AC for a while to bring things down to where the little unit could sustain it.

 

yeah, no easy way to do air conditioning in a van, if you have to idle the engine to keep the camper ac running it seems like it would be better to just run the dash ac.

it reminds me of the old saying: any monkey can put 10kwh of battery in their van, but it takes a really smart monkey to figure out how to charge it.

 

Portable units that vent like this with a hose or two are FAR less effective than a normal window unit of the same BTU capacity. I have a 136 wb high roof with a Whynter ARC-148MHP that is an ac and a heat pump and is rated at 14,000 btu cooling and 11,000 btu of heating and it struggles on hot days. The unit you are considering is WAY too pricey and won't begin to cool the back of your van on an 85 degree day. Go big if you go portable, get a roof mount ac or rig a window unit.