Wow that's a lot of work ! You'll have no choice but to come to Super Somer next weekend to show it to us in person.

Looking great! Cant wait to see how that A/C system comes out.

Looking good Matt

Thanks guys!

Very busy weekend! Well, at least Friday night and Saturday.

So Friday I hooked up the whole electrical system:


Saturday I finished installing the A/C in it's box. As you can see, I put foam all around the perimeter where the plywood lays.




As you can see, we had already prepared the plywood panels for the bed platform. It's 1/2" thick. I put hinges on the panel over the air-conditionner. This allows me to easily access it to open and close the hatch in the floor.

Finally, I took the van out from the garage. Since my garage door is really low, it's a whole ceremony! I had to deflate all the tires (don't worry, it's old rims and tires dedicated to this task). Then I added pails of rocks inside. I put all the "real" rims and tires on the bed for weight, etc...

Then, once the van is out I put on the correct rims and gave it good wash!

After that big day of work, it was testing time! So at around 9, I started up the A/C and shut all the windows and got ready for "bed". It was the perfect night for a test. It was one of the hottest days in summer this year (I'm kind of wondering how I managed to work in that temperature all day... :blink: Must have been the adrenaline!)

It worked, for a while, it started at 35oC (95oF) and went down to 29oC (84oF). After that, it started going back up.

The area in the back of the A/C was burning hot.

But it's not the end! I'm stubborn and I'll make it work!

So time for plan B:


These fans are 115V and draw 0.5 amps so they were easy to hook up to an extension and plug (this will do for now). I'll look into a relay hooked to the A/C's internal fan once I have this system dialed in.

I made a shroud out of plywood to install it on the grill (it fits right into the studs used to keep the hatch cover closed). I made both fans pulling fresh air from outside and pushing it inside.


Test #2 It's 5pm and still a very warm day at about 90o outside.

Results: Bah! Not great. It reacted pretty much the same as the original test. The area behind the A/C was once again very warm.

Test #3: I switched one fan to pull warm air from the box and pushing it out... Basically creating circulation.

Still the same. But at least the area behind the A/C wasn't as warm. At this point, I'm wondering if it's impossible to cool down what is basically a "Solar oven" in these conditions (windows closed, sun beating down and one of the warmest days of summer).

I will try it out again tonight. Hopefully the outside air will allow it to cool down. Anyways, I'm not expecting it to cool down during the day in those conditions.

The ideal scenario would be: at night, it's 27oC (80oC). The A/C manages to cool the van down to 22oC (72oC) at which point, the thermostat, set at that temperature, stops the A/C and allows the condensor cool down for a while. Let's say 1/2 hour later, the van warms up a bit and the A/C starts up again for 10 minutes. Cool down. At one point, the air outside gets cooler and it makes it easier for the A/C to do it's job.

If this still doesn't work, plan C is to put two fans right up against the condensor. What do you guys think? Also, should they be "push", "pull" or one of each? Any help is appreciated.

Actually, I think I will make it! The vans out and I have only minor things to do to finish.

My opinion is you will need to supply cooler outside air behind the condenser fan (the backside of the coil) so the fan can pull this air across the coil before exiting outside. The outside air will need to move thru the condenser coil in order to remove the heat.
The campers and class Bs I've seen with built-ins had openings either under or on either side of the unit to allow outside air to enter, be pulled thru the coil and then pushed back outside thru a separate opening.
All the ones I've seen had the hot air exhaust duct in the side of the camper or van. With 5000+btu exiting under the van the floor will heat up pretty fast.
Wish we were closer I'd love to lend a hand.

Test #4 was Sunday evening. 27oC My ideal scenario. The A/C brought the temperature down to 23 (I was looking for 22) and never managed to go lower. So basically, it doesn't work...

I think you are right CatFish. I think it needs fresh air from the sides and top because there's a fan in the middle pushing the air thru the condensor. Fresh air pushed thru the side. Warm air expelled from the floor in the back. More tests later.

But for now, it's time to have fun. So Wednesday, my wife and I went to the local cruise night. The "orange Julep" is a local landmark that serves the usual Burgers and fries with a orange (and milk I think) beverage.

Looks like from the picture your van, as usual, drew a crowd of admirers.

I talked to a buddy of mine about this, he suggested building a wedge shaped box off the rear of the AC to the floor "vent" so the exhaust and side are separated.

best way I can describe it would be a block cut in half, corner to corner, does this make sense ?

how detrimental to the A/C would it be to mount it on the floor - but stuck the back part through the floor...?

IE - the unit was 'standing up'...?

i've never owned one before, so i don't know the particulars of them...

even to have a trap door to close off for travel, and stick the A/C unit somewhere else...?

i suppose doing that would make it a 'permanent' installation and you couldn't move the interior around much after that...

just a thought...