Room air conditioner

[motherhen]

Don't laugh! We just bought an 85 Coleman Sun Valley in great condition. We already see that air is a must! We have seen an 84 with a window unit air conditioner in the bottom frame just plugged into the outlet. Has anyone done this? Any suggestions?

[motherhen]

Don't laugh! We just bought an 85 Coleman Sun Valley in great condition. We already see that air is a must! We have seen an 84 with a window unit air conditioner in the bottom frame just plugged into the outlet. Has anyone done this? Any suggestions?

[Lorna]

You might want to get one of those portable room ac units (unit sits inside and a vent hose -dryer size? - exhausts out a nearby window). I just saw an ad for one in our Home Depot Flyer (LG brand?). We have had 3 in our popup and burned up 3. It is hard for them to get enough air if the are enclosed in a cabinet (like ours) and the alternative is basically to set them where the LP tanks go. Our vintage Apache wasn't made to hold up the the weight of a roof mount AC unit.

[motherhen]

Thanks so much Lorna. I will look into the portable unit.

[Apache Adventurer]

We have a portable "Hotpoint" suitcase style air conditioner that weighs about 30 lbs. and fits nicely without external supports in the rear window of our 1979 Apache Ramada.

The Apaches, from 1975 to 1987, had aluminum sidewalls allowing for full size residential type sliding windows and screens. We simply remove the screen, install the air conditioner in the screen slot and place a piece of ABS thermoplastic on top of the air conditioner to fully close the window opening.

Set up takes about 20 seconds; tear down is about 15 seconds.

[Kablewizard]

We use those potable AC units in some of our phone rooms with our equipment it gets real hot , and they do a great job.

[TimD]

I have never done that but have seen it done many times. Sure is an economical way to add A/C to the Pop Up.

......all you really need is a opening big enough for the last half/back end of the A/C to stick out of.....it can be on the roof with plastic triangle/canvas mounted over the vent hole or cut into the side of the trailer with a plastic door/canvas over the exterior opening-even a trap door cut into the floor and the unite laying on the ground.....if the unite seems hot or overheating ...use a fan for additional cooling on the outside and a fan for air movement in the inside.....we have even airconditioned a tent in the hot summer nites....a lot of A/C uniteswill work if you just increase the air movement in the trailer as the stock blower is undersized and can't move cold air too well......geofkaye

[motherhen]

Wow! Lots of great suggestions. Thanks everyone. I will let you know what we do!

[Between Trips]

I installed a 5000 BTU window A/C out the back end of my old pop up. There's at least one picture in my photo gallery showing it.

.....did you put a piece of foam under it?....road vibrations will kill the unite as it well begin to leak if you don't dampen the vibs.....geofkaye

[rehcuobbob]

I don't know Geof, our 96 Leisure Class B used a factory mounted residential type unit that was still running fine at time of trade in, five years later! No cushioning under it. If space allows, it sure cannot hut, like i did with the electronics!

Bob

[Between Trips]

No special cushioning here either...and no problems. I did, however, make sure the unit was fastened tightly so that "extra" movement would not be possible.

[hayhauler]

I'm late to the party, but I'll add this. We cut a hole in the canvas of our old pop up and made a wood frame to fit our window ac unit. We put some velcro on the canvas and the frame of the AC unit. I hold the wood frame in place with a "c" clamp, lift the window unit into the frame and velcro the canvas to the unit.

It's not the prettiest thing I ever saw, but it's never failed to keep us, or the current owners of that old camper cool.