Hello all. Looking for feedback from anyone using a portable ac in older pup. I rented a 10000 btu init tnis weekend and it never cooled off at all during the day. About 95 here in kansas city. I dont know the unit I rented was working well Just curiuous if someone with a simiar set up has had better luck. Thanks in advance
Most PUPs need at least 13.5k btu to cool down and in 95 degree heat PUGs would have made a noticeable difference.
My a.c. is 13.5k roof mounted. I just had it on to see what it would do in the high heat. It atually did very well. I asked about renting of the unit because sometimes it's best to let an a.c. unit, refrigerator, etc to settle on level ground for an hour or more before Turing them on.
I went a head and rented from a guy that runs an audio visual company and rents it out on a normal basis. I should have looked deeper to see if it needed cleaning. For 25 bucks i figured worth trying. I jave sonce found a 12000 btu unit for 150 i will probabaly biy and see what happens
Those portable ones are much less efficient than a rooftop unit, or even a window one. I have a 13.5K btu rooftop on mine, in TX summer with no shade and pugs along with reflectix in all the windows I was only able to keep it at 80 or so. The year before I had full shade and an awning deployed, and was down to 68-70. The portable ones, unless you buy a more expensive one with twin hoses, are constantly pulling in air from inside. In a pup that means you are pulling in some percentage of outside hot air all the time. I turn mine on as soon as I have the roof up. 100 degrees in TX is hot! This year I am adding a small portable 8k btu unit I got on clearance to see if I can get the temps to hold at the 68 range I prefer during the hottest part of the day. If successful I might name the pup the meat locker!
A 6000 btu window unit keeps us comfortable during the day here in humid 90° plus Minnesota and chilly at night. Frame and shelving stuff was about 40 bucks at Home Depot. The AC was $159 at Walmart. The top of the frame slides in behind camper shell. The bottom is held in place by gravity and heavy duty velcro. The shelving is rated up to 600 lbs. Reflectix is used to fill the gaps. It's also used as inserts in bunk windows. We ran a seperate extension cord to the power source. You can control the unit through the screen or use the remote. No holes were drilled in the camper. Shelf comes off the wooden bracket for easy hauling. The unit weighs about about 60 lbs.
My brother had one in his TT and it didn't perform well at all. I was considering on for our screen room (has roll down curtains) but after talking to him I'm leaning toward a small window unit slid under the PUP. I can make a removable section it the skirt under the PUP for when it hot or replace when it's cold.
Wow, Norseman79, that is an awesome hack! We have a window unit we've been using inside our pup in hot weather but I've been pondering ways to move it outside. When we use it I've been sitting it on top of our mini-fridge which itself sits up on top of the ice chest. I have two of those magnetic plastic air-directing things (like you would find on a floor vent to make it blow across instead of up) that I put on the sides to direct the exhaust out through the screen. It does a great job cooling but it's pretty loud having it inside, plus I have to rig a hose and drip tray to deal with the condensation. I've considered doing a more permanent through-the-side install but I really don't want to cut a hole in the camper for it. This looks darn near perfect. My only question - what effect (if any) does it have on leveling? Do you put an extra stabilizer or anything under it? Our pup is so darned wobbly to begin with I'm skittish about hanging that much extra weight off the side of it.
I made the same setup as Norse for our camper. I bought a bigger 12k btu unit so I’m sure it weighs more than his, think it is around 100 lbs or so. other than a little shifting of the roof, it doesn’t effect much else. I’m not sure what kind of camper You have so it could effect u more. I’ve only had to use our setup once this year and the only thing I’d recommend is putting it on the opposite side of the camper of your door/ canopy. As a test run we put the ac in the window under our canopy and the ac got a little loud when we were trying to sit out there. Our ac has a slinger ring that splashes water on the condenser so it makes a kinda zapping noise when the water hits the hot coils, to me it got kinda annoying. If the ac was on the opposite side of the camper u wouldn’t be able to hear it at all.
