Teardrops & Tiny Travel Trailers

[Nobody]

Finally! After almost 10 months of vacillation/procrastination I completed installation of the ductwork necessary to use the Pet Cool I've had since last October . Ordered the P-C right after the Petit Jean gathering in July '07 when Hi-Tech Sys was offering it for $299 w/free shipping, for delivery in September. As usual delivery was delayed but the unit arrived more'n a month late in mid Oct. By that time having an a/c wasn't a great priority so it's been setting in the storeroom ever since. Spent the last weekend of July at one of the nearby lakes with kids, grandkids, & great grandkids with temps around 100* days & night time temps in upper 70's with humidiity near saturation point. The fantastic vent fan kept the cabin somewhat cool at night but didn't help at all with the humidity, & waking up at 2AM feeling cool but clammy ain't much fun . That, & the fact we're gonna be in Oklahoma this coming weekend was the impetus for me to get the thing working before the trip. I'd been doing lots of brainstorming about how to do the installation & decided I could use 2" PVC pipe for the outside connections & return air, & some kind of flexible tubing to route the cool air into the cabin. Couldn't find any pool cleaning hose so I used some 2 1/2" OD shop vac plastic tubing for the flex hose. Started Saturday morning about daybreak & worked 'til temps reached near 100* again around noon then had to 'break' 'til Sunday morning when I 'hit it' again. Finished up (except for final trim/clean-up) shortly after noon Sunday, hooked up the Pet Cool & turned it on. Thermometer showed 101*f & it was probably near that in the cabin. Within an hour cabin temp had dropped into the low 80's & it was down to 75* in less than 2hrs while outside temp still over 100* so I believe it'll do well at night, may even have to adjust the thermostat . I still have to paint the outside PVC connections & find more fitting delivery & return air vents but it'll do for now & we're looking forward to sleeping comfortably at Lake Texoma this weekend . Here's couple of pix with more in my album -




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Harvey -

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Doing the right thing isn't always easy. . . . but, it's always right!

[emiller]

Great job. My pet cool froze up on me last weekend in Williams, AZ. Don't no why. I pluged it in yesterday and it worked fine.

[aggie79]

Harvey,
Thanks for the pictures and your experiences. I had also thought about using PVC for ducting, at least for the return air side, and now I know that will work.
Tom

[Loader]

Looks good Harvey. I'll get a closer look this weekend, I know we'll need the ACs!

What size PVC did you use?
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Earl & Kerry

"Loader"

[Nobody]

Lookin' forward to seein' y'all again Earl.

I used 2" ID schedule 40 vent/drain PVC. Didn't figure I needed the high pressure stuff. The outside diameter is exactly the same as the connectors on front of the pet cool (or so close as to make no difference) so the little silver hoses that are supplied with the unit work well for connecting it to the TD ductwork. I wanted to use the 2" pool cleaning hose for the flex line but couldn't find any locally. I found the black plastic flex hose for shop vac at one of the big box stores & it has the same inside/outside diameter as the PVC & even tho the inside is sorta 'ribbed' it is real slippery & apparently doesn't cause any restriction in flow of the cool air. Guess it works the same way on a shop vac & you know it's gotta be tough to stand up to that . I also used the supplied 'flange' connectors to connect the output vent & return air in the cabin. Just used some HVAC duct tape on the joints & everything seems to work well. It'll be a welcome change for us to sleep cool in the TD in August
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Harvey -

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Doing the right thing isn't always easy. . . . but, it's always right!

[Jeeper92]

Is that thing water proof? Arent you afraid of someone wlaking by and snagging it?????? Is it possible to mount those, somewhere inside the trailer

[Lgboro]

PetCool is waterproof -- its made for outside the same as a house heat pump. And yes it can be placed inside the galley and vented. I am building a 4 x 9 so I will have a little extra room in my galley for my AC. I believe Kia has some pictures of a PetCool that is installed in his build. There are several others but I can't remember which ones.

[mikeschn]

I'd be worried about the snagging part. Especially after zukamini just lost a solar panel due to someone snagging it at the campground.
solar panel snag: http://www.mikenchell.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24640

Mike...

[oklahomajewel]

Cool.... pun intended , Harvey!

Sorry to 'disappoint' you ... but the weather this weekend might be like a cold front.....

Friday, Aug 8
High: 90 °F RealFeelŪ: 98 °F
Partly sunny with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm

Friday Night, Aug 8
Low: 70 °F RealFeelŪ: 71 °F
Partly cloudy and humid

Saturday, Aug 9
High: 91 °F RealFeelŪ: 96 °F
Times of clouds and sun with a shower or thunderstorm possible

Saturday Night, Aug 9
Low: 70 °F RealFeelŪ: 69 °F
Mainly clear

Sunday, Aug 10
High: 93 °F RealFeelŪ: 94 °F
Clouds and sun with a thunderstorm possible

Sunday Night, Aug 10
Low: 74 °F RealFeelŪ: 78 °F
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Some things are way over my head !! ...but it keeps me looking UP!