B-Kool

[Jvancecpa]

Living in Mississippi I must have some form of air conditioning so people will fly with me and me with myself. I have a 1998 M20J that has all possible avionics, G600, GTN750 and 650, KFC150, Gad43, Skywatch, EDM830, Flightstream 210, etc. etc. But no air since that is not an option. I have owned two Ovation 2GX with air so I am spoiled.  Haven't flown in 4 years so just starting back.  Spoke with Bob at B-Kool and he said his units require 5 amps but we couldn't find the amps from the cigarette socket in the manuals. He told me if it was a problem that we could do a work around or I could return the box but just wondered if anyone could help with the amps from the socket and if you all are using one and does it work. Still cool here now but the weather will get hot quick.  Thanks for your response. 

 

JVanceCPA

[Drew_Wagner]

I run a bkool in my J and it works great! I bought a couple of the yeti ice packs and they give a good hour of ice cold air. Highly recommend for the hot months.


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[Bravoman]

Buy one of those portable rechargeable battery packs that you can use to jump start your car. Mine has a 12v plug in, same as for a cigarette lighter. Works like a charm.

Edited February 26, 2017 by Bravoman

[Jvancecpa]

Thanks for the responses. Bravoman, which brand did you buy? No sense in me reinventing the wheel as yours works well. Thank you. 

[TWinter]

I use one of these for aux power supply. Works well.

Take a charge with you wherever you go. The EnergyBar 250 is a lightweight solar battery charger that packs an incredible 25 hours of portable solar power for smartphones, 3-4 hours for a laptop, or up to 10 hours for LED televisions making it the best portable power bank.

-Tom

 

 

[Jvancecpa]

17 hours ago, Drew_Wagner said:

I run a bkool in my J and it works great! I bought a couple of the yeti ice packs and they give a good hour of ice cold air. Highly recommend for the hot months.


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Drew,

Do you put the unit through the baggage door or must you put it through the main door and fold the seats down to get it into the luggage compartment.  Then, I would assume you must remove it to drain it as water will not run up hill (I don't think).  Just curious.  Thanks

[Drew_Wagner]

Drew,
Do you put the unit through the baggage door or must you put it through the main door and fold the seats down to get it into the luggage compartment.  Then, I would assume you must remove it to drain it as water will not run up hill (I don't think).  Just curious.  Thanks

When by myself I strap it into the right seat and point the cool air towards me which works well since my 12v cig lighter is in front of my passenger seat. When with one or two passengers I put it in the back and point between the front seats. If full with my whole crew I have never brought it because we run out of useful load or cargo space.


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[Drew_Wagner]

Using the yeti ice packs I only keep a minimal amount of water in the cooler and can only change it every couple of flights.


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[Jvancecpa]

12 minutes ago, Drew_Wagner said:

Using the yeti ice packs I only keep a minimal amount of water in the cooler and can only change it every couple of flights.


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Thank you for the help.  I appreciate it.

[peevee]

15 hours ago, Drew_Wagner said:

Using the yeti ice packs I only keep a minimal amount of water in the cooler and can only change it every couple of flights.


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You could probably just out a cap full of bleach in it and leave it pretty much permanently

[Bravoman]

On 2/26/2017 at 9:36 AM, Jvancecpa said:

Thanks for the responses. Bravoman, which brand did you buy? No sense in me reinventing the wheel as yours works well. Thank you. 

I will check and let you know soon. I'm out of town till tomorrow. As I recall I bought the battery pack at Costco.

[75_M20F]

Does the B-Kool work as advertised?

PIREPS?

[KSMooniac]

Does the B-Kool work as advertised?
PIREPS?

Yes, it is a great unit. I bought an early model and still use it. Block ice lasts longer, so I try to plan ahead and freeze some in big food containers. Bagged ice from a convenience store works fine too, but didn't last as long.

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[Yetti]

on a 75 F the Ignition/Cigarette Lighter circuit breaker is 10 amps

They are pretty easy to make and work pretty good.

A cooler, a bilge pump and a heater core off amazon..  A 4" bilge blower from amazon

 

 

Edited March 10, 2017 by Yetti

[75_M20F]

Do you find it does a good job cooling?

My F has no cigarette lighter so I would have to solve that problem. 

What size cooler is that?

 

[KSMooniac]

It is pretty effective, especially if you direct the air towards the back of your head/neck on a hot day.

To power mine, I have a battery minder harness from my battery to the hat tray. It uses a standard two prong connector, and I have a 3x cigarette lighter socket with a matching prong. I simply plug that in, and it powers my cooler and GDL-39. The remote control for the B-Kool is really handy in my installation.

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[Yetti]

I have some frozen packs that stay in the refridge at the hanger.  They work pretty well with a little water.  While you are at Home depot they have some semi rigid vent material on the HVAC vent isle.  If you cut the top of the cooler a bit smaller than the vent material you can screw the vent material into the top then a bit of Goop for a good seal. Then head over to the roofing section for a nice louvered soffet vent to go over the heater core. Some scissors will cut it down to fit.  Some SO cord and DPDT switch and you too can have a remote control for the pump and or the fan.   This is a 25/30 quart. Which seems to fit pretty well behind the pilot seat.

A hanger and quickly rolling out and getting the big fan going helps things alot.  It will still bring the cabin temp down 10 - 15 degrees.  Have not tried it with ice.  I think that would work better.

 

 

Edited March 10, 2017 by Yetti

[-Mischief]

On 2/25/2017 at 9:36 PM, Drew_Wagner said:

I run a bkool in my J and it works great! I bought a couple of the yeti ice packs and they give a good hour of ice cold air. Highly recommend for the hot months.


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Has anyone used this AND a Yeti model? The Yeti's are EXPENSIVE compared to the B-Kool's. I'm curious if the Yeti's are worth the $1100-1600.

[aviatoreb]

Someone just posted this on Beechtalk.  Looks interesting.

https://www.peterschiffaero.com/sofie

[A64Pilot]

I’ve used them several times, them being whatever model AC Spruce sells, full of ice/water you get about 20 min, maybe 30 but it’s 20 min or real cool air.

Of course if you got longer, there would be less cooling, there can only be so many BTU x lbs of ice can absorb. It’s enough to get through the real hot run up climb to cooler temps part.

Having a super insulated cooler isn’t going to help at all, maybe if the goal is to keep ice for days sure, but you have about 30 min until the ice is gone, cooler insulation is irrelevant over such a short time.

‘I would be very concerned with Lithium Ion battery packs in an airplane, I know the Ipad we all fly with have them, but I think they are smaller and better quality.

In looking for the “temp installed real AC’s” I’d want to know BTU, for some reason they seem to forget to list that. 5,000 BTU is the smallest window unit and I think you would want at least that.

‘Typical car AC is about 2 to 3 tons, same size as a house AC. Tough to get exact number, I’m still trying every now and again to find BTU of my Tesla heat pump, but can’t.

‘By the way one ton is 12,000 BTU, so average car is at least 24,000 BTU, cooling a vehicle is tough, if you can pre-cool in the hangar that helps hugely, takes much less power to maintain temp than it does to cool the whole interior down from say 130F

Edited April 14, 2022 by A64Pilot

[LANCECASPER]

25 minutes ago, -Mischief said:

Has anyone used this AND a Yeti model? The Yeti's are EXPENSIVE compared to the B-Kool's. I'm curious if the Yeti's are worth the $1100-1600.

There's a company that makes this using a YETI.

In Texas the local grocery chain, HEB, has their own brand of coolers, KODI, which are an exact YETI knock-off for a lot less money. All of that being said by the time you circulate the water through the ice, that's what melts the ice, more so than how efficient the insulating is on the cooler.

[carusoam]

Crummy insulation may help cool the cabin better…. 
 

It’s not like we want the ice to stay frozen in the cooler very long….

+1 for this type of cooler AC… the B-Kool is the updated version of the one that came before it years ago…

Keeping passengers cool long enough to get a few thousand feet above the ground…

 

Spending more than few hundred?

Its a cooler, heat exchanger, fan and pump…

It doesn’t get treated very well…

 

If it is too big… check your ability to fit it in your baggage area…

Know how to drain it… this takes a lot of the weight out of the way…

 

PP thoughts only…

Best regards,

-a-

[carusoam]

13 hours ago, aviatoreb said:

Someone just posted this on Beechtalk.  Looks interesting.

https://www.peterschiffaero.com/sofie

Lots of reading to not find out…. What is the cooling source of the Sofie?

I get the feeling… no compressor, no ice cubes… must be some funky peltier cooling device…?

When you look at their power requirements….

You begin to shake your head…

My alternator doesn’t provide much power at idle…

I would be looking forward to reading the pireps on BT if somebody is using one successfully…

Sofie reads like a portable device that isn’t very portable… and needs an air scoop installed…

Would have to compare to a real air conditioning system designed and built for the Mooney… the hat shelf monster…

If this is any good… they need some marketing help to tell the story…. 

Best regards,

-a-
 

Sofie 24 Cooling Capacity > 14,000 BTU-

 

 - Power: 23- 28 VDC, 25-65 Amps, adjustable

- Weight, main cooling module- 30.5 pounds

- 1 Heat dissipating Module- 8.15 pounds

   (10 ¼”" x 15 ½” x 3”)

- Power Cord, Liquid Hoses w/ quick disconnects- 8 feet

- Main Module 14"L x 6½"W x 15"H + handle

- Built-in Condensate pump to expel condensate overboard

[A64Pilot]

14,000 BTU, it’s a compressor, and big enough to do a pretty good job. It may be a good AC, not some gimmick, maybe.

Power draw is inline with BTU, unfortunately it takes power, lots of it to provide significant cooling. 50 amps of power at 14V is only 700W and that’s like 6 amps at 120VAC.

Peltier plates are hugely inefficient and don’t provide much cooling at all, they are a joke for Airconditioning as are the plethora of battery powered AC’s out there. It just take POWER to get significant cooling, average Auto AC pulls 8 hp for instance. 1 HP is 745 watts as an example assuming 100% efficiency which isn’t possible, Alternators are pretty inefficient, lots of heat is generated in the diode pack.

Just noticed it’s a 28V machine, so double those amps for 14V planning, so up to 130 amps at 14V

The electric airconditioner we used on the Thrush crop duster pulled 100 amps at 28V, but did a good job of cooling.

‘It was essentially a golf cart motor turning an Automotive compressor

Edited April 15, 2022 by A64Pilot

[exM20K]

23 hours ago, aviatoreb said:

Someone just posted this on Beechtalk.  Looks interesting.

https://www.peterschiffaero.com/sofie

Looks similar but more output than the Artic Air units. No cost obvious on the website.

At least for the Ovation and Acclaim, I would (and may if I spend more time in FL) opt for the  Kelly Aerospace unit.

https://kellyaero.com/mooney-airconditioning-system-now-available/

The company is a Mooney Summit sponsor, too.

It is STC’d, not all that heavy, and I’m trying to work out I’d I can offset much of the weight with lightweight Lithium batteries.

 

https://www.truebluepowerusa.com/products/general-and-business-aviation/#battery-stc-kits

 

Meantime, and in keeping with the subject of this old thread, I’m slumming along with a B-Kool, powered by an added 24V socket in the back wall of the baggage compartment.  It works as advertised, though I’ve found big blocks of ice bang into and dislodge the bilge pump at the bottom.  It is a huge improvement in comfort despite its limited duration.

-dan