Zero-Breeze Portable Air Conditioner

[RLCarter]

Did some searching on MS for the Zero-Breeze portable AC unit, only found 2 mentions of it in a badly hijacked thread on GTN 750 Audible Alerts. I ran across the Zero-Breeze over a year ago and had forgot all about it until yesterday. While at airport a buddy stopped by and was telling me he was having Dan (our IA) install an Arctic Air system in his 182 so later that afternoon I went by to check on the progress. The Arctic Air is a big unit and weights in at 50+lbs and draws 45 amps on his 24 vdc system (pretty taxing), while talking to him he mentioned he had purchased a Zero-Breeze unit and tried it, while it does blow cold air it just wasn’t enough to cool the 182 down to be comfortable in a South Texas summer (not sure what he is expecting). An hour later he stopped by and dropped off the Zero-Breeze and said try it out in the Mooney and if I liked it he would cut me a deal, I was closing the hangar as he pulled up so the unit is setting on the table for a little testing on Monday afternoon. Not wanting to modify anything yet I plan on placing the unit outside and duct the cold air in through the storm window (sealed with foam) and see how it works setting in the hangar. I will sit a thermometer in the plane before hand and see what kind of a temperature drop I get over say 30 minutes or so.

My hopes aren’t real high on it cooling down the cabin but if it cools it down some I might spend some time plumbing the duct work in. My plan is to plumb the exhaust from the unit to the small opening in the top of the baggage compartment allowing it to vent out the top of the aircraft, as far as the cold stuff I’ll direct it into one of the air vents for the rear passengers and turn the other rear vent off along with the scoop on top of the aircraft, this should allow the cold air to be directed by the 2 front vents which are only inches away from my head, hopefully it will make a difference, pirep, taxi and flight test to follow.

here's a link to their website Zero-Breeze

 

[Bryan]

I bought one of these thinking I *might* could help in the Mooney but really got it for camping. Mine was supposed to ship in late June or first of July. Being that today is the first of July, I am guessing it will ship in July.

Anything has got to help.

Interested in your testing and duct work. 

[RLCarter]

9 minutes ago, Bryan said:

I bought one of these thinking I *might* could help in the Mooney but really got it for camping. Mine was supposed to ship in late June or first of July. Being that today is the first of July, I am guessing it will ship in July.

Anything has got to help.

Interested in your testing and duct work. 

When I first ran across them, they hadn't even started manufacturing yet. we'll see how it goes

[Esquerdo]

23 minutes ago, Bryan said:

I bought one of these thinking I *might* could help in the Mooney but really got it for camping. Mine was supposed to ship in late June or first of July. Being that today is the first of July, I am guessing it will ship in July.

Anything has got to help.

Interested in your testing and duct work. 

 

24 minutes ago, Bryan said:

I bought one of these thinking I *might* could help in the Mooney but really got it for camping. Mine was supposed to ship in late June or first of July. Being that today is the first of July, I am guessing it will ship in July.

Anything has got to help.

Interested in your testing and duct work. 

I will be following your results. 

[Jerry 5TJ]

I looked into air conditioning alternatives for my Ovation.

Two summers ago I tested the Ovation with an 120VAC powered unit, one of those "portables" with ducts.  I parked the Mooney on the ramp in the sun, and here in Baltimore it got plenty hot inside the cabin 'right quick' and the portable AC did "Okay" at reducing the heat load.  It was unable to cool the interior like a car air conditioner, but subjectively it did made a lot of difference in comfort.  That test used a 9,000 BTU/hour unit. 

The 200 cfm model of the Arctic Air is a 7,000 BTU/hour system, drawing about 27 amps at 28V or about 750 watts.   I talked to an AP who has installed "several" in long-body Mooneys and a few dozen in Cirrus (all were 28V airplanes).  Power would come from the #1 battery relay, and the condensation line would be routed out the belly.  The Ovation has to have a 100 amp alternator to qualify for installation.    The unit could be removed through the baggage hatch (barely) but at close to 50 pounds it would be best to have a helper. 

The Zero Breeze is 1100 BTU/hour box, much smaller and lighter than the Arctic Air, and draws 120-150 watts, says their web site, and at ~12 volts it draws around 12 amps.   The unit does need a warm air outlet and a water drain to get rid of condensate. (Piloto has a solution)

For ground pre-cooling Joe Casey has a pretty fair solution:  110V Air Conditioner  

[aviatoreb]

8 hours ago, RLCarter said:

Did some searching on MS for the Zero-Breeze portable AC unit, only found 2 mentions of it in a badly hijacked thread on GTN 750 Audible Alerts. I ran across the Zero-Breeze over a year ago and had forgot all about it until yesterday. While at airport a buddy stopped by and was telling me he was having Dan (our IA) install an Arctic Air system in his 182 so later that afternoon I went by to check on the progress. The Arctic Air is a big unit and weights in at 50+lbs and draws 45 amps on his 24 vdc system (pretty taxing), while talking to him he mentioned he had purchased a Zero-Breeze unit and tried it, while it does blow cold air it just wasn’t enough to cool the 182 down to be comfortable in a South Texas summer (not sure what he is expecting). An hour later he stopped by and dropped off the Zero-Breeze and said try it out in the Mooney and if I liked it he would cut me a deal, I was closing the hangar as he pulled up so the unit is setting on the table for a little testing on Monday afternoon. Not wanting to modify anything yet I plan on placing the unit outside and duct the cold air in through the storm window (sealed with foam) and see how it works setting in the hangar. I will sit a thermometer in the plane before hand and see what kind of a temperature drop I get over say 30 minutes or so.

My hopes aren’t real high on it cooling down the cabin but if it cools it down some I might spend some time plumbing the duct work in. My plan is to plumb the exhaust from the unit to the small opening in the top of the baggage compartment allowing it to vent out the top of the aircraft, as far as the cold stuff I’ll direct it into one of the air vents for the rear passengers and turn the other rear vent off along with the scoop on top of the aircraft, this should allow the cold air to be directed by the 2 front vents which are only inches away from my head, hopefully it will make a difference, pirep, taxi and flight test to follow.

here's a link to their website Zero-Breeze

 

Does it have a lithium battery?  They scare me forairplane use.

[RLCarter]

32 minutes ago, aviatoreb said:

Does it have a lithium battery?  They scare me forairplane use.

not a big fan of them in a plane either, will use it for testing and if I decide to keep it it will be hardwired to the ships power

[RLCarter]

While waiting on Dan (IA) to come to the hangar for lunch I unpacked the Zero-Breeze and turned it on (sitting on the workbench), it was pretty warm in the hangar but the little unit did start blowing coldish air, from around 2 ft away you could still feel it. After lunch I laid a piece of carpet across the front seats and placed the AC unit facing the co-pilot yoke, the exhaust was ran out the storm window and sealed with towel, I took the vent thermometer out of the Cessna and zip-tied it to the yoke, the thermometer stabilized at 105 F with in about 15 minutes. The moment of truth was coming up, I opened the cabin door and turned it on, I checked it at 3 minutes and no change, cheeked it at 10 minutes and still no change, I checked the exhaust and it was blowing hot air so I opened the cabin door and it was blowing coldish air. I let it run for an hour and it came down maybe 2 degrees, which was very disappointing. I might try and come up with some makeshift ducting and see how it works blowing thru the overhead vents and sit in the plane, but doubt it will do much better other than it will be blowing on me. Luckily the Mooney climbs good so it doesn’t take long to get to drier and cooler air. ALL in all I don't think it's going to work, and at $800.00 for the unit and battery pack it just not worth the money 

[Bob_Belville]

When I replaced the windows a couple of years ago I opted for a vent window in the door. I finally got around to installing a pair of Kool Scoops. It was close to 100 Saturday and the scoops were very welcome - a good stiff breeze while on the ramp.  

[PTK]

It looks cool but... it's not! They claim 1100 BTU with 160 W max power consumption and EER of 9. The math just doesn't support it.  

[carusoam]

One of the key determinants of an AC unit working...

The delta T.

The change in temperature before and after the air goes through the unit...

measure the T in the cabin... (input)

measure the T in the cool airstream exiting the unit... (output)

The difference is the delta T...

My Home AC unit, I checked yesterday... delta T is 20°F...

The exhaust stream is extra hot... (how you know it is really working)

For efficiency, don’t let any of the hot exhaust leak into the cabin... it has to leave...

For BTU calculations... a few threads done years ago when the first Ice cooler/ heat exchangers were being built... covered the actual heat loads that needed to be cooled and how long the ice would last...

Really interesting details in those discussions... turns out 10 or 20 pounds of ice can go pretty far in cooling air in a Mooney...

the technology being used could be the culprit... there is an electronic chip that when used causes some cooling... but it uses a lot of electricity and generates a lot of waste heat... kind of a novelty without a lot of development...

Is that what this device is using?

Best regards,

-a-

[Jerry 5TJ]

3 hours ago, carusoam said:

.....the technology being used could be the culprit... there is an electronic chip that when used causes some cooling... but it uses a lot of electricity and generates a lot of waste heat... kind of a novelty without a lot of development...

Is that what this device is using?

The data sheet says it uses R-134 refrigerant in a  compact closed cycle air conditioner.  

It is not a Peltier type cooler.  

[takair]

On 7/3/2018 at 12:10 AM, RLCarter said:

While waiting on Dan (IA) to come to the hangar for lunch I unpacked the Zero-Breeze and turned it on (sitting on the workbench), it was pretty warm in the hangar but the little unit did start blowing coldish air, from around 2 ft away you could still feel it. After lunch I laid a piece of carpet across the front seats and placed the AC unit facing the co-pilot yoke, the exhaust was ran out the storm window and sealed with towel, I took the vent thermometer out of the Cessna and zip-tied it to the yoke, the thermometer stabilized at 105 F with in about 15 minutes. The moment of truth was coming up, I opened the cabin door and turned it on, I checked it at 3 minutes and no change, cheeked it at 10 minutes and still no change, I checked the exhaust and it was blowing hot air so I opened the cabin door and it was blowing coldish air. I let it run for an hour and it came down maybe 2 degrees, which was very disappointing. I might try and come up with some makeshift ducting and see how it works blowing thru the overhead vents and sit in the plane, but doubt it will do much better other than it will be blowing on me. Luckily the Mooney climbs good so it doesn’t take long to get to drier and cooler air. ALL in all I don't think it's going to work, and at $800.00 for the unit and battery pack it just not worth the money 

Was just looking at their web site and a review.  I know you exhausted the hot air out, but I wonder if using an external source of air to cool the condenser may help with efficiency.  Right now, you would be taking the cabin air that has been cooled and exhausting it...to be replaced by more warm air.  It would take more ducting, but getting external air to flow over the condenser might keep more cool air in the cabin.  

[Jerry 5TJ]

There are 2 heat exchangers in an AIr Conditioning system of this type.  

 

One is the hot side that cools the just-compressed liquid refrigerant.

The other heat exchanger absorbs heat from the expanded & thus cooled refrigerant. A fan blows cabin air across this heat exchanger and that’s the source of the cold air output.  

The cooler you can keep the “hot” heat exchanger the cooler the cold air in the cabin can be (ok, within limits of the refrigerant cycle pressure-temperature curve).  

If you can run outside ram air to the hot side heat exchanger and exhaust the flow outside in a low pressure spot that is as good as it gets. 

Meanwhile the cold side heat exchanger can recirculate cabin air across its fins. 

The two air streams across the two heat exchangers should be completely separate for best cooling efficiency.  

 

[Jerry 5TJ]

You might be better off starting with one of these.  Cheaper and twice the cooling capacity.  

 

https://www.rigidhvac.com/store/products/151800-dv3220e-ac-24v-pro

[Jerry 5TJ]

12 hours ago, carusoam said:

... turns out 10 or 20 pounds of ice can go pretty far in cooling air in a Mooney...

Well, a 12,000 BTU/hour AC has equivalent cooling to a ton of ice changing to liquid in 24 hours. So about 80 pounds of ice melted in an hour is 12,000 BTU and will do a pretty good job cooling a hot Mooney cabin.  

[RLCarter]

2 hours ago, Jerry 5TJ said:

You might be better off starting with one of these.  Cheaper and twice the cooling capacity.  

 

https://www.rigidhvac.com/store/products/151800-dv3220e-ac-24v-pro

That’s a better option if they offer it in 12 VDC, easier to duct both the cold air and return into the cabin and put the unit in the tail?

[Jerry 5TJ]

45 minutes ago, RLCarter said:

That’s a better option if they offer it in 12 VDC, easier to duct both the cold air and return into the cabin and put the unit in the tail?

Yes they offer 12v as well.  

Many vintage 12v Mooney electrical systems won’t have the power to run that AC, however.  

[Skates97]

18 hours ago, carusoam said:

Really interesting details in those discussions... turns out 10 or 20 pounds of ice can go pretty far in cooling air in a Mooney...

My little homemade ac does what I need it to with 20lbs of ice in it. A couple weeks ago we left Chandler and it was 106 outside. While it didn't cool the cabin I did have cool air blowing in me which helped until I got up to 10,500' where it was 60 degrees and the outside vents kept me cool. 

[RLCarter]

2 hours ago, Skates97 said:

My little homemade ac does what I need it to with 20lbs of ice in it. A couple weeks ago we left Chandler and it was 106 outside. While it didn't cool the cabin I did have cool air blowing in me which helped until I got up to 10,500' where it was 60 degrees and the outside vents kept me cool. 

Think that's the way I'll go, I can buy a lot of ice for $600.00 bucks. I have looked on the net and some get pretty ingenious on designs

[Skates97]

1 hour ago, RLCarter said:

Think that's the way I'll go, I can buy a lot of ice for $600.00 bucks. I have looked on the net and some get pretty ingenious on designs

I borrowed from a lot of different designs to make mine. I am thinking of adding a second heater core so that the air passes through two of them, I think it will cool it a little better but haven't tried it yet.

The link for a step-by-step build of my A/C and window tinting is in my signature.

[RLCarter]

9 hours ago, Skates97 said:

I borrowed from a lot of different designs to make mine. I am thinking of adding a second heater core so that the air passes through two of them, I think it will cool it a little better but haven't tried it yet.

The link for a step-by-step build of my A/C and window tinting is in my signature.

Looking at 2 heat exchangers (heater cores) as well but with a slight twist, it would be a closed loop which should help the water and ice in the main unit last just a little longer. Also thinking about a plenum on the hat rack with multiple vents to help direct the airflow and or plumb it into the overhead vents already there. With a closed loop I would need a second pump to drain the water from the ice chest. My wish list also includes a multiple speed fan and a small key fob size remote control.  

Edited July 5, 2018 by RLCarter

[EricJ]

10 hours ago, Skates97 said:

I borrowed from a lot of different designs to make mine. I am thinking of adding a second heater core so that the air passes through two of them, I think it will cool it a little better but haven't tried it yet.

The link for a step-by-step build of my A/C and window tinting is in my signature.

I have a B-Kool but I think if I were doing it again I'd just make one.   Yours looks very nice.   The B-Kool uses a very cheap ($13.47 at Wal-Mart) cooler and on mine the lid keeps falling off if it's not upright, which then gets hung up on the hoses and the various electrical cables, none of which can be easily disconnected from the unit.

The B-Kool is a very nice unit and it works well, but maybe because I'm an engineer I just see a lot of things that could be easily improved on it.

[carusoam]

Oops...

I did the time calculations based on getting in the plane, taxi and T/O, climb to cool air...

I probably did the run-up while taxiing.... (not recommended)

Leaving it running in TX heat for an hour long flight may take a significant amount of ice.  

Best regards,

-a-