Air conditioning options

[Mooneymite]

9 hours ago, jonhop said:

Personally I use the human heat exchange unit, otherwise known as sweat to stay somewhat cool.

That's what I use, too.  I usually use a different plane because it is a better "evaporative unit" than the Mooney.

[Seymour]

I spent the summer in the pattern with my CFI.   The B-Kool worked great  ...for the first 15 minutes and then the inline fuse for the back seat cigarette lighter blew.   Does anyone know the location of that fuse on a '64 M20E?   Do I have to remove the wall panel and armrest to find it?   (Shop gave the go-ahead to fly but hasn't had time to replace it) .

The rest of the summer, the B-Kool ran off a Battery Jumper Box and all was cool. 

My partner is also concerned about the B-Kool blowing H2O on the avionics.   AFAIK, the design is a simple heat exchanger; all the water remains in the cooler itself, and cabin air is circulated without direct contact to the water/ice.  Right??

[jaylw314]

13 minutes ago, Seymour said:

I spent the summer in the pattern with my CFI.   The B-Kool worked great  ...for the first 15 minutes and then the inline fuse for the back seat cigarette lighter blew.   Does anyone know the location of that fuse on a '64 M20E?   Do I have to remove the wall panel and armrest to find it?   (Shop gave the go-ahead to fly but hasn't had time to replace it) .

The rest of the summer, the B-Kool ran off a Battery Jumper Box and all was cool. 

My partner is also concerned about the B-Kool blowing H2O on the avionics.   AFAIK, the design is a simple heat exchanger; all the water remains in the cooler itself, and cabin air is circulated without direct contact to the water/ice.  Right??

IIRC it takes air from the water/ice chamber and blows it through the heat/cold exchanger, so it does pick up some moisture.

Cold air holds less moisture though, so there is less to pick up.

Once you mix it with hot air, the relative humidity will drop, and there's plenty of circulating hot air if you have the vents open.

If there's anything cold in the cabin, you might have a condensation problem, but if there was anything cold in the cabin, I doubt you'd be running it....

[Seth]

The B-Kool unit is not a gimmick and life changing.

 

FBO’s usually have ice.  Not difficult to load, you get cool air while taxiing and takeoff, and then again when you descend and are back on the ground.  

Life chaning - get one.  In cool

weather, no need for it and it gets taken out of the airplane.

 

-Seth

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, Seymour said:

I spent the summer in the pattern with my CFI.   The B-Kool worked great  ...for the first 15 minutes and then the inline fuse for the back seat cigarette lighter blew.   Does anyone know the location of that fuse on a '64 M20E?   Do I have to remove the wall panel and armrest to find it?   (Shop gave the go-ahead to fly but hasn't had time to replace it) .

The rest of the summer, the B-Kool ran off a Battery Jumper Box and all was cool. 

My partner is also concerned about the B-Kool blowing H2O on the avionics.   AFAIK, the design is a simple heat exchanger; all the water remains in the cooler itself, and cabin air is circulated without direct contact to the water/ice.  Right??

The fan blows air out of the interior of the cooler, which is exposed to whatever is in the cooler.   The air coming into the cooler comes through the heat exchanger, so it's already cooled when it comes into the cooler.   It's never felt damp to me, certainly not more than the ambient humidity in a lot of places, so I don't think it would be an issue for the avionics.  

[kmyfm20s]

I had a B-cool for a short period of time but then purchased a plane with factory A/C. B-cool worked well for taxi, takeoff and climb to cool enough altitude. I fly out of exceptionally hot areas so for others it may last longer. The more humid the ambient air the colder the air would feel. It does not add humidity to your cabin it removes the humidity since it is not a swamp cooler. The heat exchangers condensation is from moisture pulled out of the air and it then drains into the ice. The swamp cooler type units work well in the dry hot climates.  It’s best to use a mix of block and cube ice but mostly block. I added as little water as possible and only enough for initial circulation through the pump. If you store your cooler in the hot plane basically your first bag of ice will melt and turn into the necessary water for the pump to circulate. The problems with FBO ice is that it’s wet ice which is not as cold and melts fast. The good thing about FBO ice is it’s usually free:) Convient store sell good ice but it’s expensive. Since my office that I flew to was in the hot climate I would freeze custom size blocks of ice there. I would take my cooler with me to the office and keep it by the fridge so it wouldn’t get hot in the plane. When I was ready to go I would throw the block of ice in the cooler drive to the airport put the unit in the plane. Go grab 2 bags of ice from the FBO add them and about 16 oz’s of water to the cooler and start it up. I would then Preflight the plane and The interior was cooled off by then. That was my routine for 1 1/2 summers before I bought my current plane with A/C. Worked well but it was a hassle for someone like me that was flying 3x a week hauling coolers and ice everywhere trying not to get my dress clothes sweaty, wet or dirty. 

[RobertGary1]

I fly all throughout the desert southwest in the summer with the family. We just try to minize taxi time and get to altitude. I didn't always have A/C in my cars when I was younger either and we didn't die. I don't have the extra space for another contraption.

 

-Robert

[triple8s]

On August 12, 2018 at 10:22 AM, Piloto said:

A cheap an d reliable alternative is to drink plenty of ice cold water before flight. It will cool your body right away. Later in flight I dispose of the water in my  body though a relief tube with no dripping mess. Works really well.

 

Better becareful with that crazy thing! Might get too much suction and stretch ........something

[triple8s]

On August 12, 2018 at 10:22 AM, Piloto said:

A cheap an d reliable alternative is to drink plenty of ice cold water before flight. It will cool your body right away. Later in flight I dispose of the water in my  body though a relief tube with no dripping mess. Works really well.

 

Better becareful with that crazy thing! Might get too much suction and stretch ........something

[Mooneymite]

2 hours ago, RobertGary1 said:

I fly all throughout the desert southwest in the summer with the family. We just try to minize taxi time and get to altitude. I didn't always have A/C in my cars when I was younger either and we didn't die. I don't have the extra space for another contraption.

 

-Robert

Due to all the air conditioning units, apparently humans have brought on "global warming", er, "climate change", or whatever, so it's much hotter than we remember in our youth, so we need more air conditioning.

Oh!  And those CA fires aren't helping the situation.

[kmyfm20s]

5 hours ago, Mooneymite said:

Due to all the air conditioning units, apparently humans have brought on "global warming", er, "climate change", or whatever, so it's much hotter than we remember in our youth, so we need more air conditioning.

Oh!  And those CA fires aren't helping the situation.

Piloto can do a fly over air drop with his tube. 

[Lance Link]

On 8/11/2018 at 7:55 PM, KLRDMD said:

I have one in my Baron, they're great.

Thanks for the report.  The reradiation heat that builds up in these planes can really detract from the enjoyment of flying them.