Eco Wave Flow 2 Portable A/C

[LANCECASPER]

8 hours ago, Grant_Waite said:

Ideally I would like to get my hot air vent as close to this inspection plate as I could. I’m not sure if it would help all that much but who knows. I need to test the unit out in both configurations to see how well it works. I’m leaning towards a one hose setup. Any less holes in the bulkhead, the better 

The inspection plates that I used for vents are exactly the ones Mooney uses for theirs' when they do factory A/C.

[bcg]

8 hours ago, Grant_Waite said:

Ideally I would like to get my hot air vent as close to this inspection plate as I could. I’m not sure if it would help all that much but who knows. I need to test the unit out in both configurations to see how well it works. I’m leaning towards a one hose setup. Any less holes in the bulkhead, the better 

I am a terrible artist but, here is a visual representation of why you don't want to do this with one hose.  The numbers are obviously made up but, hopefully you get the picture.

You can prove this to yourself without doing a bunch of work on the plane by setting the little AC up in a storage shed or something.  It'll cool OK to begin with but after a bit, the temp will stabilize and then start rising and the humidity will increase in the room, it'll start to get more uncomfortable than it was without the AC.  The condenser has more air moving over it than the evaporator and all the air that you're pulling from the cabin to run over it and then get exhausted has to be replaced, that replacement air will be hot, humid outside air because that's the only place it can come from.

Save yourself a lot of work and install this with 2 hoses from the beginning.  5100 BTU isn't all that much cooling, most cars are 12,000 and SUVs can be 18,000 - 24,000, it can't afford the efficiency lost by venting conditioned air outside and creating a constant flow of outside air into the conditioned space.

 

If you want to test this for yourself, set it up in a small storage shed or something similar

[bcg]

8 hours ago, Grant_Waite said:

Ideally I would like to get my hot air vent as close to this inspection plate as I could. I’m not sure if it would help all that much but who knows. I need to test the unit out in both configurations to see how well it works. I’m leaning towards a one hose setup. Any less holes in the bulkhead, the better 

I am a terrible artist but, here is a visual representation of why you don't want to do this with one hose.  The numbers are obviously made up but, hopefully you get the picture.

You can prove this to yourself without doing a bunch of work on the plane by setting the little AC up in a storage shed or something.  It'll cool OK to begin with but after a bit, the temp will stabilize and then start rising and the humidity will increase in the room, it'll start to get more uncomfortable than it was without the AC.  The condenser has more air moving over it than the evaporator and all the air that you're pulling from the cabin to run over the condenser and then get exhausted outside has to be replaced, that replacement air will be hot, humid outside air because that's the only place it can come from.

Save yourself a lot of work and install this with 2 hoses from the beginning.  5100 BTU isn't all that much cooling, most cars are 12,000 and SUVs can be 18,000 - 24,000, it can't afford the efficiency lost by venting conditioned air outside and creating a constant flow of outside air into the conditioned space.

Window units have the exhaust and intake for the condenser essentially right next to each other and a 6k window unit will outperform a 12k single hose portable all day long just because it's not constantly cooling outside air.  I learned this the hard way with a small building at our deer camp, we had an 18k single hose portable that we tried to cool a 300 sq/ft building with.  It worked great for about an hour and then it got muggy and the temp actually started going up.  We replaced that with a 6k window unit and it would get uncomfortable cold in the building.  You'll be time and effort ahead if you just learn the lesson from my experience instead of figuring it out for yourself.  I think it was Ladybird Johnson that said "Learn from the mistakes of others because you'll never live long enough to make them all yourself." 

[LANCECASPER]

Or you can just follow the example of people who’ve actually designed portable A/C units for small airplanes. Or people who’ve actually put them in their airplanes.

I did a PlaneAC unit in a Bravo that I later sold.







Now I’m doing an Arctic AC in my Acclaim.








If you look at the pictures on page 1 of both manuals they both draw their air in through the cabin and exhaust through the empennage.

PLANE AC 2.0 Manual.pdf

Arctic Air Information and Installation Guide.pdf

[bcg]

9 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

Or you can just follow the example of people who’ve actually designed portable A/C units for small airplanes. Or people who’ve actually put them in their airplanes.

I did a PlaneAC unit in a Bravo that I later sold.





Now I’m doing an Arctic AC in my Acclaim. If you look at the pictures on page 1 of both manuals they both draw their air in through the cabin and exhaust through the empennage.

PLANE AC 2.0 Manual.pdf

Arctic Air Information and Installation Guide.pdf

Page one of the Arctic Air instructions say to open the cabin vents so that the exhaust air can be replaced, this is exactly the thing you don't want to do.  Do you open the window at home when you're running your AC?  You can't really believe that the AC works just as well when it's pulling in outside air as it would recirculating the cooled inside air alone without pulling makeup from outside.  Which cools better in the car, recirculate or venting in outside air?

It's not my airplane, he and you can do it however you want to.  The evaporator will only get a 20 degree drop across the coil at best though, I'd rather be recirculating the already cooled air in the cabin across it than constantly shooting my cooled air out the exhaust and replacing it with hot outside air.  Adding hot air to the cabin will never work as well.  If you disagree, OK we disagree.

[LANCECASPER]

13 minutes ago, bcg said:

Page one of the Arctic Air instructions say to open the cabin vents so that the exhaust air can be replaced, this is exactly the thing you don't want to do.  Do you open the window at home when you're running your AC?  You can't really believe that the AC works just as well when it's pulling in outside air as it would recirculating the cooled inside air alone without pulling makeup from outside.  Which cools better in the car, recirculate or venting in outside air?

It's not my airplane, he and you can do it however you want to.  The evaporator will only get a 20 degree drop across the coil at best though, I'd rather be recirculating the already cooled air in the cabin across it than constantly shooting my cooled air out the exhaust and replacing it with hot outside air.  Adding hot air to the cabin will never work as well.  If you disagree, OK we disagree.

Since it works very well and I have to turn it down when it gets too cold in the cabin I'd rather stick with what works in practice rather than theory. It's not me that's disagreeing with what is already working . . .

This is a portable unit, not a perfect solution, but it's a game-changer for me in the summer. I fiddled around with Mickey Mouse coolers and ice an even bought a freezer for the hangar. I owned a 2000 Ovation with factory air and liked it, but I wasn't willing to spend $30,000 to have it installed in my Acclaim and pay the weight penalty of a permanent installation.

 

[bcg]

Since it works very well and I have to turn it down when it gets too cold in the cabin I'd rather stick with what works in practice rather than theory. It's not me that's disagreeing with what is already working . . .
This is a portable unit, not a perfect solution, but it's a game-changer for me in the summer. I fiddled around with Mickey Mouse coolers and ice an even bought a freezer for the hangar. I owned a 2000 Ovation with factory air and liked it, but I wasn't willing to spend $30,000 to have it installed in my Acclaim and pay the weight penalty of a permanent installation.
 

Gets too cold at altitude where the vents alone would be fine? Or on the ground, where you actually need AC?

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

[LANCECASPER]

11 minutes ago, bcg said:

Gets too cold at altitude where the vents alone would be fine? Or on the ground, where you actually need AC?

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk
 

I've never turned the A/C off on the ground, but at low altitudes when practicing approaches I've turned it down.

There are a lot of things I know nothing about and I will freely admit that. When someone who has never installed a portable air conditioner in a Mooney starts a thread and is asking questions on how to do it and is getting answers from someone who has done it more than once, then someone else who has also never done it, and admits he hasn't even bothered to read all  of the posts, but is a self-proclaimed expert, jumps in and is telling me that my unit, which I have to turn down when it gets too cold, will never work . . .  you can see my frustration.

I'm done.

@Grant_Waite if you have any more questions feel free to private message me.

[bcg]

1 hour ago, LANCECASPER said:

I've never turned the A/C off on the ground, but at low altitudes when practicing approaches I've turned it down.

There are a lot of things I know nothing about and I will freely admit that. When someone who has never installed a portable air conditioner in a Mooney starts a thread and is asking questions on how to do it and is getting answers from someone who has done it more than once, then someone else who has also never done it, and admits he hasn't even bothered to read all  of the posts, but is a self-proclaimed expert, jumps in and is telling me that my unit, which I have to turn down when it gets too cold, will never work . . .  you can see my frustration.

I'm done.

@Grant_Waite if you have any more questions feel free to private message me.

I want to sincerely apologize if it seemed as though I was in a heated argument with you or was in any way inferring that you don't know what you're talking about, it really wasn't what I intended.  I don't really have a dog in this fight in that it's not my airplane and so whatever ultimately happens doesn't affect me one way or the other.

It's difficult sometimes to come across the way you intend to in written format with someone you've never met without the nuances of body language, tone and inflection and I have a habit of being more direct than I need to sometimes (even in person), which makes me seem like I'm being an asshole when I'm really not meaning to.  That question wasn't meant to be an "Aha!  I got you!"  Rereading it, I can completely see how it could come across like that, I should probably have left "where the vents alone would be fine" out of it.  I was asking sincerely if it was something that happened only at altitude or also on the ground for the information, not to be argumentative.  If you were in fact turning it down on the ground, that would be definitive evidence that I'm wrong, so I wanted to clarify.  I have been wrong before and try to be honest enough to admit it when I am. 

My intention wasn't to say it wouldn't work, my intention was to say it won't work as efficiently as it could, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work well enough for the use case.  It's just not possible that feeding a evaporator humid, 100 degree air from outside is going to work as well as feeding it dryer 80 degree cabin air will.  That the AC is going into a Mooney (or any airplane) doesn't change how refrigeration works, knowledge from not airplanes still applies to airplanes.

For the short amount of time it's typically run on the ground in an airplane, it's probably not as big a deal as it would be in a building.  The problems with venting conditioned air outside really start to show up after 30 - 45 minutes of running.  It would start to get a little uncomfortable if you got stuck for an extended time waiting on a clearance but, in that case it's probably overcast so not as big a deal.  In practice, the single hose likely works fine most of the time, I believe it would work better with 2 though.

We don't disagree on part of this, the single hose does create negative pressure and pull outside air into the cabin.  The disagreement is on how much effect that has on the cooling ability of the unit.  Personally, if I'm going to spend the money and the time/effort to install an AC in a plane, I want to do it the most efficient way possible and I'm pretty certain that if you called Arctic Air or any of the other manufacturers, they would admit that in an ideal world, it would be better not to vent conditioned air outside and have hot makeup air coming into the cabin.  They may also say that it makes no practical difference in this use case, and that may be entirely true.  That doesn't mean it's not more efficient to keep the conditioned air in the cabin.

All that said, if it's working well enough for you, then it's working well enough.  All that really matters at the end of the day is that the person using the thing (whatever it might be) is happy with it.

[LANCECASPER]

39 minutes ago, bcg said:

I want to sincerely apologize if it seemed as though I was in a heated argument with you or was in any way inferring that you don't know what you're talking about, it really wasn't what I intended.  I don't really have a dog in this fight in that it's not my airplane and so whatever ultimately happens doesn't affect me one way or the other.

It's difficult sometimes to come across the way you intend to in written format with someone you've never met without the nuances of body language, tone and inflection and I have a habit of being more direct than I need to sometimes (even in person), which makes me seem like I'm being an asshole when I'm really not meaning to.  That question wasn't meant to be an "Aha!  I got you!"  Rereading it, I can completely see how it could come across like that, I should probably have left "where the vents alone would be fine" out of it.  I was asking sincerely if it was something that happened only at altitude or also on the ground for the information, not to be argumentative.  If you were in fact turning it down on the ground, that would be definitive evidence that I'm wrong, so I wanted to clarify.  I have been wrong before and try to be honest enough to admit it when I am. 

My intention wasn't to say it wouldn't work, my intention was to say it won't work as efficiently as it could, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work well enough for the use case.  It's just not possible that feeding a evaporator humid, 100 degree air from outside is going to work as well as feeding it dryer 80 degree cabin air will.  That the AC is going into a Mooney (or any airplane) doesn't change how refrigeration works, knowledge from not airplanes still applies to airplanes.

For the short amount of time it's typically run on the ground in an airplane, it's probably not as big a deal as it would be in a building.  The problems with venting conditioned air outside really start to show up after 30 - 45 minutes of running.  It would start to get a little uncomfortable if you got stuck for an extended time waiting on a clearance but, in that case it's probably overcast so not as big a deal.  In practice, the single hose likely works fine most of the time, I believe it would work better with 2 though.

We don't disagree on part of this, the single hose does create negative pressure and pull outside air into the cabin.  The disagreement is on how much effect that has on the cooling ability of the unit.  Personally, if I'm going to spend the money and the time/effort to install an AC in a plane, I want to do it the most efficient way possible and I'm pretty certain that if you called Arctic Air or any of the other manufacturers, they would admit that in an ideal world, it would be better not to vent conditioned air outside and have hot makeup air coming into the cabin.  They may also say that it makes no practical difference in this use case, and that may be entirely true.  That doesn't mean it's not more efficient to keep the conditioned air in the cabin.

All that said, if it's working well enough for you, then it's working well enough.  All that really matters at the end of the day is that the person using the thing (whatever it might be) is happy with it.

I doubt that our thinking is that far off. He asked if he should exhaust the air into the empennage and then pull fresh air in from the empennage, with the two hoses right next to each other. My answer on Sunday was, "I can tell you one thing for sure - since you exhaust your hot air out the rear bulkhead you definitely don't want your intake there also. Let the unit take air from the cabin, which is what the Plane A/C does and the Arctic Air Real A/C does. It's more like putting your car A/C on recirculate."

Anyway . .  enough from me  . . . Grant has what he needs to get started and make whatever decisions he chooses. 

[philiplane]

I've installed several Arctic Air units. I have one in my Aztec. They work well, but they have limitations based on the fact that they're "portable". Sure, you can make it more efficient by using outside air only for the condenser, but then the extra holes in the aircraft become a certification problem. So we accept that we can't truly recirculate the  cabin air, because we're always drawing in some outside air to cool the condenser. Even so, on a 96 degree South Florida day, it will drop the cabin to 80 degrees in just a few minutes, and a bit cooler after that. I'll take a 75-78 degree cabin on the ground, and then I have to turn it down above 5000 feet, and off by 8000 feet. 

In order to make a true recirculating unit, the air intakes and exhausts have to be carefully handled to not run afoul of your IA, who's got to buy off on the "portable installation" every year. In most cases you need a structures DER to draw up proper intakes and exhausts, because few planes have suitable inspection panels that can be re-purposed as vents. The exhaust vent is pretty straightforward, but the intake is not. There are flow and static pressure considerations, prevention of water ingestion, insects, etc, to provide for. The additional air cannot interfere with the factory-installed cabin heating and ventilating systems either. Dozens of people have been down this road already. Most have found that all of this fussing isn't worth the hassle. That's why the simple nature of the original Arctic Air installation is a good balance of cost and complexity versus performance. 

[bcg]

5 minutes ago, philiplane said:

In order to make a true recirculating unit, the air intakes and exhausts have to be carefully handled to not run afoul of your IA, who's got to buy off on the "portable installation" every year. In most cases you need a structures DER to draw up proper intakes and exhausts, because few planes have suitable inspection panels that can be re-purposed as vents. The exhaust vent is pretty straightforward, but the intake is not. There are flow and static pressure considerations, prevention of water ingestion, insects, etc, to provide for. The additional air cannot interfere with the factory-installed cabin heating and ventilating systems either. Dozens of people have been down this road already. Most have found that all of this fussing isn't worth the hassle. That's why the simple nature of the original Arctic Air installation is a good balance of cost and complexity versus performance. 

These are all really good points.  You'd almost need a forward facing scoop to get the intake to work correctly, anything in a low pressure area would starve the condenser of the air it needs.  I hadn't really thought about the practical considerations of installation, I was mostly just trying to explain this part of the original post "People say that the Ecowaves cooling BTU’s get cut down when you intake cooler air from both front and back. I don’t understand it but maybe somebody else will."

Like all things with airplanes, there have to be compromises.

[Ragsf15e]

You guys are making it a lot more palatable for me to freeze my ass off in Washington all winter just to enjoy our nice summer temperatures!

[Pinecone]

You should be able to get by with connecting one of the two vents to the outside.  I would do the exhaust, so as to not overheat the empennage.  This is not good for the avionics, plus there will be some heat soak back into the cockpit area.

[LANCECASPER]

On 5/8/2024 at 10:02 AM, Pinecone said:

You should be able to get by with connecting one of the two vents to the outside.  I would do the exhaust, so as to not overheat the empennage.  This is not good for the avionics, plus there will be some heat soak back into the cockpit area.

If you look at the pictures @Grant_Waite's avionics are all in the panel except for one box he has back there - looks like a GTX345R. I didn't have much back there on the Bravo, just a WX-500 processor.

The reason on the Acclaim that I'm exhausting out the back of the hat rack is that the air will go into the empennage past the G1000 Avionics and not blast them with warm air on the way by.

[LANCECASPER]

1 hour ago, Ragsf15e said:

You guys are making it a lot more palatable for me to freeze my ass off in Washington all winter just to enjoy our nice summer temperatures!

I got my license my first year in North Dakota and spent 5.5 years there - 6 winters. . . .  WA is tropical year round by those standards . . . lol

[Grant_Waite]

17 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

If you look at the pictures @Grant_Waite's avionics are all in the panel except for one box he has back there - looks like a GTX345R. I didn't have much back there on the Bravo, just a WX-500 processor.

The reason on the Acclaim that I'm exhausting out the back of the hat rack is that the air will go into the empennage past the G1000 Avionics and not blast them with war air on the way by.

Thank you, all for the replies I think I’m going to go with what works okay and that’s a 1 hose exhaust. The nice thing about a plane is I can climb to cooler and less humid air. Unlike a car or house can obviously. Which I feel negates most of the fear about eventually pulling in more hot and humid air. Now if I sit on the ground for a while, which I typically don’t for more than 15minutes from startup to takeoff then I could see it being an efficiency loss. But since it’s not just that easy to make 2 functional intake and exhaust in a plane it’s an inefficiency we deal with. If I had the bones of a plane and money I would so pay to have a factory A/C installed… one day maybe. The weight penalty is worth it for having A/C like in a car. I will keep everyone posted when I have the unit and can do some testing on it. Here’s a better picture of my avionics in the back. There’s not much back there I think I need to worry about, getting hot. 

Edited May 8, 2024 by Grant_Waite

[LANCECASPER]

@Grant_Waite ;et us know how the Ecowave is working.

I just saw this one on Beechtalk. It might be a possibility also. https://www.peterschiffaero.com/shop

[bcg]

I came across one of the Ecoflow Wave 2 for less than $500 delivered so I decided I'm going to give one of these a try.  My B-Kool does a good job and I can get a couple of hours out of it using block ice or frozen water bottles but, it would be nice to not have to deal with all that.  I've been thinking about 3D printing some adapters for the back seat vents and plugs for the front vents to be able to direct the vent air straight into the condenser coil instead of having it mix with cabin air.  The AC is supposed to be delivered today so I'll play around with it some and see what I can come up with.  If I figure out something that works, I'll share it, I think it's doable without having to make permanent modifications to the plane or doing anything structural with some custom adapters and a little bit of duct line.

[bcg]

40 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

@Grant_Waite ;et us know how the Ecowave is working.

I just saw this one on Beechtalk. It might be a possibility also. https://www.peterschiffaero.com/shop

Their wet delivery system is pretty ingenious and makes a lot of sense.

[Grant_Waite]

12 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

@Grant_Waite ;et us know how the Ecowave is working.

I just saw this one on Beechtalk. It might be a possibility also. https://www.peterschiffaero.com/shop

The unit has been working great, it keeps me cool with the cold air duct just laying over the headrest of my seat. I don’t know how much it actually cools the whole cabin but that wasn’t my intention with such a small unit. It easily gets a 20° differential and even greater depending on how hot the air is. It gets the air to 70° or less within a minute or 2. I love it! It doesn’t create any water, since I’m not intaking the outside air directly. When I got the unit I set it up at home with the exhaust hose out a window and the one rear intake out the same window. It created a good amount of water when I did that, but rightly so since I’m in Florida. The app is great because I can turn it on or off with my phone at anytime in flight. It works off of Bluetooth. I will take more pictures when I fly this week. I’ve since gotten a 3d printed adapter from Etsy to allow for the exhaust hose to use a normal 4in flex foil duct with the locking mechanism still in use. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1733979321/ecoflow-wave-2-5-to-100mm-adapter?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_b-electronics_and_accessories-car_parts_and_accessories-car_accessories&utm_custom1=_k_Cj0KCQjwu8uyBhC6ARIsAKwBGpSwdCzJ8O9c9ThbbGeLXrIqxx-8pxFRnpIBK5ZXWjvWmY4FNidVxFoaAouxEALw_wcB_k_&utm_content=go_1843970782_69216062865_346398034798_aud-2007167693509:pla-354955384985_m__1733979321_12768591&utm_custom2=1843970782&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADtcfRJLm2i5MdsW9LhdN5wD4ILfk&gclid=Cj0KCQjwu8uyBhC6ARIsAKwBGpSwdCzJ8O9c9ThbbGeLXrIqxx-8pxFRnpIBK5ZXWjvWmY4FNidVxFoaAouxEALw_wcB   I’m sure BCG could make the same thing and not cost the 60 bucks I paid. The battery works great last me more than enough time I need. I’ve yet to run it out. When I get back I just plug it into the A/C power while I clean off the plane and tie it down. My plane sits in a shade hangar so it’s not outside in direct sunlight but it’s not inside either. After getting fuel the other day at 4pm it was probably a feel like of 110 on the ramp and 98 outside. The A/C did struggle to feel cold even though it was putting out 74° air. That’s just a limitation though of the small size and the fact the plane sat in the sun for a good 20 minutes. It was absolutely better than nothing and I can’t express how nice not having to use ice is. It’s basically unlimited cold air and all that I need to do when I’m done flying is charge the battery. It’s easiest to put the battery in the plane then set the unit in since 50lbs is just too heavy for the awkward baggage door. 

[Grant_Waite]

12 hours ago, bcg said:

Their wet delivery system is pretty ingenious and makes a lot of sense.

I talked with them at Sun and fun to see their unit. It works great but I just don’t have the funds for it at this time. They are the only company to my knowledge that still makes and actually installs a fully portable A/C in any plane. It’s not too pricey of a unit but they recommend a 100 amp alternator, which adds to the cost. On my plane, I couldn’t even get a 100amp alternator so I’m screwed out of it even if I had the money to do it. That’s fine though, this isn’t my forever plane. 

[bcg]

6 hours ago, Grant_Waite said:

The unit has been working great, it keeps me cool with the cold air duct just laying over the headrest of my seat. I don’t know how much it actually cools the whole cabin but that wasn’t my intention with such a small unit. It easily gets a 20° differential and even greater depending on how hot the air is. It gets the air to 70° or less within a minute or 2. I love it! It doesn’t create any water, since I’m not intaking the outside air directly. When I got the unit I set it up at home with the exhaust hose out a window and the one rear intake out the same window. It created a good amount of water when I did that, but rightly so since I’m in Florida. The app is great because I can turn it on or off with my phone at anytime in flight. It works off of Bluetooth. I will take more pictures when I fly this week. I’ve since gotten a 3d printed adapter from Etsy to allow for the exhaust hose to use a normal 4in flex foil duct with the locking mechanism still in use. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1733979321/ecoflow-wave-2-5-to-100mm-adapter?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_b-electronics_and_accessories-car_parts_and_accessories-car_accessories&utm_custom1=_k_Cj0KCQjwu8uyBhC6ARIsAKwBGpSwdCzJ8O9c9ThbbGeLXrIqxx-8pxFRnpIBK5ZXWjvWmY4FNidVxFoaAouxEALw_wcB_k_&utm_content=go_1843970782_69216062865_346398034798_aud-2007167693509:pla-354955384985_m__1733979321_12768591&utm_custom2=1843970782&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADtcfRJLm2i5MdsW9LhdN5wD4ILfk&gclid=Cj0KCQjwu8uyBhC6ARIsAKwBGpSwdCzJ8O9c9ThbbGeLXrIqxx-8pxFRnpIBK5ZXWjvWmY4FNidVxFoaAouxEALw_wcB   I’m sure BCG could make the same thing and not cost the 60 bucks I paid. The battery works great last me more than enough time I need. I’ve yet to run it out. When I get back I just plug it into the A/C power while I clean off the plane and tie it down. My plane sits in a shade hangar so it’s not outside in direct sunlight but it’s not inside either. After getting fuel the other day at 4pm it was probably a feel like of 110 on the ramp and 98 outside. The A/C did struggle to feel cold even though it was putting out 74° air. That’s just a limitation though of the small size and the fact the plane sat in the sun for a good 20 minutes. It was absolutely better than nothing and I can’t express how nice not having to use ice is. It’s basically unlimited cold air and all that I need to do when I’m done flying is charge the battery. It’s easiest to put the battery in the plane then set the unit in since 50lbs is just too heavy for the awkward baggage door.

I see the condensate hose running into a cup, is there a condensate pump in this?  I didn't see one in the specs, I thought it was just gravity drain, I could have missed that though.  A pump would be a nice addition.  Your install looks good, are you venting the exhaust through the lower part of the bulkhead or the hat rack?  Did you insulate the exhaust hose at all?  It's not a big difference but I found that wrapping that with a towel on the bigger portables did help a little by preventing the hose from radiating heat into the room.  You could feel a difference at the hose vs outside the towel wrapping it.  That was a longer run than this is though, so it might be overkill here but, a bunch of little things that don't matter individually could make a difference cumulatively.

How strong is the fan for the cold air?  Is it moving a lot of air or just enough to feel it blowing?

Completely unsolicited advice coming.  I tinted the windows on my plane using the Gila static window tint and it made a massive difference in the interior comfort in the plane.  I used 5% on the back seat windows  - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007BMXGBA - and 20% on the front windows - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00062YZXU.  I didn't tint the windshield but, I did cut some extra squares of the 5% that I stick wherever the sun is coming in when I'm in flight.  About a month ago, I got some of the reflective foil as well - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BX7Q7PFT.  I've left that up in the back windows the last couple of flight and it helped keep the cabin cooler as well.  I cut pieces for the front windows and the windshield as well, I put those in on the ramp when I have to park in the sun.  If I'm going to be somewhere for more than an hour or so and have to leave the plane in the sun, I will also put the Bruce's cover on.  My personal experience is that keeping the heat out of the plane to begin with can be easier than removing it once it's there.  I think of all the things I did to help keep the plane cooler, tinting the windows was the one thing that had the most effect on it.  The static tint does distort the view slightly, kind of like looking through the heat waves that come off concrete in the summer but, it's not enough that you can't tell what you're looking at or miss things and you quickly get used to it.

[Grant_Waite]

5 hours ago, bcg said:

I see the condensate hose running into a cup, is there a condensate pump in this?  I didn't see one in the specs, I thought it was just gravity drain, I could have missed that though.  A pump would be a nice addition.  Your install looks good, are you venting the exhaust through the lower part of the bulkhead or the hat rack?  Did you insulate the exhaust hose at all?  It's not a big difference but I found that wrapping that with a towel on the bigger portables did help a little by preventing the hose from radiating heat into the room.  You could feel a difference at the hose vs outside the towel wrapping it.  That was a longer run than this is though, so it might be overkill here but, a bunch of little things that don't matter individually could make a difference cumulatively.

How strong is the fan for the cold air?  Is it moving a lot of air or just enough to feel it blowing?

Completely unsolicited advice coming.  I tinted the windows on my plane using the Gila static window tint and it made a massive difference in the interior comfort in the plane.  I used 5% on the back seat windows  - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007BMXGBA - and 20% on the front windows - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00062YZXU.  I didn't tint the windshield but, I did cut some extra squares of the 5% that I stick wherever the sun is coming in when I'm in flight.  About a month ago, I got some of the reflective foil as well - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BX7Q7PFT.  I've left that up in the back windows the last couple of flight and it helped keep the cabin cooler as well.  I cut pieces for the front windows and the windshield as well, I put those in on the ramp when I have to park in the sun.  If I'm going to be somewhere for more than an hour or so and have to leave the plane in the sun, I will also put the Bruce's cover on.  My personal experience is that keeping the heat out of the plane to begin with can be easier than removing it once it's there.  I think of all the things I did to help keep the plane cooler, tinting the windows was the one thing that had the most effect on it.  The static tint does distort the view slightly, kind of like looking through the heat waves that come off concrete in the summer but, it's not enough that you can't tell what you're looking at or miss things and you quickly get used to it.

Yes, it does have a pump for condensation. I’ve since cut a small length of 1/2 in tubing and run it into a hole I drilled in a small tuber ware container. I didn’t like how long the hose that came with it was, it never slid over the piece that comes out of back of the unit for drainage quite right. I also found the pump would stay running because the hose was too long. The water would sit in the bends and never be able to get out because the pump wasn’t strong enough to overcome gravity and the little water. This wasn’t an issue at all when I tested it at home. I had it sitting on top of the box it came in and the drainage hose running down into a bucket. The gravity and humid air made it easy for the unit to expel the water. There was however a shit ton of water still left in the unit when I removed it a day later, so be ware of that if you use this unit as intended like for camping or something else. Mind you, the unit ran straight for 24hrs without an issue so the water build up makes sense. Non of these drainage things are in issue in the plane. It just doesn’t create literally any water for the unit to expel any. Since it’s also dehumidifying the air and it’s basically on recirculate mode like a car, it makes sense. I do open the vents up when I turn it on so it can sort of get fresh air. Not sure if does anything or not. I drilled the hole as high up on my baggage wall as I could get it. I can feel the hot air coming out of the tail with the louvred inspection plates I made. I used this from Home Depot as the exhaust hose hook up. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-4-in-Dryer-Vent-Duct-to-Wall-Connector-EZCNHD/203626503 

It’s the same one @Lancecasper used. He was a big help in answering all my questions I had and what he found worked best. I used a 4in flex foil duct from Home Depot to screw into that dryer vent adapter. I cut it to the shortest possible length once everything was set up. You will need that adapter from Etsy and a 4inch hose clamp since it doesn’t fit tightly on the adapter just loosely. Without the adapter, you can’t connect any hose other than Eco flows to the unit. They have a locking mechanism which allows the hoses to be attached securely. I would compare the air flow to feel just like your household air conditioning vents. That’s if you were inch’s away from them. The unit doesn’t blow as hard as a car does, but it does blow more than enough considering the long run of 5in hose. I would like some sort of adapter to split the airflow between me and the co pilot seat. I fly alone mainly but it would be nice to have. That’s something for you to figure out with your 3d printing skills. The easing hose does get warm but I don’t think insulating the hose would help all that much. I made my hose as short as I could for that sole purpose. One think I don’t like is there isn’t a complete seal of the exhaust adapter that comes with the unit. So a bit of warm arm doesn’t go into the hose just out from the one side of the adapter. It’s almost like it could use a little rubber door sill to keep it tight. It’s so minute that it doesn’t matter. My ice chest ac couldn’t even compete so I’m very happy with the results. 

I bought some of the Gila tint and put it in my front passenger window. I don’t like the bluish hue and distortion it gives off. I would like to get a set of https://wingviewtint.com/products/mooney-plane-tint-kits?_pos=1&_sid=82e5ba593&_ss=r

They are half the price of jet shades but still a lot for tint. It’ll be well worth it though. I like the idea of them being easily removable and not being stuck like the static cling. I need to email them because I want both the back and front windows in the dark shade. They only offer the mid shade for the fronts. I agree it does help a ton with just simple tint. I also have the plane covered with one of Bruce’s covers even under the shade hangar. Your windows and interior will look years better than any other plane that isn’t. There’s a 2011 182 right in front of me and he doesn’t have anything on his plane… 

[bcg]

Yes, it does have a pump for condensation. I’ve since cut a small length of 1/2 in tubing and run it into a hole I drilled in a small tuber ware container. I didn’t like how long the hose that came with it was, it never slid over the piece that comes out of back of the unit for drainage quite right. I also found the pump would stay running because the hose was too long. The water would sit in the bends and never be able to get out because the pump wasn’t strong enough to overcome gravity and the little water. This wasn’t an issue at all when I tested it at home. I had it sitting on top of the box it came in and the drainage hose running down into a bucket. The gravity and humid air made it easy for the unit to expel the water. There was however a shit ton of water still left in the unit when I removed it a day later, so be ware of that if you use this unit as intended like for camping or something else. Mind you, the unit ran straight for 24hrs without an issue so the water build up makes sense. Non of these drainage things are in issue in the plane. It just doesn’t create literally any water for the unit to expel any. Since it’s also dehumidifying the air and it’s basically on recirculate mode like a car, it makes sense. I do open the vents up when I turn it on so it can sort of get fresh air. Not sure if does anything or not. I drilled the hole as high up on my baggage wall as I could get it. I can feel the hot air coming out of the tail with the louvred inspection plates I made. I used this from Home Depot as the exhaust hose hook up. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-4-in-Dryer-Vent-Duct-to-Wall-Connector-EZCNHD/203626503 
It’s the same one [mention=8122]Lancecasper[/mention] used. He was a big help in answering all my questions I had and what he found worked best. I used a 4in flex foil duct from Home Depot to screw into that dryer vent adapter. I cut it to the shortest possible length once everything was set up. You will need that adapter from Etsy and a 4inch hose clamp since it doesn’t fit tightly on the adapter just loosely. Without the adapter, you can’t connect any hose other than Eco flows to the unit. They have a locking mechanism which allows the hoses to be attached securely. I would compare the air flow to feel just like your household air conditioning vents. That’s if you were inch’s away from them. The unit doesn’t blow as hard as a car does, but it does blow more than enough considering the long run of 5in hose. I would like some sort of adapter to split the airflow between me and the co pilot seat. I fly alone mainly but it would be nice to have. That’s something for you to figure out with your 3d printing skills. The easing hose does get warm but I don’t think insulating the hose would help all that much. I made my hose as short as I could for that sole purpose. One think I don’t like is there isn’t a complete seal of the exhaust adapter that comes with the unit. So a bit of warm arm doesn’t go into the hose just out from the one side of the adapter. It’s almost like it could use a little rubber door sill to keep it tight. It’s so minute that it doesn’t matter. My ice chest ac couldn’t even compete so I’m very happy with the results. 
I bought some of the Gila tint and put it in my front passenger window. I don’t like the bluish hue and distortion it gives off. I would like to get a set of https://wingviewtint.com/products/mooney-plane-tint-kits?_pos=1&_sid=82e5ba593&_ss=r
They are half the price of jet shades but still a lot for tint. It’ll be well worth it though. I like the idea of them being easily removable and not being stuck like the static cling. I need to email them because I want both the back and front windows in the dark shade. They only offer the mid shade for the fronts. I agree it does help a ton with just simple tint. I also have the plane covered with one of Bruce’s covers even under the shade hangar. Your windows and interior will look years better than any other plane that isn’t. There’s a 2011 182 right in front of me and he doesn’t have anything on his plane… 

Cool, thanks for the info. The venting looks clean.

Could you stop the exhaust leakage with a little duct tape?

I'll share whatever I come up with when I do mine. I'm considering maybe adding a fan in the tube bringing the cold air to the front, I think one of the reasons the Plane AC worked so well was because it moved a lot of air, that's why I asked about the airflow. I always thought it better to move a lot of cool air than a little bit of cold air. Maybe something along these lines - https://a.co/d/e0rgzwx

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