Solo Stove Windchill 47

[885EW]

Anyone have experience with one of these in their long body Mooney? Need to take some measurements; not even sure if it would fit in the baggage of a long body/getting it out with a bunch of water weight post flight may be a pain. Buddy of mine uses it in his Cirrus and swears by it. Wondering if any of our Mooney drivers have given it a go or looked into it?

https://www.solostove.com/en-us/hlp/solo-stove-windchill-cooler-collection

[NickG]

I have their Pizza oven, and even though it won't fit in the back of my Ovation, it works well in my back yard......

[885EW]

30 minutes ago, NickG said:

I have their Pizza oven, and even though it won't fit in the back of my Ovation, it works well in my back yard......

Would definitely take in flight meal service to a whole new level......

[NickG]

2 minutes ago, 885EW said:

Would definitely take in flight meal service to a whole new level......

My arms arent long enough to reach the oven in the cargo area to turn the pizza.... I'm not Stretch Armstrong!

[Bolter]

Compare to the dimensions of B Kool or other aviation oriented portable AC.  I know those will fit into a Mooney. 

They are also designed to pump the water out and overboard by a hose, because lifting the full cooler of water out the hatch is close to impossible as you have no good angle.  You ask about getting the cooler into the airplane, but also think about getting it out when it is full of water.  

One big difference from the B Kool's and the like, is that there appears to be a genuine refrigeration cycle in it instead of just ice based cooling.  This seems to me that it will be undersized for a cockpit, or over demanding on power.  The battery life is vague as 3+ hours of misting and air conditioning... what about full tilt

I thought Cirrus had AC built-in?  

[Rick Junkin]

It won't fit through the baggage door so you'd have to load it in from the front and probably make it work in the back seat. The web site lists the weight at 42.4 pounds, and I have to assume that's empty weight. Add ice and water and the weight becomes more than I could manage without a lot of effort.

It would work great in a Cirrus with its larger baggage door that would allow you to slide it straight in to the baggage compartment.

[EricJ]

1 hour ago, Bolter said:

Compare to the dimensions of B Kool or other aviation oriented portable AC.  I know those will fit into a Mooney. 

They are also designed to pump the water out and overboard by a hose, because lifting the full cooler of water out the hatch is close to impossible as you have no good angle.  You ask about getting the cooler into the airplane, but also think about getting it out when it is full of water.  

I put my B-Kool in the back seat and run the seatbelt through the handle.   It's pretty easy to get in and out that way.

1 hour ago, Bolter said:

One big difference from the B Kool's and the like, is that there appears to be a genuine refrigeration cycle in it instead of just ice based cooling.  This seems to me that it will be undersized for a cockpit, or over demanding on power.  The battery life is vague as 3+ hours of misting and air conditioning... what about full tilt 

With a vapor-cycle machine you need to know how and where it is shedding the heat.    A self-contained unit is always going to be suspicious this way.   Plus the power consumption concerns that you mentioned always makes them a marginal consideration.

[885EW]

Thanks all for the input. Ended up going with a bKool. Looking forward to trying it out and hoping it maintains some decent temps on the ground and at low altitude until fall weather approaches. 

Edited August 7 by 885EW

[cliffy]

Don't they turn into 50 pound+ missiles on the back of your head when the plane comes to a sudden stop?

[Fritz1]

rear seat belt can hold B-cool, I have dual batteries, run B-cool on #1, start airplane on #2, pre-cool airplane in hangar battery minder plugged in, top off ice to the brim, pull out airplane with B-cool running, jump into cool airplane, B-cool will run about 45 min when really topped, it helps to fill bottom with large ice blocks from plastic food containers, increases mass, top off with ice from FBO ice machine, not perfect but refrigeration system costs 100x more and is typically permanently installed so it has to be carried around in winter

[varlajo]

On 7/22/2025 at 10:29 AM, Bolter said:

They are also designed to pump the water out and overboard by a hose, because lifting the full cooler of water out the hatch is close to impossible as you have no good angle.  You ask about getting the cooler into the airplane, but also think about getting it out when it is full of water.  

https://www.amazon.com/Imagitarium-Aquatic-Gravel-Vacuum-X-Large/dp/B013GLT5LY?th=1

[hypertech]

On 8/18/2025 at 3:15 PM, Fritz1 said:

rear seat belt can hold B-cool, I have dual batteries, run B-cool on #1, start airplane on #2, pre-cool airplane in hangar battery minder plugged in, top off ice to the brim, pull out airplane with B-cool running, jump into cool airplane, B-cool will run about 45 min when really topped, it helps to fill bottom with large ice blocks from plastic food containers, increases mass, top off with ice from FBO ice machine, not perfect but refrigeration system costs 100x more and is typically permanently installed so it has to be carried around in winter

Can jump start batteries can run them for a couple hours - at least as long as the ice lasts.  No need to tax the ship's electrical system.

On 8/18/2025 at 4:16 PM, varlajo said:

https://www.amazon.com/Imagitarium-Aquatic-Gravel-Vacuum-X-Large/dp/B013GLT5LY?th=1

No need for this.  The bKool has a tube in it.  If you put the unit in the baggage area, you can just put the tube out the door, turn it on, and it drains itself.

[Fritz1]

B-Cool draws about 5A at 12V, running for 1h this drains a small car battery, 5A comes out of the aircraft electrical system easily once the engine is running unless you are running all the lights, all pumps and the pitot heat on top of it

[hypertech]

The 12V receptacle in my plane is placarded 5A max and gets uncomfortably warm at that load.  The battery pack removes the issue and makes one less cord slung through the cabin.  It also charges phones and ipads in the back seat and was less than $100.  

[wombat]

On 7/22/2025 at 11:44 AM, EricJ said:

With a vapor-cycle machine you need to know how and where it is shedding the heat.    A self-contained unit is always going to be suspicious this way.   Plus the power consumption concerns that you mentioned always makes them a marginal consideration.

I'm agreeing with you here, but adding more emphasis.

It's not just 'suspicious', it's an outright falsehood.   You can't 'generate' or 'create' cold using energy the way you can make heat.  All you can do is concentrate heat somewhere else.   There is no way to provide power to something in an enclosed environment and have it cool the whole environment.  You either move heat to somewhere else, or you generate heat.

[Greg_D]

It's probably overkill, but I started using one of these with my arctic air cooler.  It will run the unit for about 6 hours, which is a LOT longer than the ice will last!

[A64Pilot]

Be careful with Lithium battery packs unless they are LifePO4.

If you must get a LIPO pack, be sure it has “good” batteries, I forget what they are now but they come in three grades I believe and you want one that’s CE or UL rated, in other words cheap Chinese packs are known to catch fire, good ones much less likely and LifePO4 AKA Lithium Iron etc is very difficult to make burn, Earth-X and many others are LifePO4.

To emphasize the post above, there is no such thing as “cold” there is only the absence of heat. It’s like light, you can make a flashlight, but you can’t make anything that projects darkness as darkness doesn’t exist, it’s the absence of light.

Ice absorbs heat in the phase change of melting, a vapor cycle air conditioner absorbs heat in the phase change of the liquid refrigerant evaporating, but that heat it absorbed has to be released in order for the cycle to continue, if the heat isn’t dumped outside you will actually heat up the space your trying to cool. Why your house AC is blowing hot air outside, and your refrigerator is heating up the kitchen as it just dumps it removed from inside the fridge into the kitchen.

Edited August 27 by A64Pilot

[MikeOH]

2 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

but you can’t make anything that projects darkness as darkness doesn’t exist, it’s the absence of light.

Hmm, the FAA comes pretty close