Arctic Air Conditioner

[aviatoreb]

1 minute ago, philiplane said:

I have installed six of them in various planes. I've had one in my Aztec for four years in South Florida. Also have a spare ice type cooler I lend out to visiting friends from the north.

I'm so far North I am sure I would need to borrow your ice cooler if I visited in Jan.  My grandfather used to be in Hollywood Florida and I would visit sometimes during summer break from school.  It was hot.

I would definitely install one of these AC units if I were down there.

[flyboy0681]

19 minutes ago, aviatoreb said:

I'm so far North I am sure I would need to borrow your ice cooler if I visited in Jan.  My grandfather used to be in Hollywood Florida and I would visit sometimes during summer break from school.  It was hot.

I would definitely install one of these AC units if I were down there.

I'm a few miles outside of Hollywood and would say without hesitation that I would rather swelter in the summer than freeze in the winter. But in all fairness, down here we live indoors for 6 months out of the year just as you do, except those months are reversed. I'll take 91 degrees and 60% humidity summers in favor of 82 degrees and 35% humidity during the winter months any day

[aviatoreb]

1 hour ago, flyboy0681 said:

I'm a few miles outside of Hollywood and would say without hesitation that I would rather swelter in the summer than freeze in the winter. But in all fairness, down here we live indoors for 6 months out of the year just as you do, except those months are reversed. I'll take 91 degrees and 60% humidity summers in favor of 82 degrees and 35% humidity during the winter months any day

Well we have snowbirds around here - who summer up here and winter down there - they live in 82 degrees year round.

Maybe its because my family all came from Russia during WWI and I am genetically predisposed or something.  But winter just doesn't bother me.  I XC ski almost every day throughout the winter - about an hour outside.  Its just stunningly beautiful and peaceful in the woods, quiet, quiet quiet zen, squeak squeak of the snow, sound of your own breaking and heart in your ears, maybe a little wind, all you hear.  And yes sweating even though it may be 5F.  I do tend to avoid the early morning and try to go out at lunch, if its going to be -20F in the early am.

There's an old saying - there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.

Also they say (I am one of those "they") you can always put on more cloths, but you can only take off so much cloths.

Seriously though - my grandpa had a wonderful place in Hollywood and I loved visiting him and the only thing I would change if I lived there would be to air-condition my airplane.  I bet you have a beautiful spot.

[A64Pilot]

2 hours ago, philip_g said:

And they work reasonably well? Can 7000 bti actually keep the plane cool on the ground?

Depending on things like color of aircraft, but probably not, then of course define cool.

‘However what I’m sure they can do is get the cockpit real cool siting in the hangar running off of shore power if you will, and then keep things cool enough for run up and climb to altitude, but an aircraft sting out side heat soaked? 

‘It’s going to be awhile to cool off once you get to altitude.

Most smaller auto’s are about 1 ton, SUV’s can easily go to three tons. 12,000 BTU per ton and the average house has a three ton AC unit give or take.

So 7,000 BTU isn’t a whole lot, especially if your airplane like mine has a dark topside.

Edited August 10, 2021 by A64Pilot

[dzeleski]

Slightly off topic but the static cling tint makes an absolutely massive difference. I would imagine the tint with even 7000 BTUs would make a much more comfortable environment. The ice coolers wont really work on the east coast, humidity is already too high here.

[A64Pilot]

The ice chest coolers don’t work off of evaporation, they aren’t swamp coolers. so they will work even in very high humidity.

I know I had one for doing test flights in a dark colored airplane is S Ga during Summer, it worked great, until the ice melted which didn’t take as long as I thought it would. I had one hose blowing down on me from above.

Edited August 11, 2021 by A64Pilot

[A64Pilot]

8 hours ago, philip_g said:

I understand this. That's why I'm hoping to find someone with actual experience with the unit.

I believe someone posted earlier in the thread, and I know someone here on this forum installed a vapor cycle airconditioner in their baggage compt, there is a thread on it, but I don’t know if it is the same brand name, but a BTU ought to be a BTU. I guess try searching for that thread?

[carusoam]

8 hours ago, dzeleski said:

Slightly off topic but the static cling tint makes an absolutely massive difference. I would imagine the tint with even 7000 BTUs would make a much more comfortable environment. The ice coolers wont really work on the east coast, humidity is already too high here.

Dzel,

The ice coolers, properly built, separate the ice from the air being cooled… they use a heat exchanger…The air flows through the box, but is kept separate from the ice and water…

Otherwise, the rain inside the Mooney wouldn’t have many happy customers…

If you have an icebox and don’t have a separator… it’s only a piece of plastic, easy enough to add…

 

PP thoughts only, not an AC tech…

Best regards,

-a-

[philiplane]

12 hours ago, philip_g said:

And they work reasonably well? Can 7000 btu actually keep the plane cool on the ground?

Airplanes are not the nice sealed environments that cars, or houses are. They have a high solar gain due to the large amount of window relative to the total cabin volume. And, they are made of aluminum, which is a great conductor of heat. So planes require a much higher capacity AC unit than a car or house does. 7000 is the minimum to cool a 4-6 place plane, if the unit can recirculate. Which no portable unit can do, otherwise, it wouldn't be portable and would have to be certified. Kelly makes a nice certified unit, it is $24K installed. So let's use that as the top of the line that would be most comparable to automotive AC. Ice coolers are at the bottom, although if you leave all the vents closed, you do get recirculation which increases the effective cooling.

The Arctic Air real a/c unit falls in the middle. It has none of the hassles of hauling ice, and it delivers enough output to knock a 95 degree cabin down to 78 or so degrees. It cannot get a lot colder, because of the limitations of "portability". It draws in some outside air, which is used to eject the hot air into the tail, cooling the condenser assembly. This is the primary constraint. However, the longer it runs, the cooler the cabin will be due to cold soak. You can run it on ground power in the hangar for 15 minutes to pre cool before departure. You can't do that with engine driven AC, and if you do it with ice based AC, you're eating into the duration of cooling available. You will need a 70 amp minimum alternator to get the most from it, or, better yet, one of the Plane Power ALT-FLX series 100 amp alternators. They put out 85 amps at idle. A stock 60 amp is marginal and limits the AC unit to 4000-5000 BTUs.

11,000 BTU's would be even better, and that is available in 24VDC units. I put one in a Cessna 310R, and it worked very well, although it still has the no-recirculation limitation which means you'll never be able to deep freeze everyone.

If you want ice cold AC, it's easy, but not cheap. $24K.

If you want short duration cold, it's cheap, maybe $450 or so, but not easy because you have to deal with ice every flight. Meanwhile, your passengers are frying while you're futzing loading ice into the cooler.  

If you want sufficient cooling, with minimum hassle, and happy passengers, then the $4600 Arctic Air real AC is the best value. You will need 35 amps to power it on a hot day at full capacity. You can reduce the compressor speed to limit current draw to 25 amps, and it will cut the cooling by about 30 percent. Even so, you have 65 degree air coming out of the vent, which will still cut the cabin temperature from upper 90's, to 80. Meaning you can close doors and windows and taxi out in reasonable comfort instead of sweating buckets till 3000 feet of altitude. Make that 5000 feet in South Florida summers.

We only have so many hours in the day. Yes, the real AC unit costs real money. But then you can free up your time to fly, instead of being an unpaid ice manager. And your passengers will be happy to fly with you, so you get more enjoyment out of the plane. Isn't that worth something? Comfort is the last place to be a CSOB, if you want friends and family to share your joy of flight.

Edited August 11, 2021 by philiplane

[carusoam]

Nice AC summary Philip!

Best regards,

-a-

[philip_g]

I picked up a pre-owned unused 12v Arctic air.

Running it off my car battery it can draw 31 amps. My performance was 69 degrees discharge on an 83 ambient day. I'm going to check the charge but Arctic air says that's about right for the 12v. The discharge temp across the condenser was about 93f

I haven't put it in the plane yet. I don't have high hopes.

[N201MKTurbo]

21 minutes ago, philip_g said:

I picked up a pre-owned unused 12v Arctic air.

Running it off my car battery it can draw 31 amps. My performance was 69 degrees discharge on an 83 ambient day. I'm going to check the charge but Arctic air says that's about right for the 12v. The discharge temp across the condenser was about 93f

I haven't put it in the plane yet. I don't have high hopes.

As an Arizonan, if it is 83 out side, why do you need air conditioning? That’s almost 40 degrees below OAT.

[MElstien]

On 8/10/2021 at 10:10 AM, philiplane said:

I have installed six of them in various planes. I've had one in my Aztec for four years in South Florida. Also have a spare ice type cooler I lend out to visiting friends from the north.

Hello, do you have one for sale.   Mike from Daytona Beach area