Santiago has been working on a way to use a standard window style room air conditioner to cool his ProMaster van conversion. The design he has worked out is aesthetically pleasing and efficient. His installation mounts the AC unit fully within the van (nothing sticks out), and brings the outside air that is required to cool the condenser coil on the window AC unit up through openings in the floor — so there is no large air grill on the side of the van. A booster fan is used to insure that the condenser flow is not reduced by the extra ducting.
Santiago has done some prototyping of this scheme and measured the performance of the prototype. The pdf below shows the design and provides the measured performance data. I’m sure that Santiago will provide information on the actual installation as he completes it.
Window AC testing report 15 August 2018 ver 2
There is more information on the approach of using a window AC unit in a van conversion on this page…
Thanks very much to Stantiago for providing this design and testing material!
Gary
The new “U” designed ac’s from Midea are incredibly efficient (15.0 SEER). My 8000BTU unit draws just under 600 watts when it’s running the compressor hard. It’s also an inverter compressor, so it varies speed and doesn’t mind a lower voltage. I run a couple on an off grid solar to help with the electricity bill here in So. California. Almost as good as a mini-split.
Just a quick question, and probably I’m wrong – but isn’t this similar to what many do with a monoblock A/C if they add two hoses to the outside?
Hi Greg,
Have not heard from Santiago for a while and don’t have a way to contact him with your question.
It does look like a well engineered solution to me.
Please let us know how it works out if you try it.
Gary
Thanks so much. Have you installed it in the van and post results? Noticed that there is about a 23w increase in watts from AC and with a fan. Do you think a bigger fan would decrease that 23w?