Ok gang it got hot this week! Like stupid hot. The hot where the sweat drips everywhere and all you did was breathe. It was like a sauna in my Roadtrek. Not comfortable or manageable. I had to do something. Since I could not finish the paint on top because the weather was too humid or raining hot water down us I decided to figure out how to change the air conditioner in the house portion of my van. For that, you know I had to call Tom.
We watched a couple of videos and discussed a strategy. We decided on a window unit with a remote control. I will get into why that decision was made in a few minutes.
Taking the top off the unit at the back and taking a look at how it is put in there and wired. In the videos the Roadtreks had a power outlet in the cupboard above the back seat beside the air conditioning unit, mine did not. We had to figure out how we were going to get power to the a/c unit.
The unit that was in the van, a 13000 BTU Duotherm was a large unit that took up most of the space. I did not think I really needed 13000 btu to keep me cool. Not to mention the more BTU’s the more expensive. We need to be cost effective as well as cool effective. The unit I was buying was much smaller. We would need filler to keep it stable.
Off to Home Depot to search for supplies. I decided on and LG 6000 BTU air conditioner with a remote control. This would save us from trying to figure out how to wire the new unit into the control panel. I can do all the functions with the remote. For filler we used 1″ rigid insulated styrofoam, which was purple so I knew we had the right stuff. We would cut these pieces to size to use for filling around the air-conditioner.
Pulling the old unit out was almost the hardest part. It was darn heavy!
We were ready to install. One more issue. How are we going to power it? Tom got a regular power plug box and using the wires that powered the existing unit, mounted it to the side of the a/c compartment. This tied it into the 110V power I would need to run the unit.
Once that was done the new unit was put in place.
We used the purple styrofoam to pack around it and it was ready to power up. Remember the importance of the remote? The opening in the house portion is not big enough to fit the front of the A/C unit. When I took the front off there is a fiberglass wall with a small opening. In the videos we watched, they cut that opening to size. I really did not want to do that. If I got a unit with a remote I did not have to cut it to size. Since the remote makes it so I do not have to touch the unit to make it work.
All ready to go we plugged in the power, hit the power button on the remote and Ahhhh! What a beautiful feeling. Just an FYI. This is the first home I have ever had that has air conditioning. Now since I do not have a generator I have to be plugged in to use it but when it is so hot that I am sweating because I made a coffee I will find a plug! Lol!
Hopefully soon the weather will improve and I can finish the paint and decorations on the outside. When she is all done I will do a video tour on all the changes I have made in the last few weeks. In the meantime I will make a coffee, write a blog in the comfort of my air-conditioned home.
Next week I am headed to Tweed Ontario in my 69 Econoline to play with my friends! Off on a Chipmunk Adventure in my cottage van! Hahaha!
Thanks for coming along on my Chipmunk Adventure!
See you next week!
🐿
When’s the new book?
Hahaha! It’s started!