Maxine -
I can't address the adequacy of the side air conditioner - never had one. But ...
If it is going to be really hot out, it is critically important to get your TM under some shade. The sun can pour heat into a closed space like a TM far faster than a relatively small air conditioner can remove it. Trees, of course, provide great shade - but seem to be in short supply in the southwest.
Out in the desert southwest especially, I have seen people erect a false roof over a mobile home - basically a sun shade about a foot off the roof, with open sides to let the heat out. I suppose you could do the same thing with a TM, making the "roof" out of a tarp on some aluminum poles. Even if you just shade the south and west sides of the TM, it should help considerably. You would have to take it down when it gets windy, of course.
In my home in Scottsdale, AZ, I erected a cloth-and-plastic-pipe sunshade over the outdoor unit of the whole-house air conditioner. The compressor unit works much less hard, now.
Bill
|