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Originally Posted by Larryjb
The side AC is never going to cool as well as rooftop AC. [If] your current AC unit is a window mount type (they have outside air vents on the sides), this will also work against you. You want a through wall style AC unit. It's my understanding that makes a big difference.
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Larry - you have described the biggest problem with window-type AC units in this application.
It is important to understand that an air-conditioner not only pulls heat out of the room, but also generates a lot of its own heat as part of its operation. It has to get rid of all this heat somewhere, somehow. It does it by using it to heat up a "working fluid", circulating that hot fluid through a radiator similar to a car radiator, then sucking in warm outside air, blowing it across that radiator, and pushing that extra-hot air back outside. Meanwhile, indoor air is blown across a second radiator, where the cooling takes place, and blown back indoors. These two air streams - outdoor air heated and blown back outdoors, and indoor air cooled and blown back indoors, must be kept strictly separate. If they are allowed to mix, the overall cooling effect is reduced.
Back when the Forum was new, one of our members described his efforts to form some sheet metal panels that would keep the two streams separate. Because the entire air conditioner was inside the camper, he had to figure out where the super-hot air flowed, and make sure that all of it was exhausted outside and kept separate from the indoor air stream. It was a pain to form the sheet metal structure and fit it behind the air conditioner body, but he reported that it made quite a difference. I've looked for his post, but I think it disappeared when the forum was rebuilt in 2004 or so.
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I believe some people have taped off the side vents, but I don't know what effect that could have on the cooling capabilities or longevity of the AC unit.
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Not quite right, but the right idea.
Bill