Mary: there was a long discussion about batteries and generators a while back, and Roger Hightower said: Bill, that Honda 3000 runs the air conditioner with no problem. The largest load appears when the a/c cuts in, but then it drops to a more reasonable level. You can hear the Honda surge a bit on a/c startup, but it's still quiet. The unit is extremely quiet. You can have a normal conversation while standing next to the Honda when it's running. 15 feet away, it's just noticeable. With the trailer between, you have to listen to know it's running. I'm completely satisfied with it. BTW, the Honda units have a 12VDC charge outlet for charging batteries. There is an inexpensive cable accessory for direct connection to the batteries, and can be used while the generator is providing AC to the trailer. Very convenient. Roger -- Someone else said the Honda 3KW weighs 150 pounds or so but I don't know the dimensions or whether you could run it from where it sits in your tow vehicle. There was general consensus the Hondas were pretty quiet for generators although the 3KW is rated at 50-58 db so it's not unnoticeable. Jim Dunmyer had another kind of unit that he liked also. A swamp cooler is basically like running a fan through wet cloth, on a larger scale. They're also called evaporative coolers. They produce a pleasant coolness, not that refrigerator-feeling air you get in supermarkets, but they won't lower the abient temperature by much, basically just take the edge off. It's my understanding they are more energy efficient than other coolers because they're less to run (basically a big fan) but they're also less cooling efficient. Also to accommodate the evaporative mechanism they tend to be kinda big, and noisy. Some folks here have talked about having one sticking out a window for when they're parked. They can also be roof-mounted but I doubt you'd leave it up there when driving. My folks use one on the roof to cool their house in Bakersfield in the summer (most summer days are over 100; over 110 is not uncommon); with judicious use of leaving windows & doors open during the night & in the morning to capture cool air, then closing & shading them, plus large trees shading the roof, not cooking during the day and not being vigorously active in the afternoon, and dressing lightly, they get by pretty well. Most of their effort has to do with minimizing heat production; the swamp cooler is just the capper, they run it for a couple of hours in the afternoon. If you have to park yourself on asphalt directly under the blazing sun, why would you WANT to be there? Something I'm intrigued with lately is an air-source heat pump: run it backwards in summer, forward in winter. It moves heat from one place to another, like a refrigerator: take heat from one place and put it in another, depending on whether what you want is heat or the absence of heat. They work pretty well in moderate-climate winters (40s with occasional 30s) but not in snow country (for that you need pipes buried in the ground). They are supposed to be quite energy efficient also for heating, which is a useful trait. Don't know if anyone knows of their being used in trailers, or how efficient they are as a cooling mechanism. --Sarah Mary K Welch wrote: > This brings up an interesting question, as I too am going to be using my > future A/S in many boondocking situations, most likely in the heat of > summer, possibly on asphalt, occasionally. > > How, in these situations, do you keep from roasting alive, without shore > power? The obvious answer is a good size generator, but where do you put > the darn thing? My tow vehicle is a conversion van. It's a diesel, so it's > got plenty of power to carry heavy stuff, but there's not a lot of room for > a big, dirty monster. Not to mention the problem I'd have, being not the > biggest person, lugging a 4000 to 5000 watt generator in and out of my truck > (I would need a personal chiropractor - OUCH). > > I've heard the term "swamp cooler". What are those? Are they energy > efficient? Are they a viable alternative to an energy hog roof air > conditioner? > > Thanks, > Mary > To unsubscribe or to change to a daily Digest, please go to http://www.airstream.net/vaclist/listoffice.html If replying back to this message, please delete all the unnecessary original text from your reply.
