> Roy Lashway installed a
>Cool Cat, in his Bubble, and says it is a little noisy. Maybe he will
>comment further. My roof mounted Penquin, is about the best you can
>buy, and even it is a little noisy. The bottom line is that if you can
>install the AC inside under a bed or couch or cabinet, it makes for a
>far superior arrangement than any roof model.
-----------
The Cool Cat is a heat pump and both cools and heats. I installed it for
many of reasons outlined by Scott in his message. It is a bit noisy but
not any more so then the old armstrong a/c on my '78 Argosy. It requires
a 20"x22" outside vent opening and a similar floor space on inside. It's
biggest short coming is that it only has one fan speed. A second,
slower fan speed, would cut down fan noise. Cool Cat is a Duo-Therm
product made by Dometic. They may have a two stage fan by now. It is
rated at 12,000 BTU. Specs. can be seen at Dometic's WEB site.
Knowing what I know now and if doing it again I would try installing a
standard window air unit in the same floor position. The only concern I
might have is if a household window unit, floor mounted, could stand up
to the trailer vibrations. However some damping mounting methods could
be developed. I would also investigate a rear window installation of a
household type unit. I recently saw a 17' Navy fiberglass trailer from a
Florida naval base, which had a small air unit mounted neatly thru the
rear window. I looked about the size of a 6000 btu I once used at home.
It was quite small, about 14"x 20" but a brand I never heard of and
cannot remember. I ask the user how it worked and they said it did a
fine job. What I noted was that the exterior portion of the unit on
stuck out about 3". I never seen the inside of the unit but suspect the
bulk of the unit extended into the interior of the trailer. It made a
neat exterior appearance but don't know how it impacted on the inside.
Lay had a bed at rear of unit so may not have effected interior usage.
I orginally selected the Cool Cat for its airconditioning capacity and
its size and floor mounting capability to fit into the interior plan I
was building in our 16' Bubble. It has been built for campers and small
trailers. I first say them in Tent Campers. You can a pic of the Cool
Cat in Camping World catalog.
There is a Japanese and an Italian floor model air units out which are
some what portable and vent with 5" hose that can be easy installed.
These units were narrow but all and designed to adapt to closet spaces.
I lost the WEB sites but one of the Units was called DeLongi. They were
very pricey. One of the vintage owners, maybe Forest Bone, installed one
in a Bambi, in a closet position. Apparently worked fine from what was
reported. Understand he sold the trailer to a Japanese customer. Both
of these units were around $800 as listed on web site a year ago.
Roy Lashway
