Anyone use Artic Air portable air conditioning

jd21476

jd21476

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jd21476
With temperatures rising in the Southwest I am thinking about how to stay cool. I saw the Artic Air A/C system and I am curious of real world results.
Or, any other options?
 
jd21476 said:
With temperatures rising in the Southwest I am thinking about how to stay cool. I saw the Artic Air A/C system and I am curious of real world results.
Or, any other options?
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I did mine in segments. I wired the plane for it while in avionics and everything was taken apart. Haven’t been able to spend the remaining $4k on the unit.

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What do you mean you wired for it? It is supposed to plug in to a 12v plug like a cigarette lighter.
 
I have the Icebox one made/marketed for flying. It works ok but is kind of a hassle with loading the ice, water, draining it etc. I dont think I used it last summer just decided I would rather sweat it out than deal with it.. LOL
 
FlyingMonkey said:
I have the Icebox one made/marketed for flying. It works ok but is kind of a hassle with loading the ice, water, draining it etc. I dont think I used it last summer just decided I would rather sweat it out than deal with it.. LOL
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I sweat more loading it up than it saves me in flight. I’m too lazy. My buddy really hates to sweat, so he won’t fly without it. It does work well for short bursts while at lower altitude.
 
There was a bit of a fad for the icebox version a number of years ago. I think many if not most users came to similar conclusions to what's posted above -- it's hard to make the the ends justify the means. In exchange for a slightly cooler cabin for 20 minutes or so, you have a lot of work to do - load up the icebox with ice, wedge it into the baggage area, fit your bags around it, then remove and drain the icebox on the other end.

I figured I was a good candidate for one because I was based in Central Florida at the time and would routinely got hot and sweaty any time I operated my aircraft. So I borrowed an Arctic Air unit from a friend for a few flights.

I knew before I concluded the second flight that this wasn't for me -- it really worked against me from a timeline and baggage perspective alone, and the plane was only noticably cooler for about 20 minutes. Stopping on the way to get ice was a hassle too, not to mention draining it at the end.

My kids are teenagers now so I don't have the room for one in my baggage area anymore even if I wanted to.

The actual A/C units are interesting but I'm curious about load on the electrical system and of course weight increase. I still run generators on my Twin Comanche which would make this a no-go for ground operations anyway.

Now that I live in Jersey it's not as hot anymore so I just deal with it.
 
Another idea, get a little wall A/C unit, pipe it into the storm window with a flexible ducting tube, and "pre-cool" the cabin. For awhile my plane was based on a ramp which offered this as a concierge-style service. It was really nice to get into an ice-cold airplane. We were starting to get hot before we got cleared for takeoff, but it was still a lot better than nothing. I paid the guy $20 to do it each time. If your hangar electrical can handle it, might be an option to set it up and put it on a switchbox.
 
jd21476 said:
With temperatures rising in the Southwest I am thinking about how to stay cool. I saw the Artic Air A/C system and I am curious of real world results.
Or, any other options?
Click to expand...
WAIT! Your from San Diego where the weather is perfect and your talking about rising temps??? It was 106 here in Tucson yesterday. Wanna trade? :cool:
 
Im in east county and fly up to the desert towards death valley alot. Its supposed to be 109 here today
 
I was thinking about getting one of these for rentals I use. Seems like they really don't work well - I'll have to stick to taking cold drinks and just take the heat as it comes.

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I use the B-Kool and really don't find it a problem. I pick up a bag of ice on the way (or ask the FBO for a bag), the box stays in the baggage area all summer, and I bought a longer hose from the BigBox garden center so it reaches from the baggage area to the front seats. I pump the water out of the box into a container to use to clean off the bugs off the leading edges. Definitely worth it when I'm sitting at the hold line for 15-20 min.
 
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I have a B-Kool unit, and it works pretty well. Similar in principle, and a bit cheaper than the Arctic Air.

- Martin
 
Martin Pauly said:
No. My understanding is dry ice is made of carbon dioxide, and you wouldn't want to fill your cabin with that in flight.

- Martin
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And as a bonus would create fog inside your airplane on a humid day! Martin - how long does the cooling last? Previous posts indicate at most 20 minutes.
 
WDD said:
Martin - how long does the cooling last? Previous posts indicate at most 20 minutes.
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That sounds about right - 20 to 30 minutes, I would say, which is enough to keep things cool on one departure and one arrival (turned off at altitude in cruise), but I haven't found one load of ice sufficient for two flights. It will, however, keep a beverage cool for your arrival! :)

- Martin
 
Martin Pauly said:
No. My understanding is dry ice is made of carbon dioxide, and you wouldn't want to fill your cabin with that in flight.

- Martin
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For some reason I thought the mechanism didn't mix the ambient air and the air inside the cooler. I thought it was an air-to-water intercooler which just blew ambient air across a radiator to cool it.
 
I have a b-cool unit for the 182. I load it up while plane in hangar usually. It’s not too much of a bother to set up now that I have a system. The key to those working well and lasting long is BLOCK ICE!!! That really makes it last longer Fortunately there is a place kinda on the way to the field that sells block ice even after hours through a coin op dispenser. Takes the edge off when on tarmac and takeoff. I don’t use at altitude. But with block ice there will be cool air on the other side of the trip.
 
benyflyguy said:
I have a b-cool unit for the 182. I load it up while plane in hangar usually. It’s not too much of a bother to set up now that I have a system. The key to those working well and lasting long is BLOCK ICE!!! That really makes it last longer Fortunately there is a place kinda on the way to the field that sells block ice even after hours through a coin op dispenser. Takes the edge off when on tarmac and takeoff. I don’t use at altitude. But with block ice there will be cool air on the other side of the trip.
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True. I freeze 6x6” blocks in plastic food containers and they last longer than cubes.
 
SoonerAviator said:
For some reason I thought the mechanism didn't mix the ambient air and the air inside the cooler. I thought it was an air-to-water intercooler which just blew ambient air across a radiator to cool it.
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I could be wrong. I thought It blew the warm cabin air over the ice. Either way the cooler isn’t air tight and would leak co2.
 
I got one of the earlier arctic airs used. I lugged it to Oshkosh to use in the tent if it got too hot but never bothered to turn it on.
 
WDD said:
I could be wrong. I thought It blew the warm cabin air over the ice. Either way the cooler isn’t air tight and would leak co2.
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The better ones have a heat exchanger (my homebrew version is a Subaru heater core) that circulates water that's cooled in ice. The ice cools the water, the water cools the heat exchanger and the heat exchanger cools the air. The advantage of that is that it takes moisture out of the air like an AC unit. I share the concern on dry ice being a CO2 issue.
 
WDD said:
I could be wrong. I thought It blew the warm cabin air over the ice. Either way the cooler isn’t air tight and would leak co2.
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All the ones I’ve seen pump water through an exchanger and the air blows through the exchanger. Which would not work with dry ice.
 
Salty said:
All the ones I’ve seen pump water through an exchanger and the air blows through the exchanger. Which would not work with dry ice.
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Well you'd have to have something other than water in the pump circulation since dry ice would freeze the water in the lines.
 
Spike the water with antifreeze. Heck - while we’re at it, go big or go home. Liquid Nitrogen anyone ?
 
Salty said:
True. I freeze 6x6” blocks in plastic food containers and they last longer than cubes.
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I got a B-Cool for Christmas but have not used it yet. Blocks seem like a logical way to go. Curious how many of the 6x6 blocks do you use at one time? Do you just load the cooler with them at home, then take the whole thing to the airport?
 
I have the B-Kool Unit also. It works pretty well and isn’t a hassle. I use those reusable freezer packs in plastic or gel packs and they do a nice job without adding to the water load of melting ice that you have to dump out.
 
Barry said:
I got a B-Cool for Christmas but have not used it yet. Blocks seem like a logical way to go. Curious how many of the 6x6 blocks do you use at one time? Do you just load the cooler with them at home, then take the whole thing to the airport?
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I'm lucky. I have a full sized freezer about 10 feet from the plane.
 
I considered buying a freezer to keep in the hangar where I could keep the cool gel packs...heck I guess I could keep the whole cooler with gel packs in there so all I would need to do is add water and throw it in the back and plug it in...it would certainly make it a little more convenient. On the plus side maybe I can lose some weight in the sauna cockpit in the summer. LOL
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
I thought you guys had “dry heat”, so no sweating? ;-)
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We have very dry heat here ... just start practicing for it on March by sticking your head in the oven;)

retpd2001 said:
WAIT! Your from San Diego where the weather is perfect and your talking about rising temps??? It was 106 here in Tucson yesterday. Wanna trade? :cool:
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Whew! I got a shiver thinking of those frigid temps:eek::confused::)

Zeldman said:
It is a dry heat, but still hot enough to burst into flames. But they are dry flames....
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:p;)
 
FlyingMonkey said:
I considered buying a freezer to keep in the hangar where I could keep the cool gel packs...heck I guess I could keep the whole cooler with gel packs in there so all I would need to do is add water and throw it in the back and plug it in...it would certainly make it a little more convenient.
Click to expand...

I just take the freezer gel packs from my home and put them in a small cooler (lunch size) and then bring that to the hangar. Once there, I put the B-Kool in the plane, add the ice packs, pour a couple of bottles of water in, and I'm "good to go." Plus taking those gel packs home is a lot more convenient and I can just freeze them at home.
 
So on a toasty summer day in high 90s - how high do you have to go to get some relief from heat?
 
WDD said:
So on a toasty summer day in high 90s - how high do you have to go to get some relief from heat?
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Depends on the temperature lapse rate at the time. A subject a pilot should be at least mildly familiar with.
 
Yes yes - 3.5 F for every 1000 ft.

Just asking from those with real world expletive what you normally fly up to to make it tolerable on a hot summer day.
 
WDD said:
Yes yes - 3.5 F for every 1000 ft.

Just asking from those with real world expletive what you normally fly up to to make it tolerable on a hot summer day.
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In Florida it’s pretty easy because there is almost always enough humidity for cumulus clouds. At or above the cloud level is where you can usually feel a big difference.
 
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