Portable AC Cooler for Cherokee?
- Thread starter CC268
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Timbeck2
Final Approach
I made one, if we ever meet up I'll show it to ya.
rtk11
Pattern Altitude
How well does it work for you? I'm thinking of making or buying one myself for the warm Fall weather in SoCal.
CC268
Final Approach
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CC268
Sweet! That would be great
Timbeck2
Final Approach
It works well but don't expect a/c like in your car. It will keep the cabin bearable in the 100+ heat. It's better than relying on the airplane vents and those suck on the ground anyway.
DIY http://www.instructables.com/id/Portable-12V-Air-Conditioner---Cheap-and-easy!/
About $75 in parts. Circulates the cold water thru a small heater core, just like the big ACs. That cools the air. Large block of ice works best because it takes longer to melt. I put a bag of ice cubes or crushed ice around the block to keep it from smashing into the pump ($25 at West Marine) and a small bottle of water to start the circulation.
Taken it from Denver to north WY in summer - works great. Of course once to you get to 2000 AGL, you can turn it off because it's cooler up here. Invaluable for run up, check list on the ground, etc.
As for the commercially available, Artic Air has numerous models (and is the most expensive), the IceBox from switchcontrol, BeCool and there's one I saw at OSH a couple years ago that's too large for the baggage area in the cherokee (it fits but I can't put anything else back there). These start at $300 and go up. Check out the Spruce online catalog.
About $75 in parts. Circulates the cold water thru a small heater core, just like the big ACs. That cools the air. Large block of ice works best because it takes longer to melt. I put a bag of ice cubes or crushed ice around the block to keep it from smashing into the pump ($25 at West Marine) and a small bottle of water to start the circulation.
Taken it from Denver to north WY in summer - works great. Of course once to you get to 2000 AGL, you can turn it off because it's cooler up here. Invaluable for run up, check list on the ground, etc.
As for the commercially available, Artic Air has numerous models (and is the most expensive), the IceBox from switchcontrol, BeCool and there's one I saw at OSH a couple years ago that's too large for the baggage area in the cherokee (it fits but I can't put anything else back there). These start at $300 and go up. Check out the Spruce online catalog.
I've rarely used mine, only comes out on the hottest days. I find the effort of making the ice the night before(use large containers like old cottage cheese/sour cream sized ones) then lugging the thing into the car, then out of the car into the plane and the reverse at the end of the flight isn't worth the couple minutes of discomfort between startup and takeoff most of the time.
I base out of KLBX south of Houston and use mine for Angel Flights and when I'm with my wife from mid-June through around mid-September. Without it it's pretty uncomfortable sitting in the plane while getting a clearance, loading a flight plan, etc. I've had it take 15 minutes from cranking the engine until take-off out of KHOU in Houston and that's a long time when the outside air temp and humidity is in the mid-90's. The ice AC system helps a lot.
The outside air temps dont get below 70 until you're over 5000' and the Houston controllers tend to keep you down around 3000 until you're north of IAH when crossing south to north across Houston. The wings on the Cardinal RG sit far enough back that you have great visibility but it also results in a real green-house effect. Without the system running you're going to be sweating for 30- to 45-minutes flying out of KLBX from the time you crank the engine until you get up to the cooler air during the summer. It was 87 at 9 PM last night and in the mid-80's when I woke up today so leaving early or late doesn't help a lot.
My system needs a 1 1/2- to 2-gallons of water to pump reliably without cavitation. I keep water jugs in the fridge in the hanger so we start with cool water when flying from home. With 30 lbs. of cubes it will stay cool as long as we need it on take off but the ice has generally melted by the time we get to the other end of the trip. We usually fly to someplace cooler so that's OK.
I've started using gallon tubs to make blocks of ice in the refrigerator's freezer in the hanger. With room temperature water from the store, 20 lbs. of cubes, and 4 of those blocks, I still had blocks of ice 8 hours after take off when we flew to Naples, FL a couple of weeks ago. I can't always find blocks in stores when I travel but the goal now is to get one bag of cubes to cool things quickly and then one or more blocks to keep things cold for the entire trip. Worst case many if the FBO's in the south have ice-machines and will refill your system when you stop for fuel if you ask.
We start the cool air going as soon as we get everything loaded into the baggage compartment and find it will drop the cabin temp by 10- to 15-degrees in the time it takes to finish prepping the plane. In general the air out of the systems duct runs around 20 degrees cooler than the ambient air in the cabin with the pump running and ice in the water. I'm told that you can extend the time the ice will last by just running the fan but the fan alone doesn't help a lot here. We keep the water pump and fan going until we get up to 5000' and then shut everything off until we get to about the same point when we're landing.
It really helps a lot and as a result we do more summertime trips than we did before we got the system. It's 60- to 70-lbs. of added weight and takes time to set up and break down again so I frequently don't use it when I fly by myself. However, I will fly with less fuel if needed to be able to use the system and carry multiple passengers when I take someone with me. It's makes for a much nicer trip and comfort is key whenever I have passengers.
Gary
The outside air temps dont get below 70 until you're over 5000' and the Houston controllers tend to keep you down around 3000 until you're north of IAH when crossing south to north across Houston. The wings on the Cardinal RG sit far enough back that you have great visibility but it also results in a real green-house effect. Without the system running you're going to be sweating for 30- to 45-minutes flying out of KLBX from the time you crank the engine until you get up to the cooler air during the summer. It was 87 at 9 PM last night and in the mid-80's when I woke up today so leaving early or late doesn't help a lot.
My system needs a 1 1/2- to 2-gallons of water to pump reliably without cavitation. I keep water jugs in the fridge in the hanger so we start with cool water when flying from home. With 30 lbs. of cubes it will stay cool as long as we need it on take off but the ice has generally melted by the time we get to the other end of the trip. We usually fly to someplace cooler so that's OK.
I've started using gallon tubs to make blocks of ice in the refrigerator's freezer in the hanger. With room temperature water from the store, 20 lbs. of cubes, and 4 of those blocks, I still had blocks of ice 8 hours after take off when we flew to Naples, FL a couple of weeks ago. I can't always find blocks in stores when I travel but the goal now is to get one bag of cubes to cool things quickly and then one or more blocks to keep things cold for the entire trip. Worst case many if the FBO's in the south have ice-machines and will refill your system when you stop for fuel if you ask.
We start the cool air going as soon as we get everything loaded into the baggage compartment and find it will drop the cabin temp by 10- to 15-degrees in the time it takes to finish prepping the plane. In general the air out of the systems duct runs around 20 degrees cooler than the ambient air in the cabin with the pump running and ice in the water. I'm told that you can extend the time the ice will last by just running the fan but the fan alone doesn't help a lot here. We keep the water pump and fan going until we get up to 5000' and then shut everything off until we get to about the same point when we're landing.
It really helps a lot and as a result we do more summertime trips than we did before we got the system. It's 60- to 70-lbs. of added weight and takes time to set up and break down again so I frequently don't use it when I fly by myself. However, I will fly with less fuel if needed to be able to use the system and carry multiple passengers when I take someone with me. It's makes for a much nicer trip and comfort is key whenever I have passengers.
Gary
CC268
Final Approach
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CC268
Is your a home made system as well?
MD11Pilot
Line Up and Wait
B-Cool system in my Bonanza works pretty well but only last about 2 hours.
Add window tinting and you will be pretty good.
Add window tinting and you will be pretty good.
Thumper
Pre-takeoff checklist
B-Cool for about 3 years. Makes a HUGE difference. I have a refrigerator/freezer in the hangar, so always have ice ready to go. Makes taxi and climb out so much better.
callmesven
Pre-Flight
Our DIY cooler works great in spite of all the advice I was given in this older thread:
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/how-to-add-air-conditioning-to-your-plane-for-less-than-100-bucks.47640/#post-852665
We've switched to using frozen salt water. It lasts much longer than fresh water. Use 1/4 C salt to a gallon of water.
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/how-to-add-air-conditioning-to-your-plane-for-less-than-100-bucks.47640/#post-852665
We've switched to using frozen salt water. It lasts much longer than fresh water. Use 1/4 C salt to a gallon of water.
ActiveAir
Pre-takeoff checklist
I have an Artic Air. Got it for frequent flights in the summer from SoCal to AZ. Use it plugged into a battery jump/charger pack while loading the plane and ground ops. Makes a big difference. AA has provided great customer service when I had a problem, once. It is a little extra work, but worth it my opinion (and my wife's). It cools our Comanche cabin down nicely. I also use a block of ice (gallon jug in the freezer between flights) and ice cubes.