factory A/C and Aftermarket A/C

[AQUALAUGE]

Hello all,

I will be removing the factory A/C (large compressor etc. in the rear curbside compartment) and all of the related equip. My intention is to go with rooftop airs. Also, there is a new aftermarket A/C unit using a smaller automotive size compressor mounted on the engine that I have considered removing or relocating to the front of the bus if possible. The blower and coil is currently mounted next to the restroom on the upper rear cap area for that one.

My question is; Is removing these A/C's a good idea and/or any problems associated with in doing so? Also, how many rooftop airs are recommended on a 45' bus? Any and all input is much appreciated.

Thanks much,

Billy

[beltguy]

Billy, most of us remove the factory air. Because of the age of the components and the large amount of freon material, they are very costly to maintain.

The automotive type compressor on the engine is not factory stock that I know of. I would be very tempted to plumb that system to an evaporator in the dash area. If you can find a large enough evaporator, you can probably cool the front of the bus without any additional AC (running the generator). We do that with the exception of very hot days when driving west in the afternoon.

If the bus is well insulated, you should be do fine with three roof airs. The entertainer buses with large number of roof airs is partly because of heat load from lots of people and their digital type equipment and also to have redundant AC in case one unit fails.

Jim

[AQUALAUGE]

Thanks much Jim, that's good information. Interesting about the amount of roof A/C's, that makes sense. We just have an empty shell right now, have read pros and cons of both blown in and panel type insulation so undecided which is best to go with there.

[rusty]

I am in the process of insulation as we speak. I am using the spray in foam. I just had the floor done and am putting in the floor panels.I will fur out the walls using a 1x2 to get 2 1/4 worth of insulation. When we foamed the floor I talked to the installer about the walls. We decided we will spray a lite coat of foam and let it cool and then spray an other coat. The reason for this is the foam is about 130 degrees when sprayed. That is enough heat to distort the siding. We are hoping the lite coat will insulate the siding from the heat. Also make sure that everything is calked well if the foam finds a crack it will get in there and expand forcing the siding out. I have talked to Eric about this and we talked about cooling the siding with water while foaming to keep it cool. My installer is worried about thermal shock if it is to cool. I will report back to you in a couple of weeks.

Wayne

[AQUALAUGE]

Thank you Wayne,

That is great information. I have been following your build closely as well as the others. My background is welding and engineering so truly appreciate the work and fabrication you've done on the new project.

Billy

[rusty]

Billy, I spray foamed the walls on the 15 the other day. It went very well. We first sprayed a thin coat on and let it cool. ( about 3/4 of an inch ) then sprayed the rest of the 2 1/4 inches. No movement at all. You could barely feel an heat through the aluminum. I did notice a little more heat through the roof panels that are .065 thick than through the wall panels that are .125 thick. It might cause more problems if the side walls are .065. There was no problem on the roof panels because they are curved and will hold there shape. I don't know what happened on the flat parts of the roof as I have covered that area with .125 so I could walk around with out worrying about caving things in.

Hope this helps
Wayne