I am relieved that some RV manufacturers have begun to install flush mounted air conditioners in an obvious effort to improve fuel economy. Kudos.

I have another solution that will work better, and replace at least one of the unsightly and fuel-wasting rooftop units.

Any air conditioner has four major components--The evaportator (cold side), the condenser (hot side), the air handling system, and the compressor. The vehicle's engine driven system already has these elements, and 3 out of the 4 of them will work just as well when the vehicle is parked and running off of 120V. All you need to add is a 120V (or 240V) compressor that operates instead of the engine-driven compressor when the vehicle is parked.

The most sensible marketing approach would be to offer the unit as a kit that would be installed by automotive air conditioning service technicians.
-- RunVentura, Oct 17 2006

[marked-for-deletion] advocacy, no invention.

Mains voltage compressors exist, and I would venture that putting them in RVs has been done. How this relates to aerodynamics isn't clear.
-- Texticle, Oct 17 2006


//[marked-for-deletion] advocacy, no invention. // This, from the "inventor" of diced bread? PLEEEEEAASE!
-- zigness, Oct 17 2006


This is actually not a bad idea... however, it's original intent may have been a bit misguided. On the typical RV, the thing has got so much disturbed air going over it while on the road, that those protruding air conditioners really don't amount to much from an energy saving point of view, and even if they did, just making them retract would be a sufficient idea.

I like using the stuff that's already in the engine. (Although, as a former RV owner, that "stuff" is probably not hefty enough to really cool a normal sized class "A" RV. -- the BTU calcs won't work out)
-- zigness, Oct 17 2006


The aerodynamics comes in in the fact that you're removing the air conditioner box that protrudes from the roof, but I doubt on a vehicle with the frontal area and shape of an RV, the removal of a relatively small box is going to make much of a difference in overall fuel economy (which I assume is the point of this idea). Just a thought, but I wonder if any energy savings could be had by running the AC from either the onboard generator that many RV's have, or a seperate, small diesel generator rather than from electricity?
-- Hunter79764, Oct 18 2006



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