The louvers on the side of the unit are covered by the sides of the seat
pedestal.

I came up with two ideas for getting cooler outside air to the front of the
condenser.

The first was to cut a hole in the top of the AC unit in front of the
condenser and run a dryer duct inside the exhaust duct. This hose would run
out the window and hang near the ground.

The second was to cut a hole in the side of the seat pedestal next to the
wall and expose the louvers on that side. Then I would cut a hole in the
fresh air duct behind the front door (which on my camper isn't functional),
seal the inside of the fresh air duct just above the hole in the door jamb
and create an air plenum between the side of the pedestal and the interior
panel of the van. That way the AC unit would pull air through the door jamb
opening to the front of the condenser. Or better yet, install a gasket on
the door jamb opening and pull the air from the front vent.

The hose for the drip pan will be routed out of the pedestal, to the fresh
air duct and to the ground through the panel drain hole.

Thanks for your input.

Tim Hannink
Winter Park, Florida
Goldibox - 1987 Vanagon Camper, Wolfsburg Edition
http://home.earthlink.net/~tjhannink/

-----Original Message-----
From:   David Beierl [SMTP:dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET]
Sent:   Friday, March 29, 2002 9:50 PM
To:     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject:        Re: Air conditioner for camping

At 07:41 PM 3/29/2002, Tim Hannink wrote:
>My latest project is installing a window air conditioner that can be used
>while parked in a campground. It is now installed under my jumpseat as
>shown in the following photos:

If this is to work (and I think it's iffy at best) you will need to provide
separate ducting for the inlet and exhaust portions of the condenser air
stream.  Also the inlet is usuall through louvers in the sides of the unit,
looks like they may be obstructed by the seat.

It won't work to just take inlet air from the van -- the exhaust stream is
much bigger than the cold-air stream and you'll simply be sucking hot air
into the bus much faster than you can cool it.

david

--
David Beierl - Providence, RI
  http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
'85 GL "Poor Relation"