Quote:
Originally Posted by 86Scotty
Your unit is made for a mobile application and should be better of course.
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86Scotty,
Yes, it is made for mobile applications or more importantly being used that way. The manufacturer's rep said a year ago that they were very popular and selling out 2000 per month.
I posted some more pictures of what it looks like inside. The first thing of importance for durability is that it is relatively light. Amazon lists it as 56 lbs. Secondly, a 10K lbs vehicle is not going to transmit that much shock and vibration into the roof.
In my case, although the roof is supported by a steel 1"x2" steel structure, it is still a (interior) foam-covered fiberglass roof. The tires and suspension will absorb most road inputs. That said, we can assess how well it is designed for a mobile application.
In the pictures, you can see that the compressor is rubber-mounted (laterally). I suspect this is to avoid the shock of a vertically mounted cushion that compresses and puts the full shock through the rubber mount ( this is the main problem with rubber mounts). The chromed steel compressor mounting plate is cantilevered to avoid hard side-to-side lateral shocks. Beyond some near-imperceptible electronic noise, the compressor is silent. It is nothing like the typical "box of rocks" window a/c units.
The manual indicates the compressor is capable of continuous operation. If there was not the rubber portions of the coolant connections, I would be more worried about work hardening and cracks in the hard fittings and less about the compressor. There could be latent factory (infant mortality )defects in the compressor, but that is why I'm trying to put some hours on the unit while in warranty.
The base of the unit consists of two parts. The rear is like a 14 ga steel and it is crewed to a stiff plastic base that makes up the majority of the front portion. There is about 1/2"-3/4" of dense foam covering the whole bottom but there is supposed to be a gasket that surrounds the perimeter of whatever through hole the vehicle roof has. The unit is pulled down onto the roof with mounting brackets that straddle the hole from beneath. So this could hardly be called a hard mount. Adding more foam (and not over-torquing) would give more compliance to avoid transmitting shock to the unit.
One thing of particular concern is the relatively fragile styrene insulating cover for the evaporator and blower motor. I pulled the electronic fan off yesterday because it was making a little premature noise. So I think I will try and do an EPOXY fiberglass layup on that Styrene cover with a couple of layers of 2 for 3 oz cloth. On mine, the corner of the cover broke off already, but it is easily epoxied together. This is probably from shipping although I could have done it with my handling. I have worked with fiberglass quiet a bit in my windsurfing years, so I think I can probably do this without making a huge mess.
FOR ANYONE NOT FAMILIAR,
if you use POLYESTER RESIN it will melt the Styrine or worse. Only use an EPOXY resin for the layup on Styrine FOAM.
As far as that fan, I ended up trying to pull the fan blade off the motor by losing the main nut that holds the blade to the motor. I backed it off about 1/6 of a turn and it seemed to reduce the preload on the bearing and the noise stopped. The noise was not bad, but given the motor was brand new it was probably only going to get worse. If the unit is going to sit outside for an extended time, I would suggest getting a cover to avoid the sun beating down on that fan.
The primary refrigerant flow is made of stiff components that are connected by rubber hoses. So any relative motion will be accommodated in the hose flex.
I did notice some wire chafe protection getting put to the test. So there is a need to better secure the wiring (e.g. zip ties)to avoid cutting though wire insulation.
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