Air conditioning?

[Yves]

Anybody know anything about buying, fitting and running
air-conditioning on a narrowboat?

The hottest days this summer have just been too warm for me!

There's only so much open windows and fans can do to relieve the
misery, and it's not always possible to find a mooring in the shade.

With anticipated thanks

Yves

[alanwhitewick]

Post by Yves
Anybody know anything about buying, fitting and running
air-conditioning on a narrowboat?
The hottest days this summer have just been too warm for me!
There's only so much open windows and fans can do to relieve the
misery, and it's not always possible to find a mooring in the shade.
With anticipated thanks
Yves

Now come on, its not a misery to be on the canal
No nothing about air conditioning(although it must use some fuel of some
kind) but there is quite a lot
of interesting stuff posted around the
14th on 'keeping boats cool'
Regards
Alan
PS Soon need to light the fire

[R D Gravy]

Post by Yves
Anybody know anything about buying, fitting and running
air-conditioning on a narrowboat?
The hottest days this summer have just been too warm for me!
There's only so much open windows and fans can do to relieve the
misery, and it's not always possible to find a mooring in the shade.
With anticipated thanks
Yves

Air conditioning is expensive to install and run,the power required is
more than batteries can handle for any period of time,air conditioning
pumps are very greedy.

[Phil R]

Post by R D Gravy

Post by Yves
Anybody know anything about buying, fitting and running
air-conditioning on a narrowboat?
The hottest days this summer have just been too warm for me!
There's only so much open windows and fans can do to relieve the
misery, and it's not always possible to find a mooring in the shade.
With anticipated thanks
Yves

Air conditioning is expensive to install and run,the power required is
more than batteries can handle for any period of time,air

conditioning

Post by R D Gravy
pumps are very greedy.

And how many days of the year in the British climate would air con
be used? If the heat really gets unbearable I would have thought it
would be cheaper to book a cheap flight to somewhere like Iceland
for a few days :-). Or better still get in a stock of cool drinks and
r....e....l....a....x.............

To bring everything into perspective I have just been chatting to
friends who are going to Greece in a few days time where the
temperature will be approx 40 degrees C. They are looking
forward to the heat!

The trouble with us Brits, when we are at home, is we whinge
when it is too hot; too cold; too wet; too dry; too windy........
............................................

Let's just enjoy our varied weather. Surely we don't want
to get like some of the Americans who set their air con at
such a temperature that they have to wear pullovers when
they go indoors?

Phil

[John38]

Post by Phil R
To bring everything into perspective I have just been chatting to
friends who are going to Greece in a few days time where the
temperature will be approx 40 degrees C. They are looking
forward to the heat!
The trouble with us Brits, when we are at home, is we whinge
when it is too hot; too cold; too wet; too dry; too windy........
............................................

This subject came up with some american friends who wonder why we moan
when the temp gets up. They experience temps in the 40s C every summer.
When I mention the humidity and the fact that there is no aircon
basically anywhere, their jaws dropped...

Personally, I really like the heat, but the humidity often accompanying
it is something else. This year has been unusual in that the air type
has been very dry a lot of the time, so if you sweat, it dries off and
cools you immediately. If/when I get a boat, I think getting a small
aircon unit, even if it's only fit to cool one room (particularly the
bedroom) would be a worthwhile investment.

[Pete C]

Post by John38
Personally, I really like the heat, but the humidity often accompanying
it is something else. This year has been unusual in that the air type
has been very dry a lot of the time, so if you sweat, it dries off and
cools you immediately. If/when I get a boat, I think getting a small
aircon unit, even if it's only fit to cool one room (particularly the
bedroom) would be a worthwhile investment.

I find with a boat it cools off very nicely at night.

Most of the heatwave type weather we get comes with fairly low
humidity, 45-50%

When it is more humdid the temperature is usually cooler, so a fan
should work quite well.

cheers,
Pete.

[Martin]

Post by Pete C

Post by John38
Personally, I really like the heat, but the humidity often accompanying
it is something else. This year has been unusual in that the air type
has been very dry a lot of the time, so if you sweat, it dries off and
cools you immediately. If/when I get a boat, I think getting a small
aircon unit, even if it's only fit to cool one room (particularly the
bedroom) would be a worthwhile investment.

I find with a boat it cools off very nicely at night.
Most of the heatwave type weather we get comes with fairly low
humidity, 45-50%
When it is more humdid the temperature is usually cooler, so a fan
should work quite well.

Using a wind scoop forces air through the boat without using any
energy.

A complex one
http://www.bestmarineimports.com/Scoops.html

or make a simple one like these
Loading Image...

http://www.setsail.com/c_central/techtalk/ventilation.html

[Pete C]

Post by R D Gravy
Air conditioning is expensive to install and run,the power required is
more than batteries can handle for any period of time,air conditioning
pumps are very greedy.

Made an evaporative cooler earlier this year which worked very well:

<http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.d-i-y/browse_frm/thread/1fe126a20a12d30c/359b87e02d5b292f?lnk=st&q=%22pete+c%22+evaporative+cooler&rnum=1&hl=en#359b87e02d5b292f>

Would use a lot less power than AC, and could be run off an inverter
or even solar panel.

cheers,
Pete.

[Ron Jones]

Post by R D Gravy

Post by Yves
Anybody know anything about buying, fitting and running
air-conditioning on a narrowboat?
The hottest days this summer have just been too warm for me!
There's only so much open windows and fans can do to relieve the
misery, and it's not always possible to find a mooring in the shade.
With anticipated thanks
Yves

Air conditioning is expensive to install and run,the power required is
more than batteries can handle for any period of time,air conditioning
pumps are very greedy.

A simple "Single Unit Air Conditioning unit" will use about 1kW of power (4A
240V; ~ 100A 12V thru inverter?) while running and remove about 2 - 3kW of
heat - but you will need to have a hole somewhere to put the exhaust hose
directing out the hot air.
http://www.delonghi.co.uk/product_page.php?id=4&key=Air%20Conditioners

[Pete C]

Post by Yves
Anybody know anything about buying, fitting and running
air-conditioning on a narrowboat?
The hottest days this summer have just been too warm for me!
There's only so much open windows and fans can do to relieve the
misery, and it's not always possible to find a mooring in the shade.
With anticipated thanks
Yves

Hi,

If mooring in the sun is a problem due to dark roof etc, try buying a
long length of white material and cover the roof with it.

A job lot of magnets off ebay would be a good way of fixing it down.

cheers,
Pete.

[Brian J Goggin]

Post by Yves
Anybody know anything about buying, fitting and running
air-conditioning on a narrowboat?
The hottest days this summer have just been too warm for me!
There's only so much open windows and fans can do to relieve the
misery, and it's not always possible to find a mooring in the shade.

Get some towels and blankets. Make them very wet (ample supplies of
water in your nearby canal). Drape them over the boat, the windows,
the doors. Let evaporation do the cooling.

bjg

[Martin]

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 23:09:41 +0100, Brian J Goggin

Post by Brian J Goggin

Post by Yves
Anybody know anything about buying, fitting and running
air-conditioning on a narrowboat?
The hottest days this summer have just been too warm for me!
There's only so much open windows and fans can do to relieve the
misery, and it's not always possible to find a mooring in the shade.

Get some towels and blankets. Make them very wet (ample supplies of
water in your nearby canal).

There is more than sufficient falling out of the sky at the moment.

[Peter Mounsey]

Post by Yves
Anybody know anything about buying, fitting and running
air-conditioning on a narrowboat?
The hottest days this summer have just been too warm for me!
There's only so much open windows and fans can do to relieve the
misery, and it's not always possible to find a mooring in the shade.
With anticipated thanks
Yves

Most suitable would be a cooling unit as fitted to mid sized vans. You can
pick them up for next to nothing from a breakers and they are often a single
unit so there's no need to remove and reinstall the refrigerant. They run
from 12v and take quite a bit of power (10 - 20 A). You would have to roof
mount it and they are about 8" high so no good if you cruise the low
bridges!

Pete.

[Julian]

Post by Yves
Anybody know anything about buying, fitting and running
air-conditioning on a narrowboat?
The hottest days this summer have just been too warm for me!
There's only so much open windows and fans can do to relieve the
misery, and it's not always possible to find a mooring in the shade.
With anticipated thanks

Cant believe so many negative comments on aircon.
I have an Electrolux Blizzard unit mounted on the roof its run for an hour
or so a day about the time I get back from work. Uses 900w so that's approx
40Ah at 24v which is way less that the tumble dryer!
Cools the living accommodation down to a decent temp in that time. The
really nice thing is that during the recent hot spell I was the only one in
my office NOT complaining about the temp at night and the only one that was
getting a decent nights sleep.


J

[Adrian Stott]

Post by Yves
Anybody know anything about buying, fitting and running
air-conditioning on a narrowboat?

I wonder if there is an opportunity for poor man's aircon on boats.

What if you use a small DC pump to circulate cool(ish) cut/river water
through a car radiator on board, and use a small fan to blow the warm
inside air through the radiator core? You would also need some way of
disposing of the condensate that would collected on the radiator.
However, this whole thing sounds simple and inexpensive.

Would it have enough of an effect to be worthwhile?

Adrian

Adrian Stott
***@spam.co.uk
07956-299966

[Martin]

Post by Adrian Stott

Post by Yves
Anybody know anything about buying, fitting and running
air-conditioning on a narrowboat?

I wonder if there is an opportunity for poor man's aircon on boats.
What if you use a small DC pump to circulate cool(ish) cut/river water
through a car radiator on board, and use a small fan to blow the warm
inside air through the radiator core? You would also need some way of
disposing of the condensate that would collected on the radiator.
However, this whole thing sounds simple and inexpensive.
Would it have enough of an effect to be worthwhile?

At the moment the water temperature is higher than the air
temperature.

[Trevor George]

Adrian Stott wrote in message ...

Post by Adrian Stott
I wonder if there is an opportunity for poor man's aircon on boats.

I reckon there is ..... One very hot day (after a previous very hot day) I extracted
my 'spare' bilge-pump from its locker, dumped it in the water and from time-to-time
"watered the roof" and sides on my Narrowboat, as one would 'water the garden' which
cooled it quite quickly. (too hot to touch with hand originally).

I figured a length of perforated pipe along the middle of the roof with water
spraying out each side would do the job, coming on for say a minute at 15-minute
intervals, but I'd need a bigger Bilge-pump for it to be effective along a such long
length.

Maybe next year :~)

--
Cheers ..... Trevor George, Bristol, UK.
Narrowboat 'Willow' - http://www.OnMyBoat.co.uk
Home - http://www.PoolesWharf.com