Best portable air conditioner for the truck?

It cools really quickly since it's a small area, even on a hot day. It's not like sizing for a house where you can fall near the border of two square footage ratings, or maybe one day you'll get an add-on or something to increase the square footage of your truck. These units also don't really seem to cycle on and off. I'm not 100% sure on how it works, but I believe it works similar to a dimmer switch in that it adjusts the level of cooling gradually off and on rather than cycling off/on. So I really don't believe there will be much difference between them. I've got a Volvo 780 that it keeps cool from the ceiling to the floor, from the driver seat to the bunk. So it's slightly more expensive for a 12000 BTU in cost to operate and up front price, but I don't believe it will offer any benefit performance wise. I don't see how mine could work any better.

I'm also not sure about if the 5 year warranty would apply when installed on a vehicle. I never bothered to check, since my problems from the first one were due to holes in the line and coils from rubbing, not a failure in the product. It is important that you route and secure the lines from touching anything, and also prevent the outdoor unit from rocking back and forth with a ratchet strap. Too tight will cause the fan to rub, though. It's kind of similar to torque for the flare fittings, not too tight, but not too loose.

 

Curious as to what size genset you run. I have a 2200 watt generac inverter generator. 2200 surge 2000 continuous. Those inverter gensets are a wonderful invention. Super quiet and good on gas.

 

That’s good info on the warranty. I chose the generac because it was middle of the road price wise between HF and Honda. I used it all last summer and it did great. I was nervous about HF only lasting a year or two, but with the way the warranty works that takes care of that.

 

I paid $1200 for this one. Barely used. There were none available from the factory when I bought it a few months ago. I will install after I get a toolbox and modify to my liking. Getting a new engine in a few weeks and I want this installed the same week. It will be nice to keep idle hours down from the get go.

 

I was going to install an Espar as well so I didn’t have to run the generator at all, but I’ll be using it for the block heater so may as well just use the $30 space heater. Cold starts are cool on YouTube but I hate them on my truck LOL.

 

Any chance of seeing some pictures of your install? How you mounted the unit our side? Do you cover it? Generator install, in a box ? Exhaust?
Thanks.

 

I've got a Champion open style inverter 3500 I think. I'll grab some pictures a bit later, I've been in a dead zone for cell service and wifi.

 

Here are some photos. The strap around the indoor unit is to help with vibration noise, not to support the unit or anything. It's mounted on a piece of plywood and it's pretty secure. I've got the pipes running down the inside and under the bunk, and the hole is cut down low. If water did happen to get in, it would be under the bench rather than in the living area. The install would be a lot easier if it went directly out where the indoor unit goes, and it would be easier to get flush without the pipes running perpendicular behind the unit. My indoor unit used to be at the sleeper side window, so that's why the hole was made down low. My partner stitched a cover for the outdoor unit, but lately I haven't been using it. I fabricated an extender out of conduit so the air lines wouldn't rub the outdoor unit. Phillips makes a product that does the same thing(called X-Tend I believe), or you could use a pogo stick or whatever on the catwalk. The generator runs into heat issues during the summer since it's confined, so I use a fan to get circulation down there. It would probably be better if their positions were reversed.