Raising temperatures

When I hopped into the bus at 10:30 this morning, the temperature inside was apparently cooler than outside and it was 81F. That rose to 82 fairly quickly. I'd come out to look at the bus windows to see if there was any way to permanently affix a mosquito screen to the outside. Looking carefully at the windows from the outside, it appears not.

The aluminum strip at the top and in the middle are the upper pane which slides down. There is not border on which it is really possible to secure a screen which is a crying shame. It's just the way Carpenter designed their windows. I'm not planning on replacing windows either. If I have to then I'll fill in where windows used to be and just move existing windows to replace failed window units. I see no point in spending extra money on better windows when I don't know how long I'll want or need my motorhome. This is why I built my own rather than buying one.

By 11:00 the temperature was 82 and by 11:16 it was 86. It would be interesting to know what the full temperature range is and especially so compared to the outside temperature. I'd opened my window and set my extraction fan in operation too!

Speaking of open windows, the screen purchased from the hardware store has a slight defect. The two plastic sliders through which one side slides, protrude a good 1/8th of an inch or possibly more. The same goes for top and bottom.

This has the unfortunate effect of making a gap top and bottom through which small critters can enter. Certainly it stops the vast majority but it's the minority that causes the problem. Another issue is that I have to wedge the window tightly around the unit with a piece of my old electrical box.

The temperature continued to rise. By 11:26 it was 88F inside. As I said, I'd like to measure and track the temperature but I'm not willing to spend money on buying anything fancy enough to do it. I've already had one interesting incident (always happens with the fancy electronic stuff) whereby I bought something on eBay followed swiftly by a notification that the seller's account had been closed and that I should wait for my stuff to arrive. I knew full well after the account was closed, it would never arrive. So, a couple of months down the line I'm still chasing a refund from eBay. Given that the temperature record is of such minor significance, I'd pay eBay prices but not store prices but only if I could be reasonably sure my purchase will arrive.

I'd like to avoid AC totally. It is doable - I lived in a house for years and used no AC. For that I need to find a decent window screen that can keep all the bugs out. Adding fans would be a good touch - similar to the window unit I made some while ago. It might be possible to make this if I built the frame from aluminum. That would probably need some welding and I'm not 100% sure I can weld aluminum with a 90A AC stick welder. I see a lot of baloney online about welding in general  but don't know who speaks the truth, who lies and who just misrepresents things.

The basic idea is a frame that has mesh over it and a method of locking it in at the sides plus some way of making sure it actually stays fitted - perhaps a lightweight rubber gasket such as a piece of plastic tube glued to the top or bottom that will crush to allow me to latch the window to the closest open point. Then something that slides out one side to lock the window in place. In the center of the screen, some kind of CPU fan to keep pulling air inwards. Maybe even a couple of CPU fans. I know they make something similar that takes 120V but I don't yet know how suitable that would be for my RV.

Having said all this, being parked somewhere, an AC unit is a possibility. I looked into using the $100 window units but there's so much messing about involved with installing them that they're just not worth the effort. Instead, a portable unit sounds better. I did see one that looked good on eBay but when I got down to it, it was too expensive at $350 and was clearly a Chinese import as it used R22 (Freon). As far as I know, it's illegal to sell new AC units containing R22 and has been for 7 years. I gather further that in 5 years it'll be illegal even to refill a unit containing R22. Another eBay lemon - what a surprise!

Having said that, there are some units available in the USA. I'm becoming more a fan of buying stuff in the USA than importing it - particularly for things that I want quickly or that might need to be returned. Looking at the Walmart website there's a reconditioned AC unit for $200 that looks eminently suitable. Of course, look at Walmart's website on a Sunday and the price is $200 but look today and it's $229. Walmart tends to be like that with their prices. They go up and down in rather the manner of a whore's drawers and for presumably the same financial reason.

So, the mesh idea has merit though I'll have to look into getting more steel bar and try to improve on my welding. Fitting a couple of USB fans on the inside sounds good. I even have four spare 5.25 inch square fans. If I really wanted to go overboard, I could fit up to 10 in a single window unit. As they move approximately 130cfm then 1,350cfm would be a veritable gale. Truth be told, just about every fan seems to claim 130cfm. It seems to be totally unfounded. I suppose with fans, putting "130cfm" on it is the same as "blows air". It sounds impressive but seems to be totally meaningless - a bit like politician's promises (next to the pixie dust in the fairytale aisle of your neighborhood supermarket).

Interestingly even the AC units seem to lay claim to - you've guessed it - 130cfm. How unoriginal! I wonder how much air my O2Cool fan is supposed to be shifting on its' pair of D cells. Maybe 130cfm?

By the end of the day, the temperature inside the bus had risen at some point to 100F. It has currently dropped to 91F. Heaven knows what it was during today's solar eclipse. That was an interesting though not earth shattering experience and in fact is my third solar eclipse.