Hi everyone.
I'm the other half of this partnership. I'm pretty happy with the outcome of this fixing project.
Here's the text of my letter to Caravan World. Maybe they will publish it.
My wife and I have been very happily living in our 2007 Jayco Stirling van fulltime now for years. We work the tourist season in the NT and roam in the southern summer. A lot of our travel and off grid camping is therefore in the very hot weather. Unfortunately our new generator wouldn't run the air-con despite it being well within specifications to do so. On hot nights we were forced into caravan parks.
An electrician friend suggested installing a soft start unit to control the start up current draw. The air-conditioner manufacturer wasn't much help, didn't supply soft starts and stated that the air-conditioning was only meant for 240v mains supply. Yet we saw many campers running their cooling on a generator.
Finally this month after a bit of online searching I found a company which supplies soft starters. Hyper Engineering. They supply a product called 'Sure-start 6'. I contacted them. A very helpful team. I gave them the specs of my air-conditioning unit and they supplied me the right part. It comes with an excellent install sheet. ( If in doubt get an electrician to install it.) The result after a cost of 150 dollars is that we can now efficiently run our air-con from our 3000 watt generator with plenty of power to spare. A useful outcome as we are about to set of from the NT on our summer holidays and the temperatures are in the high 30s.
Cheers Kevin
The Other Ferg on the Move
Note from Sue
Actually he salvaged this second hand soft start off one of the old air-conditioners in the "to be repaired pile" here at the Homestead. It is too "big" for our little unit so he got busy on the internet to find one for us. Ordered, shipped and arrived inside a week.... a miracle for the postal service here. Installed and working in half a day.... pretty normal for Mr Fix It.
Oh to have a Mr Fixit in my life! I am convinced that the best thing parents can do for their male babies is have them taught a host of practical skills before they get them taught (or at the same time) the other academic skills. I come from a family of Mr Fixits, my father and brothers, who did EVERYTHING for me in the fixit line, and how I miss them now.
ReplyDeleteBoth Grandpas, and both Dads were pretty handy weren't they. So hard to have to find someone to do things I'm sure.
DeleteGiven how knowledgeable K and you are with fixing and thriving in a caravan you should (as a professional educator) seriously think of putting together workshops for want-to-be caravanners. People would happily pay good money to attend a well constructed and engaging course or seminar on this. You could also do an accompanying podcast, youtube series, book and or phone app.
ReplyDeleteGreat expectations Phil. Maybe we will start by talking to friends first.
DeleteThank you for sharing your story about fixing the air conditioner in your van to run on a generator. I am sure it took considerable time and effort to get that working properly. Especially on hot summer nights, sleeping without working air conditioning can be a real pain. Glad to see that things are up and running again for you.
ReplyDeleteHi Melinda. Nice to hear from you. Nearly 12 months after I posted the air-conditioning is also running for us in the cold weather where we are free camped currently. When it is really freezing we can fire up the generator. It handles the aircon as a heater as well. The Sure start unit is very reliable.
DeletePractical skills and general knowledge are helpful. Learning a host of these is important. It is amazing how you effortlessly you identified the real problem to your air-conditioning system. The Internet on the other hand comes with plenty of information but it takes some knowledge to determine what will apply and what will not. Good job for fixing your air-conditioning unit.
ReplyDeleteMr Fix It is truly gifted in the problem solving of mechanics and electrical things. Thanks for you comment
DeleteWhat a great cooling and installation article! I really enjoyed hearing about the couple in the van! It must have been awful living in a van in that kind of heat. I am glad that, with their research, they were able to get this great fix and were so happy about it. This is such a great and positive article!
ReplyDeleteThankyou for your comment Tommy. The Sure Start is still functioning well 10 months later. It I helping us stay warm with the air-conditioning running on heat. We are currently parked in the Southern Highlands. It was -4 degrees Celsius last night!
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