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  #1  
Unread 04-01-20, 06:25 PM
edasmus edasmus is offline
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Free Arctic Air A/C....

I have an Arctic Air portable A/C that I purchased in Oshkosh 10+ years ago that has been taking up space in my closet for years. I have put maybe 30 hours on it. It probably works but it has been years since I've used it. It is for a 24 VOLT electrical system like our C337's.

Anyone want it? Free to anyone who is willing to pay the shipping charges.

Let me know....

Ed
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  #2  
Unread 04-01-20, 08:06 PM
edasmus edasmus is offline
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Looks like I have a taker. If this changes, I'll let you know otherwise consider it donated.

Thanks,
Ed
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  #3  
Unread 04-12-20, 02:48 PM
wslade2 wslade2 is offline
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just curious about what your thoughts are on it's performance. Did it work well?
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  #4  
Unread 04-12-20, 06:30 PM
frank.oconnor19 frank.oconnor19 is offline
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I will take pictures, but I built one from a cooler, an auto fan and a step down transformer, to go from 28v to 12v DC. I designed it to work with Frozen bottles of Water to minimize the moisture in the cockpit. Works well, not great, but until you get to altitude, give some relief to the passengers.
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  #5  
Unread 04-13-20, 02:38 PM
edasmus edasmus is offline
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My experience overall was pretty good. Like everything in aviation, there is always compromises.

Best performance was with good old fashion ice. Stuffed it as full as possible leaving the necessary 2 inches or so of water on the bottom of the cooler to keep the intake submerged. This would yield 45 to 60 minutes of nice cool air. My typical profile was to turn on immediately after engine start and leave it going until gaining enough altitude that cool air was coming in the vents. Depending on how hot it is, taxi times, and so forth, 20 to 30 minutes would be used for take-off and climb.

I would leave it off for duration of cruise and then turn it on when necessary as air warmed during descent. Usually there would be enough cool air available to get me down and to the ramp but not always. Keep in mind that during cruise, ice is still melting in that cooler so there might not be much left after a 3 or 4 hour cruise phase of flight.

I did experiment with using frozen blue gel ice packs (maybe 20 of them stuffed in the cooler) but this did not work as well. The system needs cold water to work. The closer to freezing the better. Water circulating and returned to the cooler has been warmed so the cool air simply would not last very long as the ice packs cannot cool the water back down quick enough.

Using ice, you end up with a much noticed cooler cabin in a C337. It would blow lots of air. This is all good.

The downside is the prep, loading, and unloading. Obviously it needs to be filled 20 to 30 pounds or more of ice and add that to the weight of the unit and you are now lugging a 35 to 40-ish pound cooler likely to the back of the plane in hot weather and now you are already sweating bullets. When you are done, it must be unloaded and drained and now you are sweating more bullets.

So hope this helps. You do get limited cool air but you gotta work for it. Simply your call about whether it is worth it or not.
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  #6  
Unread 04-14-20, 12:32 PM
kbecker kbecker is offline
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My experience is similar to Edasmus. I use mine in Southern California in the summers. I had a similar unit many years ago that came with ice molds and a rack they fit on. What I have found works the best is to purchase silicone bread loaf molds from the dollar store. Freeze water in them and make ice loafs. These last much longer than cubed ice. Obviously it is a matter of ice surface area (for cooling) vs. longevity. The ice loafs are a good compromise and after purchasing them for about a dollar a piece, the ice is essentially free after that. Purchasing 40 lbs of ice cubes can run between $6-$10 depending on where you buy them. An ice block (if you can find them) works well too.

I recently had a leak in mine and found that the hoses to the radiator beneath the fan were just slipped on—no hose clamps. 5 minutes and $0.50 hose clamps later it’s rock solid with no leaking.
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