Go ahead and laugh. I'm cool!

[UncleTim]

Okay, I'll admit it. Curiosity got the better of me and I laid down the money to get an IcyBreeze cooler / air conditioner. Yes I did! $469.93.

This is actually a fairly impressive machine. It carries a lifetime, fully transferable warranty that requires only the presence of the machine to activate. Nice. The components seems to be high quality. Made in America. I bought the 10 amp battery, their biggest one.

So the first thing I did was give it the old acid test. I closed up all the windows and turned off the fans and let the trailer get up to 93° with 27% humidity. Full Sun beating down on it and taking the temperature of the slanted wall in the sleeper compartment, the temp was 103° at it's worst, near the moonroof. After 4 pm the temp went down to about 90° outside. The trailer was very hot and getting hotter. Full Sun.

I put about 20 lbs of ice in a very warm cooler, added three quarts of water and tested out the fan and the heat exchanger. This unit does not increase the humidity as it cools the air. As you know this is a deal killer if this does not work.

The first hour I powered it by using my Prymax 500WH portable power supply. The fan alone takes 21 watts on low, 28 watts on medium and 30 watts on high. When you turn on the heat exchanger it consumes 37 watts (and ice). After about 10 minutes, I put it in full blast cooling mode and high fan and switched the power source to the trailer! Then I pointed it at the dinette and sat down in that heat and drank a beer. I got to get something out of this test.

After 30 minutes the temp inside the trailer dropped to 90.5°. The IcyBreeze exhaust was pointed directly at me. I liked it and it kept me cool enough to stay inside the trailer with all the windows shut. Then the ice ran out.

So I went back to the ice store and bought 40 lbs. I filled up the cooler and drained a bunch of water off. Less water means colder water to circulate.

The temp started to go down more when I decided to open the windows to judge the effect of incoming air. The temp went right back up to 93°. So I sealed it up again, turned on the MaxxFan and a smaller one I have and had another beer.

Again I got the temp down to 90.5° in about 30 minutes. Two hours later it was down to 86.1°. The Sun was still beating on it. The later in the day I tested, the easier it was for the IcyBreeze to cool down the trailer. I would cool it off even more if I gave it more time.

My estimation is; it worked. I could stay in the trailer the whole time. I wish it was a little cooler but it did work. The humidity bounced a percent or two but never really got higher than 28%, except in short bursts. Probably from me. The trailer powered it while recovering from 81% back to 100% in about 30 minutes of low level sunlight. It can power this thing all day long (380 watts of solar charging).

Next test.
The following morning at around 8 am, the temp was already 77° inside the trailer. I plugged in the cooler to the trailer and only turned the fan on high. No condenser. I used the ice from last night. I did not add more. Just using the fan does not evaporate as much ice.

After 30 minutes the temp inside was down to 75°.

At 9 am the temp outside was 81° and inside it was still down to 76.6. I turned the fan to high and the heat exchanger on. The trailer walls were about 78°. Today is suppose to get to about 93°.

Here is the progression thru the day.
9:15; 75.9°
9:30; 75.3°
9:45; 75.3
10:00; 77.1° Ice change. 40 lbs.
10:15; 78.8° Vents were closed! 84° outside
10:30; 76.5 86° outside
10:45; 76.8
11:00; 77.7 88° outside
11:15; 79
11:30 80.1
11:45; 80.6 88° outside, 101.7 max ceiling temp by moonroof
Noon; 81.6 102.7 max ceiling temp by moonroof
12:50; 84.3 90° outside4 104.9 max ceiling temp by moonroof
2:00; 86.0 93° outside4 104.9 max ceiling temp by moonroof
2:20; 87.6° 91° outside. Ice change 20 lbs.
2:30; 86.6 70 db highest setting
2:45; 85.6
3:00; 85.2 90° outside
3:15; 84.7
4:00; 82.7

So there is a place in my equipment for this cooler. Mind you I have an impressive list. This test was with horrible conditions. Hot, direct Sun, no wind, in the corner of my driveway. No respite. As the Sun marched across the sky, it baked that trailer as bad as it gets! Power was fine. Humidity increase did not happen. db level was between 60 and 70 db.

Here is one more big thing. We had a nice, cool breeze the whole time. It was very nice and it made a very big difference even with the temp in the mid to high 80's. It totally cooled the dinette. It eats ice like crazy so you need to have 20 to 40 lbs for a big difference. Plus I drained out a lot of cold water cause I wanted to run this thing at maximum coolness. You could maximize efficiency in less than blow torch hot days by managing water better.

Why is this important? This was done away from conventional 30 amp service in worst case conditions. This is a feature I greatly desire when boondocking, which is common for us. I am about to start another trip with minimal power the entire way and my air conditioner refuses to start.

I also hate the conventional air conditioner because it is so loud! Way too loud for me. The decibel level of the IcyBreeze was never even half of the air conditioner. I would measure the db level of mine except it presently will not start. Am I repeating myself?

Is the IcyBreeze a perfect system? No! Not at all. But it's the only backup system I have. And if you add shade and less severe temperatures, it works even better. I only did full Sun, high heat tests. Plus it holds beer, wine and water (carbonated, I like bubbles).

It's coming with us to Michigan so we will give it a working test. It's gonna see lots of beach conditions and full Sun. If it doesn't work, I will hear about it. For sure. But for camping away from power, this is an option. And the breeze is totally understated.

I can send it back. Am I going to do that? No! I'm keeping it.

Does anyone know a really great, honest Dometic air conditioner repairman? Here or there, I got wheels.

-Tim, out.