Cooling Your Tiny House
March 13, 2009 · Print This Article
Last week we looked at four ways to heat your tiny house and the question was brought up as to what is the best way to cool a tiny house in a hot climate. I thought we would look at a few options available to the tiny house builder to keep your home cool.
Jay Shafer lives in a very mild climate in Northern California and he uses just a small fan for cooling in his loft at night on those warm days. However, if you live where you have extreme hot weather you will need more than a fan!
I did some research and found a couple of small or smaller air conditioning units that I thought would work in a tiny house. The first one is Koldfront 8,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner available at Compact Appliances for around $296 plus S/H. This is an ultra compact portable air conditioner that delivers a frigid blast of cold air and fits in almost any space. This compact portable air conditioner is capable of cooling up to a 225 square foot room. I am afraid that to them ultra compact means Height: 24 3/4″, Width: 19 1/4″ and Depth: 13 1/4″ so this will eat up a corner in your Epu or Fencl. Still I think it would be worth looking into if you have a place to store it during the off season. A few of the features are a 24 hour timer, compact design, self evaporative system, energy saving design, built in dehumidifier and environmentally friendly.
You can get the full details at Compact Appliances.
The next unit I found was the Frigidaire FAA055P7A Mini Compact Window Air Conditioner. This unit is designed to cool rooms of up to 165 square feet. It is a 5300 BTU cooling unit with a 24 hour timer, 8-way directional control, energy efficient, and is EnergyStar certified. It also has an Electrostatic air filtration w/ ionizer, Low Voltage Compensation (LVC) technology ensures proper operation of the unit when voltage fluctuates. It is quite small with dimensions of 14”D x 12.5”H x 18.5”W. With a very reachable price of $126. You can learn more about it at Beach Audio.
The KoolerAire is a unique cooler and very affordable, but requires a more manual form of operation. It appears to be a fan designed for your icebox which creates cool air from the ice in the ice box. It would probably be best used in a climate where air conditioning is needed infrequently.
Here are a few details. KoolerAire’s unique design makes it the most portable air conditioner on the market today. Because KoolerAire does not have the restraints of a water supply hose you can
take it anywhere you would a standard KoolerAire or Igloo cooler!
KoolerAire fits securely within the top portion of your cooler, trapping the cold air inside. Once the unit is turned on, the powerful 100 cfm, brush-less fan draws hot air in through the large opening directly into and through the ice. The air is instantly cooled to about 50 degrees before being released through the smaller vent. At $40 you might just want to check it out here at the KoolerAire website.
The next step down is the basic fan and here is an example from Compact Appliances: a unique design with a small footprint. You could do something similar to the KoolerAire above with your own ice and fan design or just use the fan and park your home near a good shade tree, another way to keep your home cool.
Hopefully this has given you a few ideas on what to look for in a cooling system for your tiny house. If you know of some other great cooling sources please comment below and share them with us.
We’ve been considering the Caframo Ultimate 12-volt DC Fan ($50). This 12-volt fan seems to be popular in the boating community and is supposed to be very efficient at moving air around — just what a fan should be.
http://www.boatersworld.com/product/338260102msk.htm
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Evaporative type coolers work well in dry regions. Still, when it passes 100 degrees, a real A/C is nice to have.
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Great article, Even more things to ponder eh? If were talking about the tumbleweed homes which are on trailers (Although it could apply to the more permanent homes I guess) A simple way to keep the home cool is the position of the thing, using Deciduous trees to keep out intense summer sun, loosing their leaves in the cooler months to allow sunlight onto the building.
Also good, high quality insulation is very important when it comes to building the thing.
Both those ideas don’t actually cool the house - more prevent it from warming up in the first place
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Jay Shafer reply on March 18th, 2009 8:20 pm:
Trees on the suoth side are my favorite means of cooling, and the sun is my favorite heater.
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[...] Cooling Your Tiny House | Tumbleweed Tiny House Company [...]
Hey Jay, hope all is well!
Here’s an unusual source for micro fans–discarded computers and copy machines.
Tear into nearly any old computer, copier, many microwave ovens, etc. — and inside you will generally find a “pancake” fan.
These fans are flat, light, quiet and usually run on DC, so you can often hook them into various solar systems…. or use a trashpicked wall transformer that’s close to the correct voltage to run it.
Maybe put a piece of screen on the sides where you might stick your fingers in…
But I bet a few of these hanging around a tiny house, could help keep some air moving….
–oh, and you could probably use one or two and build a little ice box airco like the one you showed for sale.
How to get a pancake fan–haunt the local college or business district–make sure you have: allen wrenches, a mini-pry bar or stout screwdriver, a phillips, maybe a small visegrip, nutdrivers would be good, and some wirecutters.
Before you chop out the pancake fan, follow the wires all the way back..–you might get a good transformer to run it! Snag any on-off switches you can find–to make your install smoother.
Copy machines/overhead projecters are also good for finding unusual lighting sources… that make neat accent or work lights.. and fresnel lenses that can become part of solar cookers.
Wear gloves as there’s always lots of sheet metal and shattered plastic when you deconstruct electronics–and before you climb into a dumpster–always shake the things you’re about to step on and test to make sure they’re not going to settle!
–Michael McGettigan/trophy bikes philadelphia
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Jay Shafer reply on March 18th, 2009 8:22 pm:
Hey Michael. The book is done and your photo looks great.
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Jay Shafer reply on March 18th, 2009 8:23 pm:
I’ll send you a copy.
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An air conditioner salvage tip–
Note that many times, air conditioners in the trash actually still work!
Their owners tossed them because:
a) the cooling grills are clogged with dirt and the airco stopped working… (very common)
or
b) the thermostat/controls are bad
test the airco –if it runs, but doesn’t blow cool air…
take the case off –BEWARE OF ELECTRICITY ROTATING PARTS/FAN BLADES– check if the tubes running to the radiator grills are getting cold — if so, the compressor works and if the grills are clogged, clean them. WORK OUTSIDE– if you puncture a freon tube — you want to be away from that thing–fast, not trapped in a small garage or something.
for a) — soak/pressure wash the grills–especially the outside one… you may end up “flossing” the whole grill with a very thin tool… don’t puncture the tubing! BTW — you should clean airco grills/radiators yearly to keep them efficient.
for b) if you wiggle the controls and the airco starts to work, the thermostat may be bad –replace or you can get a cheap timer to cycle it on and off … adjusting for comfort….
c) an amazing number of appliances are tossed because the ….
POWER CORD or plug went bad… always check this first…
happy dumpster diving –
mcget/trophy bikes philly
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Another suggestion, like in Jay’s build on the new Fenci, use a large open-ended, portable carport. Make it sturdy and anchor it well. Only need to use it for a few months out of the year and then could use it for your vehicle(s) for the rest of they year. That would do alot to keep the house cool. Probably run no more than $300-400. You can use a nice tight weave shade cloth, or even silver tarps like in Jay’s photo. I use one in the Nevada desert in late August every year and it really helps to keep the heat off.
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5000 BTU Frigidaire
http://www.frigidaire.com/products/roomair/window_mounted/mini/prod_FAX052P7.asp
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Just wanted to say thank you for your artical on cooling your tiny house. I got lost in the links and two hours later had to start over.
I find all of this fasinating, to think there is all of this tech info out there. A solution to ever problem!
Thanks again
Paul
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When I first found the Tumbleweed site about a year ago, I thought the prices of the blueprints were exhorbitant - and now they’ve gone up…but I have a solution! I’m taking Jay’s design workshop this year in Indianapolis. My best friend and my son-in-law builder are taking it with me. This is far cheaper than a blueprint, and MUCH more fun! Problem solved.
I have every intention of building a house very similar to the Loring on a full basement. My friend will build something smaller on the same site and we hope to buy about 2 acres in Kentucky. I am SO excited about my future! Thank you, Jay!!
(By the way, I’ve been working on my own design since January and have 5 different ideas drawn to scale that I’m bringing with me in July)
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Sharon Bailey reply on April 29th, 2009 10:50 am:
Oops, I was on a different page when I replied - don’t know how I got to the cooling page. Sorry!
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Jay Shafer reply on April 30th, 2009 8:20 am:
I look forward to seeing it, Sharon.
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a few ideas for cooling in a hot, humid climate:
1) ceiling-mount RV or camper air conditioner;
2) dehumidifier- we’re currently keeping the house comfortable at 80 degrees thanks to one of these. Add a ceiling fan & you might not even need AC.
3) park your tiny house in the shade
4) tow your tiny house up north for the summer
Jay Wiese
Gainesville, FL
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Check out http://WWW.mrslim.com
For a mini split system. These are efficient, quiet & you would not need to give up any floor space or loose a window.
The wall mount could go over the door & the outdoor condenser could mount on the A part of the trailer between the house & the ball hitch.
Solar is not an option with A/C units due to load & demand. Solar options only allow for fans & shade.
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