foxontherun wrote:Again, making the assumption your A/C is a window unit, some of the newer window units do not have drains; they are designed for the water to splash on the fan and go everywhere, ha! Just kidding, sort of; supposedly the fan splatters the water on the condensor coils to make unit more efficient. I live in TN; gets really humid here which means lots of condensate and sometimes it will come thru the vent like a little sprinkler....
In my 4x8 trailer, I have an LG model LW5012J window unit mounted in the bulkhead between cabin and galley, with the exhaust ducted to the curbside of the trailer; I can run it with the galley hatch closed and locked at night, in all weather conditions, and there's never a leak.
When I was building the trailer, I always intended that I'd be able to operate the A/C with the hatch closed, so I went to great lengths to do so, starting with buying a trusted brand of A/C unit, that I knew
from prior experience wouldn't leak all over the place (unlike the Frigidaire window A/C units, 15100 and10000 btu units alike, that we had, which produced so much condensate that they dripped water like a waterfall in the rear, and sometimes might spray some forward into the room). But, we also had an 8000 btu LG unit, in my wife's home office, that hardly ever had enough excess condensate to drip from the drain pan in the rear, and never any spray into the room, so I opted to get a LG 5000 btu unit for my small trailer.
I looked around all nearby big box stores for a LG LW5012 unit, but only located one 40 miles away at a Home Depot, so I drove there to get it. Once there, I discovered that the one remaining in stock was a LW5012"
J", with a couple of differences. It did not have a drain plug outlet for the condensate, so I made a catch-all drain pan to sit under it in my galley (with a drain hose to the underside of the trailer), so if the unit's condensate overflowed, it would drain harmlessly outside. And, since the exhaust ducting I made
might admit rain, it was sloped downward into the A/C's drain pan (thus also into the catch-all pan), so zero water would get into the galley.
Long story short, in 13 years of operation, the LG unit has never dripped any water into the catch-all, as it seems to evaporate it in self-cooling (maybe that's why no drain plug was installed, unlike in the older model). And, it seems the heat of the exhaust also takes care of any rain that enters the ducting, too, as I've never seen any water from that source either.
I also take another precaution to prevent A/C leakage: I always make sure that the trailer is parked where the front is slightly raised compared to the rear, promoting proper A/C drainage (if any).
by cuthbertdavies » Fri Feb 23, 2024 4:16 am 
