Would you own a $250K luxury automobile without A/C?
I wouldn't put in an aerobatic, bush, or light sport for obvious reasons, but I wouldn't have a luxo-cruiser in which I would be carrying friends and family without it.
but I wouldn't have a luxo-cruiser in which I would be carrying friends and family without it.
I'm based in Tampa. My wife refuses to get into the plane without a working air-conditioner. You can decide if that's a plus or minus. :-D
In the summer knowing it will get hot we typically fly in the morning. By “WE “ I mean most Az pilots.
There are always trade offs, of course, beyond the obvious dollars. The other obvious one is weight. Do you want a three adult luxo-cruiser, or a four adult airplane that’s warm (or hot) on the ground? This is why different folks make different choices.
I have heard of "portable" AC systems that run off 12V electrical systems and are self contained. These systems require slightly bigger alternators on the certified airplanes, but I don't believe the system itself is STCed. Has anyone heard of something like this? It eliminates the engine driven compressor and intake, from what I understand.
Not practical.
An electric A/C system that can produce the 8K BTU minimum to be worthwhile is going to require at least a 120A alternator and even with that, you will be draining the batteries pretty fast on the ground, as 120A Alternators produce around 2/3 of that at idle, though some tweaking of the pulley sizes can improve that some.
The vast majority of the builders in my day set their MGW at 2800 instead of 2700. .
Tyson, I don't recall - did your plane have A/C when you bought it or did you retrofit?I have the Airflow Systems A/C. IMO the weight and the load on the engine are too small to noticeably effect speed. The scoop on the bottom, on the other hand, probably costs me 3-5 knots at cruise, which is irrelevant for most flights.
If you just use while on the ground, you could hook up a 100 AMP-HR lithium to it and be just fine for 1 hour.
. A lot of people who don't choose A/C, still do overhead consoles which is a large percentage of the A/C package weight.
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You will find that most lithium battery sellers use PB equivalent ratings. That means that a 100 Ah battery can deliver 100 amps for about 5-10 minutes. Even Lead Acid batteries set the Ah rating at the 10 or 20 hour reserve level. My 18Ah SLA battery will only give me about 10-11 amps for an hour and a PB equivilancy is 1/3 of that. It is rare to find a battery that can actually deliver upon it Ah rating; The industry just doesn't work that way.
Larry