Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

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Topic: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler (Read 289 times) previous topic - next topic

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Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

November 30, 2016, 12:41:35 am

Last week in the Eastern Sierras while we were in the process of returning home to the Puget Sound in Washington when we had high winds on 395 and one gust blew off the top of our Pla-Cool Evaporator Roof Cooler, we could not find it. Being from a 1998 ~ MB my guess is that the plastic was brittle and could not handle the excess wind. The top to our roof AC unit was also cracked by these high winds. The AC top can be easily replaced at Camping World but alas Pla-Cool has gone out of business and I do not know where to find a top. I looked in the old posts on this forum and found no help. Does anyone out there have parts, maybe you pulled off your old Pla-Cool and still have it around? We have used a RecAir on our old itaska for 20+ years and love it. I never got the chance to use the Pla-cool. I have thought of designing and building a top made from metal but the water spray and other important points operate from this top, not to mention that designing an aerodynamic top to fit right and not blow off again all pose problems making it a difficult endeavor.

   Karen~Liam
   98 ~ MB

PS- Also I think I am going to try fix the crack in our Roof AC unit Top, any suggestions?
   i will post the photos in media

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #1 – November 30, 2016, 07:52:39 am

Hi Karen & Liam,

Sorry to read about your misfortune. As for repairing the crack in your AC cover, I would use some Eternabond tape.

Before replacing the AC cover on our 2003, I had used Eternabond on the AC cover and around the edges of the shower skylight where I had some small cracks on the corners. Eternabond is great stuff! If you don't want to purchase an big roll for roof sealing, I think you can buy small amounts at CW for minor repairs.

Good luck,
Steve K.

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #2 – November 30, 2016, 01:17:26 pm

If the A/C cover cracked, it most likely is brittle and will continue to crack until it falls apart.
If you cannot find a replacement for the cooler, a standard roof vent or a Fantastic Fan can replace it.
Roof A/Cs and vents all use a standard 14" X 14" opening.

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #3 – November 30, 2016, 05:09:34 pm

"If the A/C cover cracked, it most likely is brittle and will continue to crack until it falls apart."
---
The driver of the vehicle whose brittle AC cover finally crumbles and blows off may not even realize that s/he has lost it, but the drivers behind certainly will! Watching chunks flying through the air toward your vehicle with very little time to react and nowhere to go is a heart-stopping experience! I was very lucky that the AC cover that sailed off the top of a pickup camper who passed me hit the overcab of my rig and not the windshield; much of the cover shattered on impact, but several pieces flew over the rig and landed all over the freeway. Lots of swerving and squealing brakes as drivers behind me tried to avoid the debris.

Please do replace the AC cover (and the vent covers) on your rig if it's weathered, cracked, "dusty", and in danger of breaking away and flying off.

Joan

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #4 – November 30, 2016, 05:19:27 pm

And before installing a new air conditioner shroud, it's a good idea to paint it white, using a spray paint designed for plastic. That'll block the UV light that causes the plastic to embrittle and crack.

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #5 – November 30, 2016, 06:33:38 pm

Quote from: Andy Baird - November 30, 2016, 05:19:27 pm

And before installing a new air conditioner shroud, it's a good idea to paint it white, using a spray paint designed for plastic. That'll block the UV light that causes the plastic to embrittle and crack.

Is there a way to prep it to make the paint adhere. I used a spray paint for plastic on the shower cover and it did not adhere all that well.

Jim

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #6 – November 30, 2016, 07:34:08 pm

I had a mold of the cover made in fiberglass. I need to talk with the guy making the cover to see what the status of the replacement. He said it would be about 125 a cover. I replaced my ac cover recently as it started cracking after an encounter with a tree branch picked up from the mother ship as Vince had a special deal going on at the time.

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #7 – December 01, 2016, 12:50:33 am

"I had a mold of the cover made in fiberglass. I need to talk with the guy making the cover to see what the status of the replacement. He said it would be about 125 a cover."
Craig, are you referring to a possible replacement top cover to the Pla-Cool roof evaporative cooler or are you referring to the top cover on the Roof AC unit?
Thanks

~Liam
98 ~ MB

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #8 – December 02, 2016, 01:25:54 am

Pla-cool replacement. Ac was from the factory

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #9 – December 02, 2016, 08:48:22 am

I have been looking too! The only RV swamp cooler left on the market is the Turbo Kool. The Bachman family decided to save the Recair Product saving it from extinction. The cost, About $600 plus installation.

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #10 – December 02, 2016, 01:27:07 pm

"Pla-cool replacement."

So Craig would you let me know how the replacement top turns out, I would also be interested in getting one if that is possible. On my old itaska we have a Recair evaporative cooler and it has worked well for over twenty years. I would probably replace the Pla-Cool with the new TurboCool if it would fit but I do not relish spending $600 right now.

~Liam
98 ~ MB

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #11 – January 05, 2017, 05:48:45 pm

I just wanted to revive this topic one last time to see if anybody out there in the Lazy Daze Community has a Pla-Cool evaporative roof cooler that they plan to remove or has a functioning top they wish to part with. I need to replace my missing top or replace the whole unit with a turbo king unit which is pricey. We do like the cooling which an evap cooler provides and have used one for over 20 years on our other RV. You can message me if you have part or whole unit.

   Thanks

   Karen ~ Liam
   98 ~ MB

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #12 – January 05, 2017, 06:08:54 pm

Karen & Liam, re: Pla-Cool cover

I'm just musing here about possibilities...I've seen some interesting things in the KC paper about 3D printers & some amazing things some school groups have done, and also about the Maker space at the science museum at the revamped Union Station train depot in Kansas City. Could there be a science teacher whose students might be interested in such a project, or perhaps a community college or vocational school or even a collegiate engineering program. It might be something that would give students a real-world application of all sorts of classroom theory in math/physics/material science/etc.--years ago my dad took his tractor to the ag mechanics class at our local Vo-Tech & I once had body repairs on a van done by the collision repair class.

Good Luck!

Lynne

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #13 – January 05, 2017, 06:57:11 pm

Lynne, Thank You for a valid assertion, the difficulties lie in where to start, what school and how do you reach the right person there, which also creates a whole process in it's self. If I had a top I could probably replicate it in fiberglass. Although I would only want to do that from a discarded or extra top. I have seen here in an older post at one time someone was offering up their entire unit that they were removing but I have lost posting or the it was so old that it was not relevent anymore. I come from the school that we try to use what we have to it's best and longest purpose, repairer it and after that, change it out.

Liam
98 ~ MB

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #14 – January 05, 2017, 09:03:29 pm

Liam,
If you found someone else to make a mold I would remove mine again. I know a mold of mine has been made, and the fiberglass may have been made. Mine looks like is ready to go as well.

Re: Pla-Cool Evaporative Roof Cooler

Reply #15 – January 06, 2017, 12:03:55 am

Would it be possible to fabricate a cover from sheet metal?

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