Cooling a 20' shipping container

[primuspaul]

I need to provide power to and, in the summer, cool a 20' shipping container, like the ones used to transport a car. I estimate the roof is 20' x 7' and it would have solar panels on the top. I estimate 8 panels will fit (2 x 4) on a container and there is space next to it for 8 more panels for a total of 16 panels at nominal rating of 180 watts each for total nominal power of 2.88 kW. The panels will completely cover the roof so there will be no direct sunlight hitting it.

1. What kind of cooling system would you recommend? Most of the small retail A/C units out there have are designed to be installed in windows, but the container has no windows so I suspect keeping the unit outside with pipes running inside the container will be most efficient. Can you recommend a unit?

2. Does it look like it will be enough power to cool the container to 75 deg. F?

 

[KDXSR5]

Whatever you choose, you are probably going to want some insulation. Trying to cool an uninsulated metal can in full, direct sun (a fair assumption considering your plan with the solar panels) is going to be tough.

 

[Firebrick43]

Are you wanting the panels to power the ac???

 

[TheEquineFencer]

I'd post a location,that might help. What are the weather conditions, humidity average temps and such.

Laying the solar panels flat might not give you the best solar power.

Do you plan to buy or build your solar system?

 

[Marctrees]

"Windows"?

Just cause it's called a "Window" AC, it does not have to go in a "Window".

Any appropriately sized opening w proper support is the same thing.

You should be able to cool it with a BR sized AC like 8kbtu depending on your geographical location.

Pipes???

Buy a $200 "window" AC, cut a hole, and stick it in, and be done with it.

Other than insulation issues of course.

Spray foam would be best.

It should be ballpark around 10A @120V, = 1200 W, but I have NO idea what you would need to do to run it on solar, primarily I would be concerned about undervoltage as sunlight goes down. Marc

 

[lazer50]

If the a.c. is not going to be a permanent fixture you can purchase.a freestanding unit.depending on how cool you want the temp to be etc.and they do have piping that usually vents outside also.

 

[Marctrees]

The "freestanding" units are basically gimmicks, very inefficient big time. Marc

 

[DonPowers]

Just painting my container white made a big difference in temperature, was initially grey.

 

[78Bird]

can you shade it so it's not in direct sun? That would make a huge difference, as well as insulate.

 

[combat infidel]

In Iraq I lived in a 20' shipping container that was made to be a "dwelling" with a large "window" unit installed in the center and high on the long wall the door opposite of it. Worked very well


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[ed_v]

There is a spray on insulation you can use. Very expensive though.

You can try some turbine roof vents. Window ac units will help, but won't be very efficient with no insulation.

Ed

 

[theoldwizard1]

Insulation IS very important ! A small mini-split (ductless) A/C would work well and are much more efficient than a window shaker !

 

[Stuart in MN]

Does it look like it will be enough power to cool the container to 75 deg. F?

What state or country are you located in? Ambient temperatures make a big difference.

 

[Falcon67]

Bury it

 

[TheEquineFencer]

Bury it

LOL... great minds think alike! Cover it with sand and grass, great insulation!

 

[barks]

Bury it

The things are not structurally very strong. Likely would collapse.

 

[combat infidel]

Burying them isn't hard and require little modification think about how many they stack on top of each other on ships loaded to capacity


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[pmiranda]

Yup, paint it, insulate it, and use a mini-split.
KoolSeal and Coat-n-Cool are a couple brands that have better heat rejection than plain paint.
Rigid foam insulation can easily be reused on another project if this is just temporary.

 

[rsanter]

Paint the whole container white to reduce solar gain.
Even with that you will want to do what you can to keep the sun off of it to reduce the solar gain.
Insulate to reduce the heat conduction

Bob

 

[kbs2244]

Go with a roof mount style RV AC unit.

 

[pinkerton]

Nothing to add to the prev comments (all good), yet really want to know what you're doing in this thing. Or maybe I don't?

 

[DonPowers]

Here is mine, I used Sherwin Williams DTM paint. Just pressure washed it, roughed up the old grey paint with some 40 grit on a random orbit sander and painted. That was about 6 years ago. You are looking at the north side and the trees do keep it shaded. Even in the middle of the summer it doesn't get that hot inside.

 

[bluedog225]

Mine gets full sun from about 10 am to 6 pm in summer. I painted the tip with "cool roof" blackjack elastomeric white roof paint. The rest is almond.

I have not gotten out since it got really warm, but early in summer, the outside temp was 103 F and the inside was only 105F. Not much heat gain.

 

[pinkerton]

Here is mine, I used Sherwin Williams DTM paint. Just pressure washed it, roughed up the old grey paint with some 40 grit on a random orbit sander and painted. That was about 6 years ago. You are looking at the north side and the trees do keep it shaded. Even in the middle of the summer it doesn't get that hot inside.

You mean that's a shipping container?

 

[DonPowers]

You mean that's a shipping container?

Yes, a 20' unit.

 

[Voi]

A friend of mine bought a house with a large shipping container with an overhead door and electric panel already installed. He wanted to try to use it for his home business and had trusses added to the top and some sort of EIFS system (I believe Dryvit) added to the outside. Typical shingled roof over sheathing on the trusses.

He didn't get the attic space insulated before this summer and used a couple of single tube portable AC's and he was still okay despite being in the southwest US.

He couldn't afford to give up any interior space due to some equipment so he had to do exterior insulation.

He plans to insulate the attic space soon and go with a mini-split.

He regrets not doing more to insulate the roof, like maybe foam above the roof deck to minimize solar gain.

 

[rburke65]

The things are not structurally very strong. Likely would collapse.

Really? Not strong?

 

[Stuart in MN]

They're designed so they can be stacked, but the load is held at points on the corners and not on the body of the container itself. So, if you (as suggested above) buried one, the weight of the dirt on top of the container could potentially cause it to collapse.

 

[primuspaul]

Looks like B01DVW6BG0 is not bad. This is for personal use during different parts of the year in New Jersey.

So assuming it is moderately insulated and also painted on the sides (top will be covered by solar panels so no need to paint there), is it possible to run it with those kinds of solar panels?

 

[TheEquineFencer]

LOL, this will cool it....I hope the link works OK...

https://www.facebook.com/awesomestuff365/videos/1782795035296381/

 

[Firebrick43]

how large of battery bank are you putting with the panels?? How often and how long do you plan on cooling or does it need to maintain 75 degrees?

Typically solar power is not sufficient to provide ac in any economical scale. To high of loads for sustained periods. Can it work? Yes for short times but probably not continuously. Even a small rc unit is going to require around 2000 watts continuously but much higher capacity is needed to start the compressor. Most solar panels are perfect ratings rarely achievable in real world especially for long term. Location, lack or solar trackers, surrounding trees and building, and cloudy weather degrade your performance. Without looking at the site, nor knowing total system components I would take a guess and say more than likely not, and if it did work the total system cost would be uneconomical.

A small Honda eu3000i generator would be much more reliable and cost effective

 

[bgarrett]

somebody cut a hole in mine for a window A/C

 

[DonPowers]

You are talking lots of $ for solar, kinda sounds like an off grid bug out bunker.

 

[Justind97]

Really? Not strong?

Yes. They do not have good side load capabilities. The way they are built, they have 4 posts, 1 for each corner where all the weight is transferred down.

Look up burying a shipping container and you'll see some of the disasters. I too was going to bury 1 or two to give me some additional storage until I saw what could happen.
Now I'm just thinking a large bunker.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Here is mine, I used Sherwin Williams DTM paint. Just pressure washed it, roughed up the old grey paint with some 40 grit on a random orbit sander and painted. That was about 6 years ago. You are looking at the north side and the trees do keep it shaded. Even in the middle of the summer it doesn't get that hot inside.

Looks like a table saw to me...

Tommy

 

[justanengineer]

JMO but unless you have it already I'd be looking into buying a functional reefer. Its already insulated and will have its own cooling system, add a bit of fuel upon occasion and go.

As for burying containers, we buried a ton of them in the military and never heard of any problems, also had quite a few of them roll and get stabbed by telehandlers doing 20 mph without a puncture or significant dent.

 

[75gmck25]

When I was in the Army we used to have communications/operations shelters like this one http://nsrdec.natick.army.mil/media/fact/shelter/S-280.PDF that we used in the field (mostly a box in the bed of a 2 1/2 ton truck) . Some of them had shade kits that installed on top to help with cooling.

The shade kit had brackets that stuck out from each top box corner at about a 45 degree angle for a foot or two. Then there were cross braces that ran between the ends of the brackets to form a square frame about 12-18" off the top of the box. You then stretched a reflective tarp across that square frame and guyed it down on each corner, and it shaded the top of the box from the sun. The boxes were also painted with a primer that was supposed to be heat reflective, but I'm not sure if that really did much after they painted camouflage on top.

Bruce

 

[DCarr2]

Burying them isn't hard and require little modification think about how many they stack on top of each other on ships loaded to capacity


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I would advise VERY STRONGLY AGAINST burying your storage container...

as in DO NOT DO IT with out the blessings of a structural engineer!

You dont want to turn it into a tomb!

 

[ATC]

I would advise VERY STRONGLY AGAINST burying your storage container...

as in DO NOT DO IT with out the blessings of a structural engineer!

You dont want to turn it into a tomb!

Yup. Mythbusters even attempted it, and the thing collapsed before it was completely buried.

Why do you think tunnels, culverts and other underground pipes are round and not square?

 

[matt_i]

If you had the space and could stand the look of it, a simple metal roof setup like an a-frame carport-style would mitigate the solar load and you'd be close to ambient. Then window A/C from there.