Cooling a 20' shipping container

[primuspaul]

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

It's something to consider, but how can the unit draw 2,000 watts continuously? It is rated per spec sheet at 292-1087 watts. It cannot possibly draw 2,000+ watts (nevermind continuously) unless that spec sheet is totally worthless.

If I go the way of a generator it will be a 1kW Yamaha since they are most efficient. Then it will be a hybrid system with solar panels powering the electronics most of the time and the generator being used on extremely hot/cold/cloudy days to supplement A/C/Heating.

 

[Firebrick43]

What spec sheet are you looking at? The two largest suppliers are dometic and Coleman for roof top rv ac. 15000 btu is pulling about 1700-1800 watts. http://m.campingworld.com/shopping/item/coleman-mach-mach-3-plus-13500-btu-air-conditioner-arctic-white/49095

You can't just supply 1800 watts as there are losses in wire, start up loads, and if you load most generators to capacity they start pulling down the motors which causes the frequency (60 hertz in is) to drop which can damage many electronics. On the solar side of things wire size for the 12 v side is extremely important and the battery bank will sag in voltage with high amp draw.

I don't know where you found your spec sheet but it mythical ��

I am not familiar with the Yamaha but it appears very similar to the little suitcase Hondas. To run an ac you have to have two of the and pair them together with a special cord to run an ac unit. Also while nice and quiet and certainly up to the job for occasional use a larger genny that is not working as hard is going to last much longer

 

[NAPPY]

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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Yes they stack them, but remember that they only touch around the perimeter. I imagine the skin holds less weight.

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[combat infidel]

Is there some way to engineer a top to put over it so that you could cover it maybe some 4x4 posts going across 16"on then cover with pressure treated plywood and cover with dirt??


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[crasher]

Is there some way to engineer a top to put over it so that you could cover it maybe some 4x4 posts going across 16"on then cover with pressure treated plywood and cover with dirt??


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By the time you spent enough to over-engineer the project with all the wrong materials, you'd have spent a lot more building it 'wrong' than by using the right stuff in the right way in the right paces.

Specs on most pressure treated material anymore specifies not for actual ground contact, since they changed the formula.
Too much toxic material was leaching into ground water.

Plus, ants and termites don't mind eating holes in it anyway half the time, the treatment was mostly for rot, not bugs.

4x4 posts are posts - they hold a vertical load when standing up.
They don't use 4x4 material horizontally under a deck that you walk for that very reason.

A 16 foot span for a 4x4 would barely support itself regarding centerline deflection, it would sag under it's own eight, and wouldn't support much else, when wet, over time. There are span-tables for different materials covering length of span and material/dimensions required.
Wet timber will start to bend quickly under those kinds of conditions when preloaded.

Soil/sand/dirt, especially wet dirt weighs WAY more than you imagine. Go to Home Depot and toss a couple bags of topsoil onto a cart - then try to lift it.

Not trying to thread/****, but there are reasons they build stuff the way they do, and they rarely ever over-engineer something that you want to use for a completely different purpose. They build Sea Containers for a reason, (moving stuff they dont want separated during transport/easily looted during transport/wet during transport), and they build them as cheaply as possible knowing that they only last a few years before becoming salvage or a shed on a piece of dirt somewhere in the world.

You can bury one, sure, but I wouldn't want to be IN one when it undergoes sudden, catastrophic failure and crushes from the top/side loads exerted by heavy/damp soil.

That's why basements are built with concrete walls and de-watering the site is taken into account if you don't want hydraulic induced failures.

Just saying.

 

[primuspaul]

What spec sheet are you looking at? The two largest suppliers are dometic and Coleman for roof top rv ac. 15000 btu is pulling about 1700-1800 watts. http://m.campingworld.com/shopping/item/coleman-mach-mach-3-plus-13500-btu-air-conditioner-arctic-white/49095

You can't just supply 1800 watts as there are losses in wire, start up loads, and if you load most generators to capacity they start pulling down the motors which causes the frequency (60 hertz in is) to drop which can damage many electronics. On the solar side of things wire size for the 12 v side is extremely important and the battery bank will sag in voltage with high amp draw.

I don't know where you found your spec sheet but it mythical ��

I am not familiar with the Yamaha but it appears very similar to the little suitcase Hondas. To run an ac you have to have two of the and pair them together with a special cord to run an ac unit. Also while nice and quiet and certainly up to the job for occasional use a larger genny that is not working as hard is going to last much longer

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1Hwoxkmq7L.pdf

 

[Firebrick43]

First, there are lots of typos on that sheet. Second column over "1135 (498-16601)"

16601 watts?

You are going to only install 9000 btu unit???

I was quoting 15000 btu units which would be appropriate for the container.

You chart doesn't have a 15k unit but if you extrapolate between the 12k and 18 k , 2000 watts.

 

[primuspaul]

First, there are lots of typos on that sheet. Second column over "1135 (498-16601)"

16601 watts?

You are going to only install 9000 btu unit???

I was quoting 15000 btu units which would be appropriate for the container.

You chart doesn't have a 15k unit but if you extrapolate between the 12k and 18 k , 2000 watts.

I guess someone fucked up. Regardless, the first column seems reasonable based on the amperage (do you think it's reasonable? if it's too much, then I need to look for a different unit or a different type of unit). According to energy star's chart, 150 sq ft (which is the sq footage of a 20 ft container) requires 5,000 BTUs so 9,000 should be plenty and shouldn't even need to run at full capabilities.

 

[Jess]

If you don't already have the seacan, look into used refrigerated units. Many are around where the refrigeration units are gone or non functional and still reasonably cheap. You could just add a mini split or a window shaker which will cool it with the insulation the refrigeration unit had. If you're near a port, then there are lots of choices for these as they don't last for ever under the severe conditions in shipping.