I have an SR20 in Florida with no A/C, and wanted to know it these units actually work and which brand is best. Does anyone have any real life experience on how the ice box A/C units actually perform in a Cirrus? Does it actually cool the cabin? I have seen advertised about 3 different companies, but I do not see any mayor differences between them.
Rodrigo,
Yes, they do work! - - - with the caveat that they are somewhat of a PITA. I have one that I used ONCE - and I determined that the effort was not really worth the payback.
My wife is particularly sensitive to the heat, and in our SR-20 without A/C - it can be VERY HOT as you are aware. So, I did all the investigating, which is the best one etc and ordered -
I made my own blocks of ice using milk cartons, did all the suggestions - and, it does provide some relief. When we landed, I used the pump and drained the water - all worked as advertised (I had the unit sitting on a towel on the back seat). Next leg, need more ice - hmmm - this time used bags of ice - didn’t last as long -
My view is that for ME - the benefit simply was not worth the effort -
-J-
It gets hot in CA, not as bad as Fla…
I do have the factory air, however I also find myself using the open door technique upon landing for fresh CA air fanned in from the gigantic carbon prop while taxiing on evenings when it’s 75 degrees or cooler )…
I’m with Jeff. I own both an Icebox and another cooler from Swampy.Net that also adds evaporative cooling to the same idea of an icebox.
The Icebox does absolutely work as advertised, it’s just a pain in the ass. Do you know how much a cooler full of ice weighs? After about 3 flights of enjoying the cool air, the novelty kind of wore off and I stopped going through the effort.
As an aside, if anyone wants an icebox…
This is exactly what happened with me.
I picked up a used cooler from a nearby SR22 owner. He was selling it because he was having a/c installed in his plane. He had used it once.
I used it once. It was just too much work. Right after that, I went down to the service center and signed up for an a/c install. There was a waiting list at that time…
I ended up using mine whenever I had passengers in the summer. For that it was worth the hassle. When it was just me…I wore stuff I didn’t mind sweating in!
They are a pain, but they DO work.