diamondaviators.net

Does anybody me have any pros/cons of the Cabin cool air conditioning?

How well or not well does it work?

Is the useful old penalty worth it?

Any know long term maintenance problems with it?

Thank you.

ZAV wrote:Does anybody me have any pros/cons of the Cabin cool air conditioning?

How well or not well does it work?

Is the useful old penalty worth it?

Any know long term maintenance problems with it?

Thank you.

You can search "Cabin Cool Air" for a number of posts on it. Some good and some "not so good" Looks like there was a problem initially back in 2011 with the system??

search.php?keywords=Cabin+Cool+Air

Also, here's a review from an install in 2014 (bottom of page) -
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4949&p=53978&hilit= ... Air#p53978

"Re: Arctic Air Condition
Postby Twcostanzo » Fri Aug 01, 2014 8:57 pm
I had air installed on my diamond at Premire in Florida
It was the best investment I have made. I live in south Florida and summers are hot.
The air coming out of over head vents is 47 degrees and the cabin is very cool right from start up
It makes the aircraft a pleasure to fly"

John

I have Cabin Cool in my XLS as well as the new STC replacement controller. In fact, my airplane was the first to install the new controller in 2017....that is another long story. I can tell you that though I am in Canada, I use it a lot especially now in the summer. If you install, make sure you get the new controller as the old one will stop working and is no longer made. The Cabin Cool adds about 60 lbs, a lower scoop for the fan on the bottom of the plane and a condenser in the very rear baggage compartment.

Using the A/C as per the manual reduces cruise performance by 2% however I don't feel any difference in cruise. Here is the kicker....its costs $500 ish CDN to fill the system with R134a refrigerant and the refrigerant must be drained removed and reinstalled for each annual as was the case last month for me.

A/C compressor must be turned off for landings and takeoffs however I have done both with the A/C on accidentally with no issues an have now added this procedure to my check lists so I don't forget again. I did hear that a new DA62 owner who traded up from his DA40 commented that his DA40 A/C cooled better than the one ion the DA62.

Great PIREP. Thanks.

Once upon a time (i.e., 41 years ago) I bought a Cherokee 140 with an A/C system like this. Being that I was flying in Idaho at the time, I had it removed. It wasn't really necessary and the 67 lb. reduction in empty weight was not a small thing in this plane with the Density Altitude challenges it had at higher weights. It had an interlock that would shut it down and retract the extensible condenser if you gave it full throttle.

BUT

It sure was nice to have in that first summer when it was still in the plane and we took a trip including landings at North Las Vegas and Victorville. Really only needed during taxi, as temperatures aloft were perfectly adequate for cooling without it.

I have often thought that if FBOs had a big chiller hose (the dimensions of an airstart sort of yellow hose) and could shoot 50F air into the cabin of my little GA plane that the need for AC would be nil. By the time I made it to the runway it might be at 70F, but I bet I'd be comfortable all the way to cruise.

Colin wrote:I have often thought that if FBOs had a big chiller hose (the dimensions of an airstart sort of yellow hose) and could shoot 50F air into the cabin of my little GA plane that the need for AC would be nil. By the time I made it to the runway it might be at 70F, but I bet I'd be comfortable all the way to cruise.

Back when I worked the line at a King Air charter, we had an A/C window unit on a roll-around cart with a rectangular flange taped to it (think kitchen vent hood exhaust) with flexible tubing attached. It made fast work of chilling down the airplanes, even in west Texas.

That's just what every FBO should have. I'd pay $40 to do that. Foosh, cool plane. Everyone get in. They don't even think about it under we've landed and it's sort of warm again.

I surely did appreciate my a/c today at 3500 feet in the local practice area practicing slow flight ad stalls. We were practicing for over an hour an it was not quite high enough to be cool or fast enough for some incoming ram air. I kept the A/C on the entire time and it was nice. My instructor said he was dreading having to go fly with other students in the flight school non a/c planes. He asked if I could book him for the entire rest of summer! LOL.

I just took delivery of a new Best Tugs tug (Bravo model) to move my DA62 in and out of a T-hangar. It has a built-in GPU (based on 4 car batteries internal to the tug) that delivers enough 28V power (75 amps) to run the DA62's all-electric air conditioning on the ground. So now I can pre-cool my plane before engine start!

Original topic: In my experience, the add-on Cabin Cool system installed on DA40s and DA42s works very well, with the downside that the scoop (with heat exchanger) under the plane's belly creates sufficient drag to slow the plane down by about 5 knots or so.

In contrast, Diamond's built-in factory air conditioning for DA40NG, DA42-VI, and DA62s is challenged to beat the heat on hot humid days. But the good news is that this system doesn't create a performance penalty, since there's no external scoop -- instead, there are 2 ports in the fuselage for air intake/exhaust to an internally-mounted heat exchanger. One could argue that Diamond's built-in AC actually makes these aircraft faster, since it shifts the CG further aft to counter the weight of the Austro engines.