Portable A/C

Hylda&Jon · Guru

Portable A/C

Cowboy7307 · Senior Member

We have a small jayco poptop rear door van with no A/C ,

And have always been a bit frightened to head up to main land in summer because of the heat,but with things like thy are down here with little or no work about ,i was wondering about is there such a thing as a portible A/C unit for the van or am i better to spend it on a roof fitted model, any help in this area would be great

beiffe · Guru

Depends on your style of travel.

If use caravan parks all the time then just find a small footprint evap model.

If free camping it depends on your battery capacity and type as well as the size of your inverter and also the time you want to run the said aircon and also the rating (power draw) of that aircon.

Many of the free campers are prepared to find a nice shady tree and sit under that especially if there is a breeze.

If you have the right type and or size of batteries then you can run an aircon for a certain time. this depends on the available AH of your batteries and the size of your inverter to run it and how long you wish to run it. Inverter would need to be over 2000W.

I wont go into the figures as some of the ex[erts will give you detailed advise on that.

Best idea is for you to advise how you plan to travel and if free camping is involved then the size of inverter you have or intend to instal and also the battery details eg number of batteries and their AH and their type eg start batteries, AGM ,GEL or Lithium. it all makes a difference, and then others may be able to advise.

Regards
Brian

Ron and Shirley · Senior Member

With a small van a Truma Climaster is a good unit though they are not cheap. The downside of these units is that you lose some storage space but then you dont have extra weight on your poptop roof.

Inside the van the noise level is quite low and outside I feel it is not as noisy as some that we have heard. See http://www.allstores.com.au/product_images/files/climaster-user.pdf for specifications.

We have used it mainly in Caravan Parks and a couple of times in the bush using our Honda 20i genny.

Nicholstones · Guru

I am under the impression that the evaporative coolers don't work very well once the humidity climbs, which would make it not as effective an option if you intend in spending much time up north, particularly outside the dry season.

hako · Guru

The evaporative cooler will be of no use if you are near the coast which is why you will never see one installed in Mackay, Townsville or Cairns. Inland Qld is different as humidity is much lower.
Re fitting an aircon to a camper/poptop - an exercise which we recently went through - you have 4 options by my figuring:
1....a caravan designed A/C like Truma Climaster etc - cost will be over $2000 fitted.
2....a portable A/C on wheels which you can store in the back of your tow vehicle and then move to your van when needed - you must run a 100ml diam hose to the outside also to pump hot air out. - cost is from $399 to $899 and no installation required.
3....a wall model A/C installed at floor level under a bunk or wherever convenient requiring carpentry but no electrical work - cost about $340
4....a split system A/C with the condenser on the drawbar and evaporater in the van - cost $600 to $1200 depending on cost of electrician to instal.

We ended up with 3 although I would have preferred 2 (I am married). Option 2 is also the lightest.
If you like I can send you pics of how I installed the wall A/C in an Avan Cruiser.
2nd hand portable A/C units are available on Ebay/Gumtree for $100 - 200 .....can't lose much if you went that way. Negative with these units is that you need boot or van room to store them when not in use.
Good Luck.

Hylda&Jon · Guru

hako wrote:
The evaporative cooler will be of no use if you are near the coast which is why you will never see one installed in Mackay, Townsville or Cairns. Inland Qld is different as humidity is much lower.

2....a portable A/C on wheels which you can store in the back of your tow vehicle and then move to your van when needed - you must run a 100ml diam hose to the outside also to pump hot air out. - cost is from $399 to $899 and no installation required.

I checked & the portable air-con that I mentioned earlier was not an evaporative one. I forgot that I read up on it at the time and avoided them. If you look around you can get them on special for around $300 if you don't mind the unknown brands like ours or this one for example: http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/reverse-cycle-4-in-1-portable-air-conditioner-heater/

Cheers

Jon

-- Edited by Hylda&Jon on Tuesday 19th of February 2013 11:58:24 AM