We have a 17 foot caravan and we used one of those portable coolers (about 3 feet high on casters costing about $299) in our van because we couldn't afford a built in one but, we only used it when we had 240v power. We were very grateful for it at Monkey Mia when we would have toasted in the hot weather and that was in March. Also it got a bit of use in NT.
Luckily we had room under the bed to lay the unit down and slide it under so, one consideration is, have you got a place to store it and is it worth the loss of space (and extra carry weight) traveling with it.
The other thing is how to vent the hot air. They come with those round flexable tubes about 8" diametre so, you have to think of a way to temporarily vent it out a window or something. I cut a thin sheet of ply the shape of the screen door with a hole down the bottom for the tube to be attached to blow the hot air out. When using the aircon I used velcrose tabs to stick the ply sheet to the screen door and slid it under the bed when not in use.
It was a bit fiddly and a little noisy but it worked a treat.
Cheers
Jon
-- Edited by Hylda&Jon on Tuesday 19th of February 2013 11:46:07 AM
Cowboy7307 said
02:19 PM Feb 18, 2013
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 said
05:28 PM Feb 18, 2013
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 said
07:59 PM Feb 18, 2013
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.
We have used it mainly in Caravan Parks and a couple of times in the bush using our Honda 20i genny.
Nicholstones said
02:39 AM Feb 19, 2013
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 said
06:25 AM Feb 19, 2013
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 said
11:52 AM Feb 19, 2013
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
We have a 17 foot caravan and we used one of those portable coolers (about 3 feet high on casters costing about $299) in our van because we couldn't afford a built in one but, we only used it when we had 240v power. We were very grateful for it at Monkey Mia when we would have toasted in the hot weather and that was in March. Also it got a bit of use in NT.
Luckily we had room under the bed to lay the unit down and slide it under so, one consideration is, have you got a place to store it and is it worth the loss of space (and extra carry weight) traveling with it.
The other thing is how to vent the hot air. They come with those round flexable tubes about 8" diametre so, you have to think of a way to temporarily vent it out a window or something. I cut a thin sheet of ply the shape of the screen door with a hole down the bottom for the tube to be attached to blow the hot air out. When using the aircon I used velcrose tabs to stick the ply sheet to the screen door and slid it under the bed when not in use.
It was a bit fiddly and a little noisy but it worked a treat.
Cheers
Jon
-- Edited by Hylda&Jon on Tuesday 19th of February 2013 11:46:07 AM
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
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
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.
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.
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