Cooling the Van during Summer Heat.

Happy Camper · Senior Member

Cooling the Van during Summer Heat.

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Now that's a great use for an esky!!!!

Woolly · Senior Member

how easy is this, and in regards to space during the winter just toss the box and pick up another cheap one when it starts to warm up again.

Happy Camper · Senior Member

I forgot to add that you can place cold drink cans in the cold melted water and free up some fridge space.

Also the temperature of air coming out can be regulated by the variable fan speed.

I'm definitely going to knock one up and road test it.

Cheers,

John

Bunkerbob · Senior Member

Item that is powered by a 12/24 volt system called a RAPID COOL. Cost about $300 about 12" cubed. Works like an evaporative Air Con. I used it in a truck over a couple of Melb/Sydney Summers. Brilliant. Put real cold water in it does work much better but even with tap warm water was excellent.

Bob

Beth54 · Guru

if you used dry ice, it'd last even longer.

hako · Guru

Only problem I see is where do you get a block of ice when camped in the middle of nowhere.

Happy Camper · Senior Member

Hako: - We always freeze water in plastic bottles in our fridge freezer to assist in keeping the fridge cold when travelling on 12v.

It's a good back up for drinking water if something goes wrong in the outback.

These will do the same job as crushed ice in the esky.

Cheers,

John

JayDee · Guru

Ok!!!!Looks like our bush camping in summer or very warm days may be over.
I am off to JayCar, Dick Smith or Bunnings to purchase the equipment needed to have one of these great home made A/C.
A genius of an idea.
Jay&Dee

hako · Guru

John - that makes sense plus the water still remains in the soft drink bottles. So in theory you could use this device as a 12V aircondioner (of sorts).
Regards
Denis

Beth54 · Guru

I sent the link to my brother, and he's going to make one too. wink

Re the ice in the freezer...The last time I 'camped'...in my sisters front yard at Tin Can Bay...was over new year in the heat wave. My fridge wasn't dealing with it, so I bought a bag of ice, put a third in the bottom of the fridge and the rest in the freezer. When the first one melted, I used the second then the third. Worked a treat.

native pepper · Senior Member

We have 3 of these, 1 block of ice in them and they last about 4 hours. Just sit them next to you and it's cool man.
www.ebay.com.au/itm/281229120493

Mobi Condo · Guru

PLEASE do NOT use dry ice. There have been near death experiences where folks have used dry ice in eskies in cars and did not respond too well too the carbon dioxide given off as it thaws out!

Beth54 · Guru

Mobi Condo wrote:
PLEASE do NOT use dry ice. There have been near death experiences where folks have used dry ice in eskies in cars and did not respond too well too the carbon dioxide given off as it thaws out!

Oh gee, I didn't know that! Thanks for the heads up. hmm

JayDee · Guru

JayDee wrote:
Ok!!!!Looks like our bush camping in summer or very warm days may be over.
I am off to JayCar, Dick Smith or Bunnings to purchase the equipment needed to have one of these great home made A/C.
A genius of an idea.
Jay&Dee

I could not buy an esky ( Foam) anywhere in my area so opted for a foam box from Fruit Shop. I then purchases a 12 v fan from super cheap but I am not getting a good air flow from this fan. Plenty of frozen stuff in the box.
So what am I doing wrong?
The PVC outlet pipe is around 2 to 3 inches in width.
Problem is not sufficient forced air flow from fan.
Help would be great.
Jay&Dee

Happy Camper · Senior Member

Jaydee: - According to Native Pepper who has three of these working, the cooling principle works.
If the outlet pipe was too small it would cause back pressure causing the lid to lift off.
In theory what air goes in equals the same amount that comes out.
The first thing I would check would be the actual fan blades. - Are they delivering air and not extracting it. If extracting it you will have to turn the fan blades over the other way to the blow position.
The second thing I would check would be the fan is fitting flush into the lid so no air is escaping past the sided of the fan.
The last thing if its a variable speed fan - crank up the speed to high
If that doesn't work is the fan too small for the job?
I'm sorry I don't have a miracle answer, its all process of elimination.
Good luck and I hope you get it working.
Cheers,
John

JayDee · Guru

Hi John... Well I finally settled for a decent air flow fan from Auto Barn. Cost was $40. I have installed the fan on the end of the box and now I am getting a much better air flow. Placed frozen items in the box and the air flow was nice and cold. The thermo. was 32 degrees and the cold air flow bought the thermo down to below 20. Now I will admit the the thermo. was inside 30 cm from the outlet. If it only works on a hot night it will be a blessing. Our van has a sliding door to ensuite and a folding door to bedroom, so we can isolate the 2 main areas and hopefully gain some nice cool conditions. Also so we have a 175 dual door fridge with a rather larger freezer compartment. So all should be good.
Jay&Dee

Happy Camper · Senior Member

JayDee: - Hi John,
That's starting to sound promising.
I liked one of the ideas of standing cans or bottles upright in the ice to give the air greater surface exposure to the cold area as it passes through.
I'm glad you persevered with it & hope it delivers the goods for you.
Cheers - John

Rip and Rosie · Guru

native pepper wrote:
We have 3 of these, 1 block of ice in them and they last about 4 hours. Just sit them next to you and it's cool man.
www.ebay.com.au/itm/281229120493

Just got mine delivered.........small enough to stick in the back of a cupboard, runs on 12 volt or 240. Tried it out and its works great.

Its all packed ready for the next heat wave in the van !

Thanks Native Papper!

JayDee · Guru

JayDee wrote:
Ok!!!!Looks like our bush camping in summer or very warm days may be over.
I am off to JayCar, Dick Smith or Bunnings to purchase the equipment needed to have one of these great home made A/C.
A genius of an idea.
Jay&Dee

Ok, Further to the above.

I finally found where this post was.

I have made up a unit using a Broccoli Poly box from fruit shop.

I reduced the size by a third by cutting and gluing two new parts. Had to make a small adjustment to the lid.

Then purchased a 12 v fan from Auto Mart for $40 and installed in one end of box with hole in other end similar to above mentioned instructions.

It works great. Placed frozen bricks and frozen bottles of water or anything frozen for that matter on racks to allow air flow over all items.

In our van we can close off the ensuite and bedroom to A/C the kitchen dining area or conversely we close off the bedroom and then A/C the bed room. both small cubic areas.

Also could hang a wet towel in front of the air flow from the box, which could give added cool air????? or would it????

We will road test later this month and let you know the outcome

Jay&Dee