we are planing a trip this summer and need some advice on keeping van cool,
heading up to the Murray river for a few weeks over Christmas, we don't have air con
van is a poptop 17.6 ft, and want some info looking at portable air con units, but have no idea what we need, have been told to stay away from evaporator coolers, but that might be B/S
Evaporator coolers were/are popular in houses in WA because of what use to be dry heat.
Evaporator coolers work fine but they work on recycling moisture loaded air (simple explanation).
May or may not introduce mould. An A/C actually removes moisture from the air, hence why you
need a drain pipe.
Portable A/Cs would be good enough for your size van but chew a lot of power. May also be
noisy.
I have seen roof top mounted A/Cs on pop tops, similar to a full size van.
Not sure if this is the info you were looking for.
You will need to pencil in Celcius in the chart, but it shows if it is a warm day & high humidity there is no cooling with an evaporative cooler. If it's warm & high humidity only an air conditioner will work.
Even in Sydney by the water, we do get miserable mid 20s°C & >90% humidity. Only AC can make life bearable.
If you want an extremely efficient AC install a 2.5kW Mitsubishi or Daikin split system. Others here have done it.
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You will need to pencil in Celcius in the chart, but it shows if it is a warm day & high humidity there is no cooling with an evaporative cooler. If it's warm & high humidity only an air conditioner will work.
Even in Sydney by the water, we do get miserable mid 20s°C & >90% humidity. Only AC can make life bearable.
If you want an extremely efficient AC install a 2.5kw Mitsubishi or Daikin split system. Others here have done it.
You beat me to it Jonathan. My 2.5kw Mitsubishi sits on the drawbar, with the outlet on the wall inside, so no weight on roof.
When it's 45 degrees all day you'll be glad that you did it properly. Was $700 at Good Guys. Cheers
Reverse cycle A/C weigh around 35kg. Bit heavy for a poptop roof.
Hi Tony, Had you actually read my post you'd have seen that the AC unit is on the drawbar, while the outlet unit is on a wall inside.
NO weight on roof, and believe me, when it's 45 degrees you'll be so glad that you have it! Still 34 degrees out here in the bush, but I've conditioned myself, and have not turned it on today. For a miserable $700 it's a no-brainer. Cheers
Great idea , what have you done with your gas bottles, that sits where you have put the unit
Whilst my van no longer has gas bottles because I'm 100% Solar powered, when I bought it the gas bottles were in the front boot. There was a partition between the bottles and the rest of the boot, with a couple of holes in the floor for ventilation.
All legal according to the gas certificate in the front boot area. Cheers.
Reverse cycle A/C weigh around 35kg. Bit heavy for a poptop roof.
Hi Tony, Had you actually read my post you'd have seen that the AC unit is on the drawbar, while the outlet unit is on a wall inside.
NO weight on roof, and believe me, when it's 45 degrees you'll be so glad that you have it! Still 34 degrees out here in the bush, but I've conditioned myself, and have not turned it on today. For a miserable $700 it's a no-brainer. Cheers
Re: poptop, I was actually responding to post 2 from Deverall. Anyway, looking at your drawbar, thats a nice solid ladder brace there.
Tony
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Reverse cycle A/C weigh around 35kg. Bit heavy for a poptop roof.
Hi Tony, Had you actually read my post you'd have seen that the AC unit is on the drawbar, while the outlet unit is on a wall inside.
NO weight on roof, and believe me, when it's 45 degrees you'll be so glad that you have it! Still 34 degrees out here in the bush, but I've conditioned myself, and have not turned it on today. For a miserable $700 it's a no-brainer. Cheers
Re: poptop, I was actually responding to post 2 from Deverall. Anyway, looking at your drawbar, thats a nice solid ladder brace there.
Tony
Yeah, when I raised the van so that I now have 700mm clearance I added that brace and couple of other bits and pieces.
Also fitted EFS XTR heavy duty shocks since I run 3150kg GTM and had busted a set of springs on the Sutor Development road.
Springs now have 2 extra leaves. Since I tend to push-along on dirt I figured that I'd do it properly.
Replaced original 15" van wheels with same wheels as I have on the car (16") so I now run new tyres on the car and swap the part-worn tyres to the van. Because the drive axle wears tyres more quickly than the steer I put the steer tyres on rear axle of van to minimise the effects of the van pivoting on the front axle, which I run at lower pressure than the rear axle. (Non- loadsharing suspension).
Lots of other stuff, but maybe another time. Cheers
-- Edited by yobarr on Friday 29th of September 2023 01:02:24 PM
Interesting. My first build (450tare) 748kg atm. Developed a crack in the 75x35mm RHS drawbar when we arrived in Cloncurry (that bumpy road from Roma, 10 inch wheels didnt help). I took it to a large machinery welding company GNH that do welding for mining. Anyway they assessed and decided to add plates either side with holes. I got my first lesson in "fishtailing". They allowed me to watch. They also advised I add a rod brace which I did later only using 10mm rod. Solid as. Even in your case without that ladder brace the spring effect goes unobserved and eventually can crack. Rest assured the most important part of the van. Have always liked the concept of using same wheels for the whole rig. Regards. Tony
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