Art museum comfort on wheels?

[highdesertranger]

Kaylee the old fashion way still works. soak a tee shirt in water then put it back on. the thing about the bandanas is they last a long time. note all of this works best in low humidity. highdesertranger

 

[debit.servus]

This is going to be a long, detailed post. 

I have been around the block with mobile dwelling climate control and have seen every kind of implementation. 
An art museum needs to keep their environment within a very tight temperature band, and very tight humidity band at all times. If they're dead serious about ensuring that band, they will have 24/7 temperature monitoring, full system redundency, and backup generators & an emergency HVAC response plan at the very least. 

First you need to decide how wide / narrow your comfortable temperature band is. This is the lowest & highest temperature you are comfortable with while inside and not at work. For example, if my ideal temperature band is 60 - 77 F. This means that if it's negative 30 F (the coldest temperature you will ever encounter in your life if you're not going out of your way for colder temps) the heater(s) need to keep the space warmed to at least 60 F to be inside my temperature band. Also, if its 125 F (the hottest temperature you will ever encounter in your life if you're not going out of your way for hotter temps), the A/C needs to keep the space cooled down to at least 77 F to be inside of my temperature band and meet my design goal. 

I am going to build out a skoolie for my mobile dwelling and I have specced out and priced out what it would take to have art museum climate control inside of the rig. My design goal isn't to keep the inside like an art musuem no matter what. My design goal is to have at least 3 ways to heat and 3 ways to cool so there is no single point of failure to being comfortable inside when it's inhospitably cold & windy, inhospitably hot & dry, or  inhospitably hot & humid. Weather isn't going to be a factor when I want to visit a place, from Yukon to Death Valley to Central Florida - the Bus will be equipped! 

The next question is you can you spend a large amount of money upfront or not. 

There are two types of mobile dwelling climate control systems. The first type requires a large lump sum to setup, and has running costs that are next to nothing until the components reach the end of their lives. The second type requires hundreds of dollars upfront and has running costs that are $3-10 per day. Both will end up costing about the same over their lifecycle. 

Since we are on Cheap RV Living, I am going to focus on the second type of system. 

To get started: 

Generator: https://www.walmart.com/ip/WEN-2000W-Inverter-Generator-CARB-Compliant/43310326[/SIZE]
NOTE: get the 4-year protection plan for $66 more, when it breaks take it back to any Walmart in the United States to honor it. 

Window A/C unit: https://www.homedepot.com/p/LG-Elec...-Conditioner-in-White-LW5016/206520593[/SIZE]
5000 BTUs should keep you comfortable in a minivan with even a modicrum of insulation. This unit is quiet & small compared to other 5000 BTU window A/Cs. 


Now, this is going to be contraversial for efficiencynauts. I am going to suggest that for precise heat, she plugs in a small room electric heater and runs it from the generator. There are accurate, thermostatically controlled electric heaters designed for a bedroom avaiable for less then $50. Pick your favorite, as all electric heaters are 100% efficient at turning watts into heat. Now, this is going to cost more to run than a properly plumbed, finely tuned Propex style of propane furnace as you're turning high grade gasoline chemical energy into low grade heat energy, and a good portion of it will be generator waste heat that stays outside. 

Now that you have this set up, build on it by adding one piece at a time whenever extra money comes. The first piece to add to your art museum climate control system is a ventalated quiet box to run the generator inside. The next piece could be a surburban propane furnace installation and a deep cycle battery to power the fan (if you dont already have this). After that, a battery bank by buying returnable deep cycle batteries from a RV junkyard, to buy some time shifting. That is all I have for this post, there is a plethora of information tailored for non-electricians and non-contractors all over the Cheap RV living forum. 

P.S.: If it's in the realm of possibility, look at getting a Roadtrek van as they are micro-RVs with most of the amenities of Class C RVs. Generator, house A/C & thermostat-controlled propane furnace come standard on most models. If you have $10,000 you can hunt down a steal on a Roadtrek that has its RV systems and mechanicals in good to great condition and ready to go. 

 

[Kaylee]

Thanks for tempering my expectations HDR!

I'm mostly napping and DVD-watching during the hot spells, then get back to work once the temp drops below 90F.
My laptop is even more unhappy than me when I run it above 90F... and I'm pretty sure a wet tee shirt wouldn't help it.
A wet towel behind the neck or across the forehead definitely help me.

I'm waiting on a bunch of stuff, and am short on funds, otherwise I'd be somewhere less humid & lower temps.
I definitely understand & sympathize with the OP's situation.

 

[Bret]

 are maps like this, but they'd require you to go to higher elevations (which is something most people acclimate to in a short time).

<a href="https://imgbb.com/"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/C9hcV9H/70-Deg-Road-Trip.jpg" alt="70-Deg-Road-Trip" border="0" /></a>

Where can I find maps like this one? Thanks. Bret