Dealing with Heat and Cold

[dyslexicdancer]

I'm a Disabled Vet and I have been thinking about living in a Cargo Van I recently purchased<br><br>The conversion process for me is pretty straight forward. Add insulation, a bed, some cabinetry, a small nettop computer for entertainment, and a deep cycle battery to run small things when parked.<br><br>However one question still remains.<br><br>What do you guys do about the Summer Heat and the coldness of winter.<br><br>I guess Winter is less of a problem as I could add a Mr. Heater big buddy propane heater to stay warm in winter, but Summer seems like a real obstacle. <br><br>I currently live in Texas and we have 2 to 3 months of over 100 degrees. Our summers can be brutal.<br><br>Do you guys (who live in a van) travel up north during the summer to get away from the heat? Or are you guys running some kind of A/C to deal with high summer temps? I cant imagine trying to sleep in my van when it's still over 95 degrees at 2 am.<br><br>Also if you guys migrate north for the summer and south for the winter what do you do for mail service?<br><br>Thanks<br><br>

 

[Rollin]

As far as your question about dealing with the heat in summer and staying in a place like Texas. All I can say is it's tough!!! I live in Florida and we get some hot weather our&nbsp;self's. I know most people are going to chime in and tell you to chase that 70 degrees. Moving north and south with the seasons or higher and lower in elevation. Also out west is a lot dryer and they get&nbsp;a lot&nbsp;of the&nbsp;radiational cooling at night. Not so much in the south/south east. The&nbsp;humidity&nbsp;traps the warm air and some nights can be very uncomfortable&nbsp;until&nbsp;early morning&nbsp;<br><br>I have stayed in my van (in&nbsp;stealth&nbsp;mode) in very high temps. What I have is some rain guards on my drivers/passenger&nbsp;windows. This&nbsp;allows&nbsp;me to crack the windows a couple inches with out anyone seeing the windows down. In the back - on the floor- I have a 4'' flange that i can open up to&nbsp;allow&nbsp;fresh air in with. I set a battery&nbsp;operated&nbsp;fan over this&nbsp;opening&nbsp;and it forces cooler air from&nbsp;under&nbsp;the van to be pulled into the cab. The warmer air then is&nbsp;exhausted&nbsp;though&nbsp;the cracked windows. I have another battery&nbsp;operated&nbsp;fan then that pushes air over my body. This set up is as&nbsp;stealthily&nbsp;as I could come up with, but make no mistake it is still uncomfortable. Think&nbsp;sauna.&nbsp;<br><br>I think if you were to have a roof vent/fan combo it would be much more&nbsp;bearable.&nbsp;<br><br>If you can find a place to park that would&nbsp;allow&nbsp;you to&nbsp;roll&nbsp;your windows down with the&nbsp;combination&nbsp;of a fan, it&nbsp;wouldn't&nbsp;be that bad at all. But if you need&nbsp;stealth&nbsp;that's&nbsp;not an option and also your&nbsp;security&nbsp;is being compromised&nbsp;(bad guys).<br><br>I have a friend that has staved in his van for up to 3 years at a time. Once in&nbsp;Las Vegas&nbsp;during&nbsp;the summer. He stayed at a campground and bought the&nbsp;cheapest&nbsp;air conditioner&nbsp;he could find, set it on a milk create and&nbsp;exhausted&nbsp;it out of the passenger window with&nbsp;flexible&nbsp;duct.&nbsp;<br><br>Campgrounds can be fairly&nbsp;reasonable&nbsp;especially&nbsp;during&nbsp;the summer month's when less snowbird are around. Also sometimes people will (for a fee) allow you to park on there property.<br><br>I sure wish there was an easy answer to this problem. Bottom line, to run an ac unit you will have to be on grid power or a&nbsp;generator.&nbsp;<br><br>If you are in poor health I&nbsp;wouldn't&nbsp;recommend&nbsp;trying to bare the heat. It&nbsp;defiantly&nbsp;can take its toll on a body.

 

[akrvbob]

I'm a snowbird, living in the National Forests in the summer and BLM desert land in the winter. The cheapest thing for you to do is to move up to the National Forests of New Mexico or Colorado and staying cool will be easy. Lots of free dispersed camping there.<br>Bob

 

[dyslexicdancer]

Seems like being a Snowbird would be the easiest way<br><br>What do you do for mail service. I have prescriptions that the V.A. mails me monthly, I'm not quite sure how I would go about getting mail without a regular mailing address.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

Some people use a mail delivery service, they give you an address, and recieve your mail for you.&nbsp;&nbsp; You have them mail what you want to a post office general delivery near you.&nbsp; I think some use ups stores too.

 

[Van Tripper]

Good Sams and several others have a service called Home Base, Google it and pick one that suits you, usually around $10/month plus postage, you will need to ask about reshipping meds, or get a trusted family member to do it.

 

[THECHEMICALS]

Im in south florida and dwelling in a ford van. The heat has not been a problem and i have no roof vent or ac of any kind. However, I only hop in my van at night to sleep.

 

[Willy]

&nbsp;I'm a strong believer in insulation, solar, and 12v computer fans (extremely low draw). I'm up in Canada, but where I stay in the Okanagan it can get up to 110 F and I can sleep comfortably in my rig at those temps. ..Willy.