It got SO hot ...

[Jacksonricher]

It got so hot in the van this happened to a can of diet Coke that missed the ice chest.
AC is not working. 
It hit 103+ outside.
This can is ready to explode.

How hot is it where your at?

 

[wasanah2]

It got so hot in the van this happened to a can of diet Coke that missed the ice chest.
AC is not working. 
It hit 103+ outside.
This can is ready to explode.

How hot is it where your at?

Feel bad for you.  Yeah it's hot here too in Florida.  It was in the 90s today, but it's a humid 90s which feels hotter than the dry 90s.  Today I spent a lot of time in air conditioning.  You just have to sometimes.  I had forgotten how nice climate control is in a house.  It's almost something you never think about as a house dweller until the electric bill comes.  LOL 

It's nicer tonight, and I was just out walking a bit ago and while cooler, the air is just muggy.  I like Florida a lot, but I like it less in the dead of summer.  I have elderly family here, and I have to be near enough to check in on everyone.   So I don't leave the state for more than 2 weeks at a time.  

Here is a Florida "Keep Cool" tip that you may not know about.  I didn't till I moved down here.  If you take a cool cloth (even better if you can get a cloth with a little ice in it) and put it on the back of your neck.  It's amazing how cool your whole body gets when you put that on the back of your neck.  It cools the blood because the arteries are close enough to the skin surface and it feels really good.  Sometimes when I do yard work for my elderly relatives, I'll keep that cold cloth on my neck when I mow their lawns or pull weeds or whatever.

Yeah it kind of puts a damper on this lifestyle to have to mow and take care of yard work and such for others who live in houses, but I always have to be doing something anyway.  And a lot of my relatives can't afford to pay someone to do what I do for them and well, it's good Karma to help the elderly.  Someday I might need help.

 

[jonyjoe303]

san diego has been very hot the past 2 days. Yesterday was 94, today it was 84 but humidity was about 60. It feels like texas weather.

In my astrovan the front driver compartment was 144 degrees, the back heavily insulated section got up to 92 degrees. I had the swampcooler running at fullpower all day, it barely kept me cool. Even at night I been running it at fullpower, the heat isn't going down with the humidity. Its rare I have to run the cooler for 24 hours straight in this area, thats how hot its been. But at night time the swampcooler puts out more cooler air, in the day it was struggling with the heat. So far only been using about 3 liters of water a day to feed the cooler.

 

[Jacksonricher]

JonyJoe
Tell me more about the swamp cooler your using.

 

[Starr]

I know the feeling!! My a/c is out too! I'm in Tennessee in my car and it feels like I'm sitting on the sun. Humidity is just awful. So hot that when I stand my head spins. Hope you find some relief. Being in a car everything is so tight already. I'm an old, sticky, hot mess!! lol

 

[bigsallysmom]

After over a month of above 100 degrees, we finally got a very nice rain yesterday. Today the humidity is so high I have yet to venture out.

 

[ganchan]

If you take a cool cloth (even better if you can get a cloth with a little ice in it) and put it on the back of your neck.  It's amazing how cool your whole body gets when you put that on the back of your neck.  It cools the blood because the arteries are close enough to the skin surface and it feels really good.

Oddly enough, this trick came up in a documentary I watched just last night about the making of the John Carpenter film "Dark Star." The spacesuit the actor was wearing had no ventilation AND was made of 2-inch insulation (!). They would roll film, he would manage one line of dialogue, they'd stop, and then Dan O'Bannon (who was sort of doing everything on the film) would run over and put cold towels on the actor's forehead and neck to lower his core temperature. Then he'd suit up again and they'd shoot another line. Etc.

I'll only be "living" in my Expedition overnight on my upcoming road trip. Will it make a significant difference if I go for a little drive at twilight, blasting the AC at full-power, until the sun is down?

 

[jonyjoe303]

this is the swampcooler its homebuilt. I used the celdek evaporator pad which is suppose to last 5 years and seems to do as it claims. I have the inside of my van ducted with 4 inch flexible ducting so cooling air gets to all sections which does help. I found out if you put the fans at the end of the ducting you get the best performance. At full power it uses about 2 amps, but you can use even larger fans (more amps). You can run it all night at full power even with lead acid. 

On a cool day it will use less then 2 liters of water, hot day maybe 3 liters. I gone weekends where it use 2 liters for the whole 2 days. Swampcoolers only work well if your van is heavily insulated. They work extremely well, if your in your van parked in the sun like I always do and the swampcooler stops running, you feel the heat immediately. I always carry extra fans and water pumps just in case and can change either in less then 5 minutes.


yesterday temps, hottest this summer so far. Front of van uninsulated 148 degrees, back of van insulated and swampcooler running 94 degrees. Notice the humidity which is rare in this area.

 

[wasanah2]

Oddly enough, this trick came up in a documentary I watched just last night about the making of the John Carpenter film "Dark Star." The spacesuit the actor was wearing had no ventilation AND was made of 2-inch insulation (!). They would roll film, he would manage one line of dialogue, they'd stop, and then Dan O'Bannon (who was sort of doing everything on the film) would run over and put cold towels on the actor's forehead and neck to lower his core temperature. Then he'd suit up again and they'd shoot another line. Etc.

I'll only be "living" in my Expedition overnight on my upcoming road trip. Will it make a significant difference if I go for a little drive at twilight, blasting the AC at full-power, until the sun is down?

Where you park makes a big difference overnight too.  If you park on pavement, the nighttime radiates that heat stored up in the cement.  If you park on grass, it's much cooler.  I parked one time at an airport cell phone lot that was entirely on grass.  It was really nice because there were fields and flatland all over.  So it was cooler than being around a lot of pavement that's heating the night air.

Those who insulate the floor might find it really doesn't help when the ambient air is heated by the radiating pavement heat.  Yet, if you can get off in a dispersed camping situation where you're on grass and such, it makes a big difference.

 

[Ken in Anaheim]

EVERYTHING you'd need to know about cooling your tent or van...from our friends at BurningMan : https://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?f=280&t=33842&hilit=figjam

 

[wasanah2]

EVERYTHING you'd need to know about cooling your tent or van...from our friends at BurningMan : https://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?f=280&t=33842&hilit=figjam

Not everything you need to know.  It might be good to asterisk that if you live in a high humidity environment, a device that makes for more humidity doesn't work well.  A home made swamp cooler works really nice in dry climates.  In FL or even in the Midwest or East where you have really high humidity, it's not going to be so useful but make for extra stickiness.

 

[LadyJo]

The bucket cooler looks great for desert heat!!!!

 

[lenny flank]

Alas, "swamp coolers" are generally a waste of time for dwellers. They are physically incapable of working in areas with high humidity, and even in the hot dry desert they have logistical difficulties which limit their effectiveness.

 

[steamjam1]

It's been in the mid-90's for a week here out here on the west coast, as well as half the place seems to be on fire right now.  I have one of those little "Arctic Air" evap coolers too. I think it would be too small for most vans, and it goes through an incredible amount of water.

 

[wasanah2]

It's been in the mid-90's for a week here out here on the west coast, as well as half the place seems to be on fire right now.  I have one of those little "Arctic Air" evap coolers too. I think it would be too small for most vans, and it goes through an incredible amount of water.

When I was still getting situated in my first RV (very tiny), I borrowed a neighbor's portable air conditioner, the kind that has a tray for the water and it vents through a tube in the window.  It was just so awful hot.  So I went to a campground and plugged it in and vented it out a window.  It took up space but oh man was it nice.  I slept for 2 days I think.  The brand was Haier or something like that.  I saw them at Home Depot.  I kept it as long as I had shore power in that.

After that I got an RV with a roof mount A/C but that's only good if I'm in a campground.  I do van dwelling too and that portable A/C worked great in it too, but the RV is home base which can be parked in a campground with shore power or at my relatives without shore power when I go out in the van. 

When the temp never gets below room temperature in 24 hours, the cumulative effect is trying.

 

[TravelBikeLive]

Van didn't like the 100 degree + 9k elevation. Broke down drivin from YS-Bighorn WY. Found shade during middle of the day and truckin'

 

[highdesertranger]

look at it this way. in less than 3 months everybody is going to be saying how cold it is and be talking about heaters. highdesertranger

 

[lenny flank]

^^ Not me--I'll be in Miami.

 

[nlclemmensen]

If you're incontinent, or know someone who is, do I have a tip for you! Heh... no kidding, this really does work! Use one of those "pee pads" (like a giant sanitary napkin, which will also work, btw), or cut up the underwear style. A baby diaper Pampers, Huggies, etc.). You need the absorbent section with the dehydrated gel bits.

Stuff the pad into a tube sock (the dollar stores have them). Pour 1/2 - 1 cup of rubbing alcohol into the sock/pad, then pour in as much water as you can get it to hold. Best results when you let it set overnight, but you don't have to wait if you need it now.

You can use as-is on the back of your neck or even the top of your head, but it works great to refrigerate it or even freeze it first. Putting it into an ice chest and covering it with ice works great, too.

 

[Deb_A]

90F with 103F heat index here in N. Central Florida. I walked a half mile and back to the store this morning, and was soaking wet and panting when I got back.

One of my main fears of van life is breaking down in the desert and dying of heat stroke.