Van Life & Air Conditioning

[AaronCatolico1]

I live in Florida with my fiancé. Just recently we thought that it would be a good idea to rent a U-Haul to test out the whole "van life" thing prior to purchasing a van.

The biggest issue was that here in Florida, it's not uncommon for temperature to rise well above 90+ degrees with very high humidity since we have tropical weather here. This caused us to feel like we were laying in an oven or a wet sauna, no matter how many fans we had running to try cooling us off.

What are some of the latest technologies that actually work for "van life" in terms of air conditioning units go and how exactly are you powering them?

 

[bullfrog !]

I live in Florida with my fiancé. Just recently we thought that it would be a good idea to rent a U-Haul to test out the whole "van life" thing prior to purchasing a van.

The biggest issue was that here in Florida, it's not uncommon for temperature to rise well above 90+ degrees with very high humidity since we have tropical weather here. This caused us to feel like we were laying in an oven or a wet sauna, no matter how many fans we had running to try cooling us off.

What are some of the latest technologies that actually work for "van life" in terms of air conditioning units go and how exactly are you powering them?

Most don’t as AC uses too much power and is too much hassle or too much expense.

 

[INTJohn]

4 best Van life living its latitude and or altitude.

Just sayin…….
jonny boi livin the dream

 

[WanderingRose]

Yep.

If I need ac or more than a little bit of heat, I get sites with electricity.

 

[bullfrog !]

Solar panels take up more space than most have as well as batteries to store the energy. A generator works but is noisy and a pain to maintain if you full time. A campground host job with full hookups and a window unit are as about as cheap as you can get without traveling with the seasons. A gym membership or library card will get you a little relief during the day.

 

[VanFan]

We are mainly in Texas, and need the inside temp to be 80 degrees or lower to sleep well. In the summer, that means an electrical hook up if we want to stay local.

Our solution was a 5,000 BTU window unit mounted in the passenger side window when NOT driving. It actually worked very well. The downside was having to lift it in and out to go anywhere.

Our new van is 6" higher off the ground, so we switched to an Ecoflow Wave 2 portable unit. Theoretically, it can be operated on a battery, but we use 110 exclusively. We like it a lot, but there are definitely things to know about an Ecoflow to make it workable--so don't spend the bucks without thoroughly understanding the limitations. Also: wait for a 40% off sale.

If you would like to know more about how we handled either "solution," let me know and I will happily yammer on.

 

[maki2]

…A gym membership or library card will get you a little relief during the day.

No need for a library card. I have hung out in a number of different public libraries during the hottest hours of the day without being a member of the library. Shopping malls are another option and some of them have public Wi-Fi.

 

[Tony's Dream]

I installed an portal AC unit this summer and took it out to Glacier. Didn't need it until I hit South Dakota where the high was 103. I went to an RV site and used shore power, as stated above....my house battery could not handle the load. Even on full, it only lowered my inside temp to 82, which is better than 103, but still a little too hot to sleep well. Will try it a few more times before I give it up and go back to travelling based on weather forecasts.

 

[jonyjoe303]

In this post someone tested both an AC and a large swampcooler in his van. The AC used too much power and he got good results with the swampcooler but it use too much water.
He was using an indoor swampcooler which are not the best, for best results you have to have them only intake outside air.
Lot of foam insulation and a small swampcooler is all I ever use, over the weekend the small swampcooler used about 1.5 gallons of water total. Several years back I did some experiments with a small dual stage swampcooler and got some good results.

AC versus swampcooler
https://vanlivingforum.com/threads/experimenting-with-portable-ac-unit.46395/

dual stage swampcooler tests
https://vanlivingforum.com/threads/dual-stage-swampcooler-performance.46651/

 

[frodo2222]

Most don’t as AC uses too much power and is too much hassle or too much expense.

Ok here it goes, I actually ran a 8k windows unit on 1000 Watts solar with 2 lithium 100 Amp batteries from 9 am to about 4 pm or so and the batt were 100% till about 3pm...turn AC off then and then slowly go down till in AM watching TV till 11pm,and lots of lights they would go down to 30-35%...now I would get a cheap 12 volt minisplit (I put one on my truck and draws 25 to 60 amps) $500 on ebay Amazon or alibaba best...they use way less power and MUCH QUIETER
1 bought my panels 250 for 50 bucks used...build a rack on top and it will also help keep van cooler

 

[frodo2222]

I could have put more but hi top and wanted to carry kayak too..on my truck and a 22 foot trailer..van drives fine on freeway and gets solar early and late when panel vertical

 

[frodo2222]

I live in Florida with my fiancé. Just recently we thought that it would be a good idea to rent a U-Haul to test out the whole "van life" thing prior to purchasing a van.

The biggest issue was that here in Florida, it's not uncommon for temperature to rise well above 90+ degrees with very high humidity since we have tropical weather here. This caused us to feel like we were laying in an oven or a wet sauna, no matter how many fans we had running to try cooling us off.

What are some of the latest technologies that actually work for "van life" in terms of air conditioning units go and how exactly are you powering them?

Ok here it goes, I actually ran a 8k windows unit on 1000 Watts solar with 2 lithium 100 Amp batteries from 9 am to about 4 pm or so and the batt were 100% till about 3pm...then slowly go down till in AM watching TV till 11pm,and lots of lights they would go down to 30-35%...now I would get a cheap 12 volt minisplit (I put one on my truck and draws 25 to 60 amps) $500 on ebay Amazon or alibaba best...they use way less power and MUCH QUIETER
1 bought my panels 250 for 50 bucks used...build a rack on top and it will also help keep van cooler I kived in AZ see pics below

 

[mikeabike]

I've lived in a van for 18 years now and the only thing that has worked for me is a small swampcooler. You have to stay close to it. Arctic Air is a good one, about $30 at Home Depot.
Equally important is shade. Good luck with thar in Yuma.

 

[Happy Camper]

Florida and swamp coolers would be a bad match. Evaporative coolers are ineffective at higher humidity.

If you have the space for a decent amount of solar, I would go mini split or 5000 BTU cheap window unit.

 

[KarlH]

Hi Aaron, welcome to the forum

The biggest issue was that here in Florida, it's not uncommon for temperature to rise well above 90+ degrees with very high humidity since we have tropical weather here. This caused us to feel like we were laying in an oven or a wet sauna, no matter how many fans we had running to try cooling us off.

Did your U-Haul have a translucent fiberglass top and aluminum sides? Those have a reputation for getting beastly hot in the sun, so a lot of people here put reflective paint on the roof or go with an all-aluminum box instead.

In Florida you might also need A/C at night, which is a lot easier if you'll always have access to an electrical hook-up. If not, you'll need almost double the solar and a very large battery bank. (You'll probably want to insulate very well too, since that would reduce the cost/weight of the battery.)

What are some of the latest technologies that actually work for "van life" in terms of air conditioning units go and how exactly are you powering them?

If you're stealth camping or boondocking, there's a Facebook group for RV A/C systems running on solar.

There are also some very good deals on lithium iron phosphate batteries right now. I went with surplus NiMH batteries from hospitals because they were cheaper as of ~2 years ago, but the EV crash has made LiFePO competitive and they're lighter.

 

[jacqueg]

Most don’t as AC uses too much power and is too much hassle or too much expense.

Yep. You have keys for a reason. Just drive to where the weather is decent.

 

[afblangley]

I'm not sure a UHaul is a good proxy... As a south FL resident, I will say unequivocally that air conditioning is essential to maintaining a comfortable temperature inside a van and there are no shortcuts. If you want something that's going work while boondocking (or urbandocking), there's no escaping the financial cost of a true, rooftop or undermount 12v air conditioner and a large battery bank. A complete system is not as expensive as it used to be, but using generic Chinese components its still a minimum of $2-3k for system that includes the AC, lithium batteries, and alternator charging or a generator. Solar panels (for this purpose) aren't really useful because seeking shade is a much more effective strategy.

With or without onboard AC, a Maxxair fan is inexpensive and extremely useful. It can be left running 24/7 extracting hot air and keeping the interior temperatures down, even when parked and uninhabited for long periods of time. In central and northern FL, it may be all that is needed during some parts of the year.

 

[mikeabike]

I agree with afblangley. The Maxxair fan is very effective. Choice of intake or exhaust, several speeds, rain resistant. I had CamperWorld install mine. Not cheap, but they did a great job.

 

[frodo2222]

I'm not sure a UHaul is a good proxy... As a south FL resident, I will say unequivocally that air conditioning is essential to maintaining a comfortable temperature inside a van and there are no shortcuts. If you want something that's going work while boondocking (or urbandocking), there's no escaping the financial cost of a true, rooftop or undermount 12v air conditioner and a large battery bank. A complete system is not as expensive as it used to be, but using generic Chinese components its still a minimum of $2-3k for system that includes the AC, lithium batteries, and alternator charging or a generator. Solar panels (for this purpose) aren't really useful because seeking shade is a much more effective strategy.

With or without onboard AC, a Maxxair fan is inexpensive and extremely useful. It can be left running 24/7 extracting hot air and keeping the interior temperatures down, even when parked and uninhabited for long periods of time. In central and northern FL, it may be all that is needed during some parts of the year.

All good points but I did my AC unit for 500 unit now redodos 188 each for 100 amps 250 for inverter 50 bucks each 250 watt panel 200 for full roof rack and another 200 for assorted wires fuses etc...150 for Epever 40 Amp controller so total about 1800 for a solid system...of course if you go all blue all new then it will jump up a lot lol

 

[maki2]

So glad I am not stuck living in a city or in a hot summer climate! These threads about AC make me very grateful for my relative simplicity of nomadic life where I can function in a state of “less is way more”.