ventilation questions and ideas

[One Awesome Inch]

I remember reading about an idea I would like to try. For maximum stealth, use the rear license plate housing so that you can open the area and put in a small fan such as a computer fan. I would also have some kind of sliding patrician so that I could have an open'window'. I would utilize some small hole wire mesh 2 mount the license plate onto. the perimeter around the license plate would be where the air would come in and be exchanged.

I have 2 questions...

Number 1- how much power will the computer fan use? there is a great likelihood that I will not drive the van very much. This means that using the alternator to charge the house battery may not work well for me. I will not use much power so perhaps Solar would be enough to keep the battery charged with just that small fan running?

number 2 - assuming that I used a big buddy heater, do I want to bring oxygen in from the outside or suck old air out?

 

[GotSmart]

It seems to me that if I was walking behind a van, and heard a whirring I would be suspicious. You would be better off putting in a roof vent. You see then on a lot of vans, so that would not draw attention.

RV Bob suggested putting up a roof rack to camouflage the solar collector. As to the power usage I have not got that far into the whole solar math thing yet. I am still concentrating on building the interior first.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Hmmm.... I think an open roof vent would be a bit suspicious to me. Plus where I live it rains 6 months of the year and I want that vent open almost always.

Do you think people would really be able to hear a computer fan running with the van parked on the street or a parking lot? I would think the ambient noise would mask it, no?

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[GotSmart]

Just look at this page. The sides are high enough to be able to vent and not get water in. You just have to crack it a little. Also that rack will hide a solar collector real well.

http://www.lowcostvans.co.uk/blog/e...ipment-and-accessories-roof-racksladdersvents

I would be less suspicious of fan noise coming from under the hood than from the rear plate.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

A computer fan draws very little power, something like an amp. They don't move much air and not real good for cooling a space. To exchange air they are pretty good tho.

In our part of the country roof vents are common, even on work vans and truck toppers. With a hood installed they can be open when it rains.
I don't think a roof vent really takes away from the stealth image.

 

[sl1966]

A computer fan is and was only designed to move hot air outside of a computer case. You would require a team of them to make an effective dent in removing hot air from the inside of a van. To solidify what I'm saying those fans normally work inside of home computers. There are a team of them that run inside of enterprise class servers pushing the hot air out of a server into a specially designed environment (server room) where the expelled hot air is quickly dispersed by AC vents specifically pointed at the heat exhaust exchanges to help keep things cool.

 

[akrvbob]

The manual on the Buddy heater will give you an exact amount of ventilation it requires. It needs 9 square inches, so if you leave a window down an inch that's all it needs.

With all propane appliances don't guess!!! Read and follow the directions exactly!.

Todays blog post is all about staying cool, you may want to go read it.
Bob

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

The roof vent isn't at all stealthy, in fact i had more than one person literally say "Do you live in your van, i saw the vent on top." That and the sunshield....which is weird because so many cars use them, but around here i guess only homeless people do

 

[One Awesome Inch]

In my situation I dont need the fan/vent to remove hot air. Its only hot (28 to 35 Celcius) for maybe 6 weeks a year. Most of the time its either overcast or light rain. I need the fan to keep the humidity down and get oxygen in so I dont get poisoned to death by the off-gassing of the Mr. Heater Buddy.

 

[Blue]

I'm gonna read today's blog post... but...

nothing sets off my "dude is in the van" radar like a big magic fan plastic cover raised with a (though mostly quiet) fan whirring sound. to me thats a total stealth fail (think I'm gonna start a topic on stealth fails)

I dont know about the vent in the license plate thing, sounds like a good idea, but if your going to do it, why not have the fans at the entry of the vent pushing the air in, rather than the end of the vent pulling the air out.

1) this will make it much harder to hear the fan behind your insulation, and far from the vent exit.
2) The fan at the vent entry should be more effective (as pulling air from all around a fan is more effective than trying to pull air through a hose where the suction would be much less at the vent's entry point.)

Another concern I would have... if your venting out the license plate thats a fairly low area, if the van is hot the air is trying to rise, I would think that would make the pulling fan even less effective at getting rid of heat because your pulling from high to low.

I went to an RV supply store and got two smallish vent exits with slanted blades for 20 bucks, I plan to put these in at the very back of the van with hoses leading more towards the front of the van just behind the cab, where I will have the fans. At some point I "think" I will also vent from the floor of the van as the shaded air is much cooler than the interior of the air in the van. (beaches in cali are pretty darn hot!)

Also, I will be getting the 3 or 4 inc rain guards for the driver and passenger windows, this will let me take the windows down a inch or so without most people noticing (it would take close inspection,) I might also buy a small set of fans I have seen that fit inside the top of the window itself... but I'll have to check on those, too loud or if it causes a whooshing sound near the rain guards and I dont want them.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

I guess it would be best to have one fan to take air in and one fan to suck air out. However, ideally I'd really rather only use one fan... keeping in mind that its going to be on almost all the time.

Hmmm...

 

[Lucky mike]

a" Fantastic Fan" is a variable speed fan with a rain sensor that will close the vent if it rains...I have 2 on my rig, they are great and dont use alot of power!

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

My fantastic fan doesn't have that feature...so models differ.

I just made a vid about the co from my mr buddy and ventilation. Its in saefty on the road forum under 'don't get accidentally murdered'

 

[Lucky mike]

I have a Wave catalytic heater onboard & a Big buddy htr....love them both...I always crack the windows when Im stopped and crack the vents out of habit.love fresh air , and cant even sleep if my head isnt by the window

 

[Zil]

The license plate vent is a cleaver idea. There are larger computer fans as well as the tiny ones. I think you would have no problem using solar if the sun would shine, but you said not much sun. One very big problem with a vent on the back of the van. The aerodynamics of the vehicle is such that exhaust can (will) be drafted into the interior and put you down.
Roof vents are very common and will not draw attention to you living in your van. Other things are much more likely to draw that attention.

 

[MrNoodly]

Number 1- how much power will the computer fan use? there is a great likelihood that I will not drive the van very much. This means that using the alternator to charge the house battery may not work well for me. I will not use much power so perhaps Solar would be enough to keep the battery charged with just that small fan running?

Computer fans draw so little power that you could run one directly off a small solar panel -- like the ones that are about 6 inches by 12 inches and can rest on your dash or be suction cupped inside a window. Or they can run off of rechargeable flashlight batteries. No need to hook them to your vehicle electrical system.

But I don't think a fan that small will move enough air (unless you're a microprocessor), and the license plate stealth opening is more elaborate than necessary.

 

[Willy]

I have a number of different 12v computer fans, from 1" all the way to 6", and they actually draw very little whilst moving a gawdawful amount of air. My 6" one draws abt 1A and it makes for a veritable hurricane. The 3" ones draw draw around 0.2A and will move a surprising amount too. I gave my buddy one to stick in his small TT during the summer, a few years ago, and he cooled down his unit with it running off a small 5W solar panel.. could have even ran 2 of them fans with it. ..Willy.

 

[Blue]

Btw I've seen a 35.00 solar roof vent at Home Depot. Had a buddy who used it for um... Indoor agriculture. It was amazing, you can set a temp and it shuts off in rain, I'm thinking of making a pop out for it but again... Very loud/big. Stealth fail...

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

On my tablet so here is that link, as you can see it doesnt take much ventilation to be safe from a mister buddy.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

What about cutting a couple of 5 inch holes in the floor of the van?

Very stealth.

Rain wont get in if you rig it with a couple of pvc tubes or something.

I guess the most important thing is to know where to make the holes so you dont damage something.