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To those familiar with living in your van: how can the van be kept air conditioned all night?
I've seen small air conditioning units in the rear window of some vans but have no idea of how they are powered for so many hours. Any ideas?
I drove a 18 wheeler in 2010 and the truck I had was a 2009 international. My truck had extra batteries that would power the secondary AC and heat for about 6 hours every night so I didn't have to run the engine. If you used an AC unit that ran off of 12 volt DC then extra batteries could give you some time. The AC units that are used on RV's should be 12 volt DC. I don't know how much these cost but it maybe worth looking into. I will tell you that my truck was very comfortable on days up to 90 degrees, over that and I had to run the engine and use the engine driven AC.
Another approach; I was at a local truck stop and I saw a van with a regular window AC unit mounted in the rear door and it was running but they also had a 1000 watt generator mounted, welded and locked on the rear bumper. The generator was running and it made very little noise. Some of these newer generators are very quiet.
BTW the web site Cheaprvliving.com has allot of info on this.
To those familiar with living in your van: how can the van be kept air conditioned all night?
I've seen small air conditioning units in the rear window of some vans but have no idea of how they are powered for so many hours. Any ideas?
Get a good supply of black colored extension cords and park near a source of electrcity (even if not for your use). You may need to make a connector with a outlet on one end and jumper clips on the other incase you have to tap bare wires.
There are some very small evaporative coolers that look like an a/c from the outside but uses only a small amount of electricity (small water pump & small fan)
The window ACs stuck to a van are rare because they don't work well. A van AC is more like 20,000 BTUs compared to a 5,000 BTU window AC. A rooftop unit that hooks to shore power will work fine. The more practical option is a couple of 12 volt fans, one blowing on your face, the other exchanging air.
Try using a fan to push the hot air out of your van at night, and to direct cooler air onto your sleeping area. That's what we do in the campers we have in Maine, which get awfully hot during sunny days, even in Maine.
The fans we use are called O2Cool, and are battery-operated (D cells) or a 12v connection, which we use. We keep 3-4 of them in each camper. You might only need one. Get the 10", not the 8". I can tell you those fans are quiet, and push a strong stream of air. My first one ran on 8 D cells and lasted a couple weeks on just the D's. Just plug into your DC connector in the van; assuming you drive it daily, it should not drain the battery. Power consumption is minimal. They cost about 30 bucks, are lightweight plastic, and come with a stand and a hanger.
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