Habitation Air-Con

wildebus

wildebus

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Does anyone have Air-con in their living area in their Motorhomes? Almost certainly only usable when on a site, but could be very handy in weather like we are currently getting (and in southern Europe generally as well I would imagine).
 
I’ve got it came with the van factory fitted. Iv actually used it recently off grid through my inverter but only for an hour or so at night to bring the temperature down not dropping my batteries too low keeping them about 30% knowing that the next day was going to be nice and the solar would kick them back up it seemed to work a treat but did drink the energy from my two 100 lithium batteries.
 
I have a cool my camper aircon unit. It draws 350w but provides 700w of cooling. I can use it off-grid 24 hours per day as long as the sun shines all day to recharge the batteries.
 
Meant to say I get 12hrs on low and it runs off us so my power pack can operate it think it's 6 hrs on high but never had iron high. No need yet
 
I have one, which I fitted last month.
Its predecessor is for sale on ebay right now. Nothing wrong with it (although it's old) but it wasn't powerful enough for the van. It's a Blizzard 1300.
The replacement is more than 50% more powerful.
You really need hookup or a generator, because it draws 650 watts to give 1300 watts of cooling.
But if anyone wants a bargain aircon, have a look at https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224107969296
 
helen262 said:
We have it but only because it was already fitted to the van I think We’ve only used it once, but that’s because we don’t use camp sites very often,
I don’t think I would pay for it fitting if it wasn’t already fitted to the van as I find opening the windows and skylight gives a nice cool breeze
Click to expand...
Aircon is expensive to buy, but fitting it is dead easy. They just sit over a 400x400 skylight hole and only require a mains supply flex.
The difficult bit is getting a box weighing around 30KG onto the roof. I parked near a high retaining wall and walked across.
 
in h said:
I have one, which I fitted last month.
Its predecessor is for sale on ebay right now. Nothing wrong with it (although it's old) but it wasn't powerful enough for the van. It's a Blizzard 1300.
The replacement is more than 50% more powerful.
You really need hookup or a generator, because it draws 650 watts to give 1300 watts of cooling.
But if anyone wants a bargain aircon, have a look at https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224107969296
Click to expand...
Just nosying through the posts and saw the ebay post so I had a look. Midgley I see
in h said:
Aircon is expensive to buy, but fitting it is dead easy. They just sit over a 400x400 skylight hole and only require a mains supply flex.
The difficult bit is getting a box weighing around 30KG onto the roof. I parked near a high retaining wall and walked across.
Click to expand...
Plenty of high retaining walls around the Midgley hillside😁
 
We had an air con unit in our RV. It was great, instead of the after market units that sit on a vent, it channelled cold air through 10 roof vents throughout the van. It worked on EHU or through the built in generator.
When our cab air con packed up, we could run the generator as we drove, which ran the air con. Very useful as we queued for the channel tunnel one year with massive queues and temperatures in the 30’s
I wouldn’t have it now though, much rather sit outside in the shade and use a rechargeable fan to keep us cool overnight. Air con units are quite noisy.
 
I am tempted by an Air-Con unit for sure :) And would have to be a permanent unit rather than a hang-out-the-window one (being just something I know I wouldn't use myself).
However .... Apart from the expense of something like a Dometic FreshJet (not actually OTT at all but still well into 4 figures) and the Power Consumption (pretty limited use away from hookup), there is a weight aspect as well to consider if payload limits are a consideration.

I think I will stay with my MaxxAir fan for now. It doesn't cool the air below the external ambient but it is superb at shifting high volumes of air fast and is very power-efficient as well, plus you can set a target temp which it attempts to maintain automatically, changing the fan speed dynamically as the actual and target temps close up.
Well recommended.
 
I have good fans, but all they can do is move air, helping you to sweat the heat off. If the outside is warmer than you want the inside to be, fans won't sort it. Aircon is the only solution.
The Freshjet is the one to go for: the Truma equivalent is cheaper, but they're nothing like as reliable.
I just fitted a Freshjet 2200 to replace the Blizzard 1300. The Freshjet range is the replacement for the old Blizzards.
 
Moving air on your skin gives the impression of it being cooler than the ambient temperature and will actually cool you down as it evaporates any moisture on your skin. So, a fan is a good investment, we bought one and it was great over the last couple of nights when the temperatures were into the 30’s and it’s pretty quiet and economical.
Air con is great too, we use it in the cab when we are travelling. It has its disadvantages though for habitation areas. You need all the windows and doors closed, it dries the air and can reduce humidity to an uncomfortable level and it can be noisy and power hungry.
If you can afford the cost and weight though, go for it.
 
snapster said:
Moving air on your skin gives the impression of it being cooler than the ambient temperature and will actually cool you down as it evaporates any moisture on your skin. So, a fan is a good investment, we bought one and it was great over the last couple of nights when the temperatures were into the 30’s and it’s pretty quiet and economical.
Air con is great too, we use it in the cab when we are travelling. It has its disadvantages though for habitation areas. You need all the windows and doors closed, it dries the air and can reduce humidity to an uncomfortable level and it can be noisy and power hungry.
If you can afford the cost and weight though, go for it.
Click to expand...
You do point out another aspect which made me decide this afternoon to park the idea, at least for the moment .... When you run it, you do essentially have to close up the room for it to be effective, and that is often at odds with the idea of actually using a Motorhome.
 
I had a quick look and ran some even quicker numbers, to my thinking you want a kilowatt of solar on the roof. The box units seemed like a good idea to me. The panels I chose for Betty would stop me putting a kilowatt up there. But Murky could take it.
 
if wild-camping, yes. But if using Campsites, no solar needed at all (which is why this question is not posted on wildcamping.co.uk)
 
The one I had needed 650 watts of mains power. Its replacement draws 900 watts, but drops back to about 750 watts after a while. But generally you'd be using the Aircon when the sun is shining, I guess.
 
Air con? In the UK? All three days? It's your money. A 12v fan and a spray bottle for me.
Before anyone kicks off. It's an opinion . Nothing else.
 
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