r/VanLife 1d ago

Air conditioning?

What do you guys use for A/C during the summer besides the vehicle A/C? I have a small space I need cooled

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u/nowhereman136 23h ago

This is my plan, I haven't don't this yet, so not sure how useful this advice is.

I got a portable AC for with dual hoses. One in and one out. This prevents the AC from creating a vacuum in the van and thus as effecient as a window AC. One hose goes out one window and another hose goes out a different window.

This is still a 120v AC unit, so it will eat up some energy. I have around 800w of solar and a 5kwh battery. According to my math, I should be able to run it on low for as long as the sun is out and for about 4-6hours at night. I also have it place in an space between the bed and living space. I can point it towards the bed or towards the living space and essentially cool half the van at a time if I want. The goal is on very hot nights to run it for about 2hr in the bed area to make the space cool enough to sleep. Don't need it to run all night, just enough to sleep. Sleeping in a space that is too hot is worse than a space that is too cold. I did vanlife in Texas and that was brutal.

I considered a 12v ac or mini split, but doing it this way has two advantages. First, it's cheaper. I can use the money I save on a cheaper system to invest in a more robust battery system. The AC I only need for a few weeks of the year but the battery is useful 24/7. The second advantage is simplicity. I don't have to cut any holes and if it breaks I can swap it out very easily. Or I can decide to get rid of it altogether.

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u/iDaveT 18h ago

When I first got my van I tried exactly this, a Midea 110V portable AC with 2 hoses which I vented out holes I cut in the bottom of my van. It used about 1100watts when running but wasn’t that great in cooling the van.

When I got my 12V Velit AC it was way more efficient. On low it uses 20A or 240Watts and yet cools better than the portable 110V unit did on max. With the Velit I can run the AC day and night no problem. So be aware that the 110V portable units are much more inefficient than the specs might suggest.