Cooling Ideas (1 Viewer)

[daveinspain]

It could be done but I suspect the gas consumption would be a tad eye-watering! Your gas powered fridge cools a cubic foot or two of well insulated volume. Now scale that up for the size of a MH. A non-starter I fear.

I see what you're getting at, but not sure that's a direct comparison. Our fridge/freezer is about 150 litres (don't know what that is in cubic feet) but you're not trying to cool the van down to the same temperatures as the fridge (5C) or minus ?C for the freezer, just reducing the temperature 2 or 3 degrees can make a big perceived difference in the comfort factor - which is what we are doing at home right now. Reducing our bedroom temperature from 30C down to 27C makes it feel a lot more comfortable, strange though that may seem!

 

[DBK]

I see what you're getting at, but not sure that's a direct comparison. Our fridge/freezer is about 150 litres (don't know what that is in cubic feet) but you're not trying to cool the van down to the same temperatures as the fridge (5C) or minus ?C for the freezer, just reducing the temperature 2 or 3 degrees can make a big perceived difference in the comfort factor - which is what we are doing at home right now. Reducing our bedroom temperature from 30C down to 27C makes it feel a lot more comfortable, strange though that may seem!

You might be on to something but a typical internal volume of a MH might be around 15,000 litres based on a back of the hand calculation. Of course as volume increases the ratio of surface area to volume decreases but even so I think the gas consumption would be at least an order of magnitude higher* and fans would be needed to circulate the air, increasing the power consumption.

* a decimal point. Making cold directly from heat is inefficient.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

LPG aircon is available for buildings so the tech is there. I still think big enough 12v circulation fans would be the problem.

http://www.lpgasmagazine.co.uk/lpg-powered-air-conditioning-system-world’s-first/

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[DBK]

LPG aircon is available for buildings so the tech is there. I still think big enough 12v circulation fans would be the problem.

http://www.lpgasmagazine.co.uk/lpg-powered-air-conditioning-system-world’s-first/

The LPG drives an engine which drives a compressor. That's the way to do it as someone once said.

 

[daveinspain]

You might be on to something but a typical internal volume of a MH might be around 15,000 litres based on a back of the hand calculation. Of course as volume increases the ratio of surface area to volume decreases but even so I think the gas consumption would be at least an order of magnitude higher* and fans would be needed to circulate the air, increasing the power consumption.

* a decimal point. Making cold directly from heat is inefficient.

Yes, your probably right about the gas, and as others have said, the 12V fan(s) would draw too much power. Ah well, back to the drawing board!

 

[Eeyore]

Reducing our bedroom temperature from 30C down to 27C makes it feel a lot more comfortable, strange though that may seem!

Our south facing bedroom at the moment ( 10.44 pm) is a comfortable 23.2 deg C. The outside temperature today, on the north facing kitchen' s shaded window ledge, has been 38.8 deg C at the highest.

When we got up I opened all doors and windows wide. At 8.30 am, as it got hotter, I closed everything tight: all windows, doors, Venetian blinds and thermal lined curtains. They have stayed closed all day and the inside temperature downstairs has stayed at about 22 degC. We keep a big fan going all day at the bottom of the stairs.

At the moment, with the outside temperature at 24 deg C, all upstairs windows are now wide open and curtains drawn back except in the bedroom where the blind is as closed as necessary for privacy.

I look around at neighbours with doors and windows wide open all day and the sun streaming in,and know they will complain about how uncomfortable it is in this heat.

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[bungy]

on the radio this morning they had a thing on about this...and licking your wrists was mentioned...so I tried it, and by 'eck it did work, for a little while anyway!!

 

[TheBig1]

on the radio this morning they had a thing on about this...and licking your wrists was mentioned...so I tried it, and by 'eck it did work, for a little while anyway!!

now you know why dogs sit licking their balls when its hot

 

[daveinspain]

Our south facing bedroom at the moment ( 10.44 pm) is a comfortable 23.2 deg C. The outside temperature today, on the north facing kitchen' s shaded window ledge, has been 38.8 deg C at the highest.

When we got up I opened all doors and windows wide. At 8.30 am, as it got hotter, I closed everything tight: all windows, doors, Venetian blinds and thermal lined curtains. They have stayed closed all day and the inside temperature downstairs has stayed at about 22 degC. We keep a big fan going all day at the bottom of the stairs.

At the moment, with the outside temperature at 24 deg C, all upstairs windows are now wide open and curtains drawn back except in the bedroom where the blind is as closed as necessary for privacy.

I look around at neighbours with doors and windows wide open all day and the sun streaming in,and know they will complain about how uncomfortable it is in this heat.

That's exactly what we do here in Spain, except we have persianas (blinds) which are insulated, and it helps otherwise the bedroom would have been around 38C by bedtime.

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[Chris]

My wife instructed me to put my feet in a bucket of cold water last night.

It certainly cooled me down.

We had walked home from an air conditioned restaurant and really overheated.

 

[Eeyore]

Interesting...I suppose it's counter- intuitive: when it's sunny you open everything and let the sun shine in surely ? Most of my neighbours though have been to Spain , France or similar in summer and surely must have asked themselves why whole towns and villages look like ghost towns during the day with all doors and windows closed and shuttered and no- one about ?

I,ve not met " persianas" before. Wonder if they came to Spain via Persia like Venetian blinds from Venice ?

 

[daveinspain]

Interesting...I suppose it's counter- intuitive: when it's sunny you open everything and let the sun shine in surely ? Most of my neighbours though have been to Spain , France or similar in summer and surely must have asked themselves why whole towns and villages look like ghost towns during the day with all doors and windows closed and shuttered and no- one about ?

I,ve not met " persianas" before. Wonder if they came to Spain via Persia like Venetian blinds from Venice ?

'Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun!'

Re persianas, never thought about it before, but you're probably right!

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[Highwayman1]

Interesting...I suppose it's counter- intuitive: when it's sunny you open everything and let the sun shine in surely ? Most of my neighbours though have been to Spain , France or similar in summer and surely must have asked themselves why whole towns and villages look like ghost towns during the day with all doors and windows closed and shuttered and no- one about ?

I,ve not met " persianas" before. Wonder if they came to Spain via Persia like Venetian blinds from Venice ?

Found that reversing the trend of windows opening outwards (as in the UK), seemed to work in properties in France I`d stayed in. It facilitated the outer shutters being closed/windows open method of cooling and it did keep the place cool. Maybe standard here one day ?
However on Ascension Island where it is regularly in the upper 80`s plus, you just had to get used to it and hydrate yourself with water (desalinated - urgh), or some other form of beverage that didn`t impair your driving. Unless you were an American that is , who had, and expected, air con as standard fayre along with flown in Pringles , water melon an open air cinema, and .... and .... and ........ . I guess the lack of other than solid Hershey bars was a real downer for them

 

[Eeyore]

Found that reversing the trend of windows opening outwards (as in the UK), seemed to work in properties in France I`d stayed in. It facilitated the outer shutters being closed/windows open method of cooling and it did keep the place cool. Maybe standard here one day ?

Surely if you leave the windows open, even if the shutters are closed, the air temperature in the room and the world outside will equalise more quickly than if you put a solid barrier- eg a double glazed window- between them ?

I googled the origins of persiana and it makes interesting reading.

 

[Scattycat]

Someone on the 'net suggested a good way to cool down was to put your sheets in the freezer. Really? Obviously not written by someone who EVER changed sheets on a bed. By the time I'd got the sheets back on they'd be hot again!

In really hot weather I often put socks, underwear and 'T' shirts in the fridge in the morning and put them on later in the day to help cool down.

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[CandC]

In really hot weather I often put socks, underwear and 'T' shirts in the fridge in the morning and put them on later in the day to help cool down.

And that was how edible underwear was invented!

 

[magicsurfbus]

I find the simplest way to cope with southern European heat is to keep a hat on in direct sunshine, walk in shade wherever possible and just get used to it. Takes a couple of slightly uncomfortable days but in the end I acclimatise and I stop feeling the need to cool down. The only air conditioning we have in our MH is the windows. I can't sleep without something covering me so we take a cotton sheet for when it's stinking hot - helps keep the biting bugs off.

 

[Shrimp]

I'm surprised no- one has mentioned the 12v Endless Breeze fans: expensive but excellent. From our experience in Morocco and in Spain in August, they are very effective and can be left on day and night without flattening the leisure battery.

Eeyore can you only get the Endless Breeze from USA?
Is there an outlet here, UK?

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[Eeyore]

I think there are some eg Outdoor. Bits, but we got ours by ordering direct via the American Amazon website. It was quite a bit cheaper than via a UK supplier, came very quickly ( less than a week as I recall) and all the paperwork was dealt with by Amazon. They took a small sum against a possible customs/ import tax payment, said that it might be refunded if the tax was not applied but, it was kept. Full paperwork supplied.

We did nothing other than order and receive so totally painless. The fan has a 12v cigarette lighter type plug so that was not an issue.

 

[scotjimland]

I'm surprised no- one has mentioned the 12v Endless Breeze fans: expensive but excellent. From our experience in Morocco and in Spain in August, they are very effective and can be left on day and night without flattening the leisure battery.

this needs to be quantified..
what size of battery(s) ? do you have a solar panel ? and what fan speed ?


Low: 15 Watts or 1.25 amps
Medium: 27 Watts or 2.25 amps
High: 35 Watts or close to 3 amps

on full power, using 3 ah, an 85ah battery would be discharged to 50% (effectively flat) .. after 14 hours.

anything left running will eventually flatten a battery bank .. no matter how big.

 

[Eeyore]

Fair point !

We have a 110A.hr battery ( one), 140W solar panel, and most of the time when we run the fan we are in conditions favourable for generating. In the desert it cools significantly at night so no fan. In summer too we have precious little else running on 12 V. We tend to do initial cooling on the high setting and then to low for maintenance. At night we almost always use it on low. It is not silent but is quiet and this is, we think, an advantage. It blanks out the noise of other campers that is inevitable when everyone has windows and vents wide in hot weather !

The EB shifts more air per Watt than any other fan we have used...and, trust me, we have a garage full of redundant ones at home.

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[Deleted member 29692]

Eeyore can you only get the Endless Breeze from USA?
Is there an outlet here, UK?

This is the guy that imports them to the UK.

http://www.fantasticvent.co.uk/product/FV1100WH/ENDLESS+BREEZE

 

[Judge Mental]

loose cotton or linen clothes (no man made fibers) and plenty of shade..you can acclimatize in a very short time. Have been in 45 deg in India and Italy and near that is Spain. Just go out early..rest by the pool in heat of the day and out again at sundown....Simples

 

[gus-lopez]

There was a programming on the radio today about heatstroke and the advice was to sit in moving air - or in other words just get a big fan.

I had a couple of SPAL 13" x 10 blade radiator fans that I obtained years ago to use on my Delica . Never got around to it. So I've just modded one to use for cooling dog . Works for me as well shifts a collsal amount of air but is a td noisy !

, just reducing the temperature 2 or 3 degrees can make a big perceived difference in the comfort factor - which is what we are doing at home right now. !

Just removing the humidity makes all the difference, even without reducing temp.

LPG aircon is available for buildings so the tech is there. I still think big enough 12v circulation fans would be the problem.

http://www.lpgasmagazine.co.uk/lpg-powered-air-conditioning-system-world’s-first/

One I have at 13" shifts over 1000cfm . There are 16" ones available that are rated at 2500cfm. You'd have no problem with moving the air @12v but just ensuring the noise level was ok for the end user. Curved blade fans are fa quieter but at the expense of lower air flow.

I,ve not met " persianas" before. Wonder if they came to Spain via Persia like Venetian blinds from Venice ?

Posh roller shutters !

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[Deleted member 29692]

One I have at 13" shifts over 1000cfm . There are 16" ones available that are rated at 2500cfm. You'd have no problem with moving the air @12v but just ensuring the noise level was ok for the end user. Curved blade fans are fa quieter but at the expense of lower air flow.

My point isn't about moving the air it's about the power consumption and drain on the batteries.

 

[Borisski]

Probably a stupid question but still new to all this and going to ask it anyway re the Endless Breeze fan! Seriously considering getting one but just wanted to check you can use it when on EHU as well as running it off your leisure batteries ?

 

[scotjimland]

@Borisski It is 12v only.. but makes no difference.. on EHU you still have 12v from your battery

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[Eeyore]

As above when in the van. I see from the adverts that you can now buy a power supply from them which that will enable you to use it at home via a normal socket. We have a power supply so that we can use at home but it is not made by EB.

 

[snowdrops]

We try and ensure our acsi sites have pools. Great way to cool down any time of the day. We also open back, side and front doors in evening to cool van down and drink icy cold rose, as the french do. Endless breeze on our list fore sept.

 

[Allan & Loren]

We're not long back from France and 30/35 degrees of heat. we have a great air con unit in our RV which we put on when we go out and it keeps the bus at a great temperature ready for sleeping. When we were driving we opened some of the windows to get a breeze blowing through and we have 2 fans fitted above the driver and passenger seat to circulate the air. During the day/evening I found large glasses of chilled wine or lots of ice in my G&T was the best solution hic

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