Air Con Question

[Herbyventures]

We have also joined the forum for self builders, but I wondered whether anyone here has experience of using a Dometic air con unit in a Camper van? We have bought a basic Transit van for conversion and my OH is concerned we do not have cab air con (we could not find a van with air con in our area, let alone our price bracket) The dealer has told us the Dometic Air con can run while you are driving so my OH reckons with the bulkhead removed we can use the Camper air con to cool the cab while driving. But from a bit of research I have done we're going to flatten our batteries if we do that? Has anyone any experience of using a Dometic Air con in this way, or is there a reason no one does it?! Do vans get as hot as cars while you are driving? Are there alternative ways of cooling the cab? Sorry, that's several questions! But all on the same theme...

 

[funflair]

Look at the spec of the air con multiply it’s cooling amps draw by 20 and then make sure the van alternator can handle that and a bit spare, then you will need some good cables to an Inverter and then run it off 240v, make sure it shuts down when the engine is off though.

I find opening windows help sometimes but not in conjunction with any air con cooling.

Martin

 

[Jonno1103]

You need to buy an additional DC kit from Dometic to run whilst driving... The kit is around an extra £1000 on top of the cost of the air con unit.

 

[Lanerboy]

Sorry to tell you but it's really not a good way of getting air con in your cab whilst driving

 

[Granjan]

We have driven lots in pretty hot weather, mid 30’s and find opening the windows works just fine.
We love the aircon on if its hot at night though.

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[Herbyventures]

Thanks for your replies! I'm now looking into the cost of either retro fitting air con to the van or fitting a commercial unit aimed at cooling the cab. If it all looks prohibitively expensive, we'll think again (and open the windows!)

 

[Lofty1]

I have a very old roof air con I got off e bay was planning to fit but decided was to heavy for my van bit battered and would need recharging, if interested pm me. 12volt