Air conditioning in Spain

[Belbaz]

Hi all,
I’m looking to spend more time in Spain, I’m a complete newby at motorhoming so my question is how important is it to have A/C either in the cab for driving or other A/C forvwhen hooked up.
Your experiences and comments will be very welcome
Cheers
Barrie

 

[Richard n Ann]

It depends when you're going. It would be very uncomfortable driving without it mid summer.

 

[Belbaz]

That’s my concern, driving in the south in summer is very “warm” in a car so with a large screen like a Hymer I thought it might be a tad sauna like

 

[DBK]

Cab A/C more or less essential in my view but the habitation area A/C's need mains electric and are noisy. You can get used to it, we did when living in Kuwait but it took a while.
My suggestion would be cab A/C and avoid the hottest parts of the year.

And a big 12 volt fan, the Endless Breeze is very good but there are cheaper alternatives.

 

[sallylillian]

We have been at the marina aire at Almerimar for the last few days, force 6-7 winds with gusts in excess of 35kts. 31 degrees clear sky's. So to have the windows and hatches open was like being in a wind tunnel and a test fro the roof hatches, after a day we shut them all and put the AC on. Peace!

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[Mikeco]

No air con in my van but sometimes you have to make do, had this 12volt Roadpro fan in the garage for 5 years.

 

[Mikeco]

Deleted duplicate

 

[Odd-no-more]

Cab air con is a must. Hab air con is a matter of choice. We have hab air con but it is very noisy and not to powerful. More powerful units take a lot of electricity and more than a lot of sites have. If I were choosing now I would have a fan instead of the air con

 

[gus-lopez]

Cab air con definitely.

 

[two]

We've had two types of air/con: 12V evaporative (surprisingly effective) and 240V.
Now have a (12V) 'Fantastic' vent, used on extract and is moderately effective.
12V can be used anywhere but less effective than mains. Did not use air/con much (noisey) but often use the extractor now. Not sure how good it would be in really hot conditions, though.

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[MikeD]

One late August evening in mid Spain we had 38c at midnight.

July and August for me, air con is a "must have" accessory.

We visit Spring and Autumn usually and the cab air con is almost always on.

This Spring excepted - it snowed or rained almost all of the time

 

[Burgo]

We just keep the inside as dark as possible during the day, and use a couple of mini USB / 12v fans powered on the USB sockets each side of the bed at night. We bought ours in AKI and they're like these: Broken Link Removed

 

[Vanderek]

I've just been to Croatia ..the Dutch caravan next to us had a roof mounted Dometic aircon unit that was running so loud it was disturbing....to make things worse they had the windows wide open and sat outside with it running on a south facing pitch ...they even went out and left it like that. So am I a fan of it ? (pun not intended)

 

[Belbaz]

Looks like the cab AC is indispensable

 

[joka250]

I've just been to Croatia ..the Dutch caravan next to us had a roof mounted Dometic aircon unit that was running so loud it was disturbing....to make things worse they had the windows wide open and sat outside with it running on a south facing pitch ...they even went out and left it like that. So am I a fan of it ? (pun not intended)

Bl##¥^y typical, most habitation aircon users seem to want to air condition the whole site.

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[Zigisla]

This summer we used usb rechargeable fans. Fix one onto the bottom bunk where the dogs are and the other in the dinette area for us. Charge whilst driving is no problems and the charge lasts all night on low to Med setting. Big advantage is that they are clip mounted and you can turn them at different angles so all areas can be covered. Disadvantage is that they can run out during the night whilst on high setting. Cab aircon as others have said is a must, although these fans can be and were used in the cab.

 

[MikeD]

I've just been to Croatia ..the Dutch caravan next to us had a roof mounted Dometic aircon unit that was running so loud it was disturbing....to make things worse they had the windows wide open and sat outside with it running on a south facing pitch ...they even went out and left it like that. So am I a fan of it ? (pun not intended)

I am surprised no one unplugged it for him. Especially the site management.

 

[sallylillian]

Bl##¥^y typical, most habitation aircon users seem to want to air condition the whole site.

So you don't have it then

 

[Belbaz]

Oh dear, looks like I’m going to have to start my looking again

 

[two]

Ask of those who go to Spain in Summer:

Do you have A/C &, if so, do you use it?
If you don’t have A/C, do you wish you did or not?​

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[Badknee]

We've put a thermal curtain up behind the cab seats to keep the cab a/c in the cab, works brilliantly. a/c in the hab when on 230v.

 

[BreweryDave]

We have done the summer this year in Portugal, many days over 40 deg. Not a problem in daytime as outside but at night was too much. We don’t have aircon, but had 3 fans running 24/7. If I’d had aircon boy would I have used it, even sat in the cab area with the engine running the cab using the cab aircon some nights for a a bit ( in an A class) but overall those nights are a few, and mostly you can cope as long as you’re sensible and park away from direct sun, so for the price of a grand.............well worth it for a few nights, but overall, I’d leave it.
............a bar and a pool however are essential !

 

[Belbaz]

The Hymer I was thinking of doesn’t have any AC not in the cab of the hab. Given the amount of glass in a class A it seems that cab AC is an essential as a minimum.
I live part time in the south of Spain and know how hot it can get in a normal car, I just had no idea on Motorhomes

 

[MikeD]

We have done the summer this year in Portugal, many days over 40 deg. Not a problem in daytime as outside but at night was too much. We don’t have aircon, but had 3 fans running 24/7. If I’d had aircon boy would I have used it, even sat in the cab area with the engine running the cab using the cab aircon some nights for a a bit ( in an A class) but overall those nights are a few, and mostly you can cope as long as you’re sensible and park away from direct sun, so for the price of a grand.............well worth it for a few nights, but overall, I’d leave it.
............a bar and a pool however are essential !

We paid around £2500 for the air con on our Autotrail and as we usually only travelled Spring and Autumn hardly used it.

In Germany one Autumn it was 38c and the damn thing could not cope.

I bet it worked out about £100 a day for the number of times we used it.

But Spain in the summer I don't think I could live without it.

 

[MattR]

IMHO, it would depend on what part of Spain you are going to be in and when. I know that it can get hot everywhere for many months but also, it can be cool for many months of the year and the North hasn't been scorchio on our 3 summer visits. In our experiences, a large PVC is cooler than a car anyway and A/C is nice but not essential in the cab. We have it but would probably survive for 8 months a year with out it. Habitation A/C would be nice in July & August - especially in the South when it also gets very humid but you might find that time of year too hot to do much anyway so moving North would be a nice change.

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[bobandjanie]

I've just been to Croatia ..the Dutch caravan next to us had a roof mounted Dometic aircon unit that was running so loud it was disturbing....to make things worse they had the windows wide open and sat outside with it running on a south facing pitch ...they even went out and left it like that. So am I a fan of it ? (pun not intended)

We had the same with a French motorhome at Cambrills, all windows and door open, air con cutting in and out and sat outside.
Janie went round and explained how air con works, although the wife was very interested he refused to understand English and turned it Off. .............brilliant . Bob.

 

[joka250]

So you don't have it then

After several decades running an automotive aircon business I am a total convert but can't see the point of switching it on and then opening windows. A complete waste of resources.

 

[Richard n Ann]

I used to say "you don't buy a fridge and leave the door open do you?

 

[tacr2man]

Some of earlier Euro aircons worked on evap principle , so you need windows open . But would be surprised if many or any about now .
Cab aircon is very nice to have , allows driving to be a lot more pleasant . The hab aircon fitted to most wont cope with daytime very hot days , the real benefit comes at night when it can be difference between a good nights sleep and not . My RV has two hab units , I changed the bedroom unit to large Euro one , as the OE one was too much elec load for most Euro EHU . If I want both units on then the genny has to go on , which is not always good neighbourly , although very quiet .

 

[gus-lopez]

We had the same with a French motorhome at Cambrills, all windows and door open, air con cutting in and out and sat outside.
Janie went round and explained how air con works, although the wife was very interested he refused to understand English and turned it Off. .............brilliant . Bob.

I used to have customers like that. Just couldn't understand the principle of how it worked.
Here I would say my car air con would only be unused for less than 1 month.
It isn't the temperature that is the problem but the rise in humidity.
I find that having it running is enough to make it far more pleasant without having to lower the temperature much.

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