Habitation Air Con

[Sweatysock]

Evening, We are in the process of moving from a VW Campervan to a MH and planning European travel. Question is as follows: We think habitation air con would be essential for hot country travel and yet most MH's do not have it. What are the views of those that have travelled to Europe (for example) with and with out Hab air con. TIA - Keith and Amanda

 

[TheBig1]

If you will always use sites, the idea of hab aircon is fine. Most just use fans and evaporative coolers

 

[Jo662]

My motorhome came with hab aircon when i bought it 6 years ago,and I had never used it until the last couple of years when I was in France when it was way to hot for me. The only drawback is you need EHU,and we mainly do aires when in France. so we had to find a campsite to be able to use it. I wouldnt be without it now for the odd times I needed it ,it was a life saver!

 

[Richard n Ann]

We've always managed without ok. I fitted homemade removable ceiling fans above the bed in the skylight that bring in the cooler night air, would be quite uncomfortable without. I fitted speed control, mozzie guards and thermostat to switch them off if it goes cold.

We Also have a mains fan in the window during the day, very effective if you mist yourself with water too.

 

[Badknee]

We have hab aircon that was retro fitted and it’s great

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[Richard n Ann]

A couple of years ago we were coming up through northern Spain and the van thermometer hit 44°c I was scared to stop as the van AC would go off with the engine, anyway we stopped in Millau and it was only 39°c had a swim in the river to cool off, dropped to about 35 by bedtime so the ceiling fans were enough.

 

[Peg Star]

Wouldn’t want to be without ours going to Europe in the summer. It’s splendid, gives you best of both worlds. We found Truma customer care second to non too. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend….

 

[Bessy765]

We have a 7.5 mtr Burstner 2019 bought new in the deal was a free hab air con. We had it fitted over the rear bed so it could cool the bedroom as opposed to the usual dining area. We were really glad of it last year in France and Spain.
when abroad a lot of sites only have a low amperagesupply that may trip when using hab air con. And of course you will need hook up to use it. We are having 600 watts of Solar an inverter charger (2kw) and 200 amp lithium. With a selective draw of the incoming mains power. This will let us use it when wilding or ire’s (with limitations) and at low supply campsites sharing the load between mains and batteries.

 

[Neil S]

Wouldn’t be without habitation aircon
After experiencing temperatures of 104 Fahrenheit in the S. of France
Truma air conditioning units are designed to run of low amperage sites ours uses 4.2 amps .
We tend to use CCP aires in France which typically have 6 amp EHU’s and the air con runs just fine .

 

[Sweatysock]

Thanks to everyone for their contribution, loads of interesting views. I am leaning towards having air con as a "must have" when we move from the VW Campervan to the MH. Love the friendly and varied views though so many thanks, Keith and Amanda (based in Cotswolds)

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[Landy Andy]

The problem with aircon is that at some point you must leave it. So for us we hardly ever use the AC in the van, and wouldn’t have it in the hab area as it just feels hotter when you leave the AC area. Better to just get used to it and allow yourself to adjust to the temps.

 

[daveclare]

We have truma AC fitted between bedroom and living space, so it cools both areas. Although you can direct all of the flow in either direction. We've used it throughout this euro trip. It can only be used when on hook up. We've been able to use it on 6amp sites and aires by switching to the lowest fan setting, which still gives a decent cool flow of air.

That is if we remember to switch off the water heater before putting the AC on!!

 

[Neil S]

We have truma AC fitted between bedroom and living space, so it cools both areas. Although you can direct all of the flow in either direction. We've used it throughout this euro trip. It can only be used when on hook up. We've been able to use it on 6amp sites and aires by switching to the lowest fan setting, which still gives a decent cool flow of air.

That is if we remember to switch off the water heater before putting the AC on!!

ours seems to be ok on maximum cooling even when on 6 amp EHU irrespective of the fan speed .

 

[daveclare]

Interesting. Did you have the water heater on hot and do you use an electric kettle at the same time, obviously not switched on all the time? I must try ours on full to see if it trips the electric.

Ours tripped the electric in Cassis, St Pierre aire and Motril. All were old type two pin hook ups.

 

[Figaro]

As pointed out, AC is lovely on too hot days, but it does make it feel hotter when you do go out and if not careful you can end up sitting inside your van in the cool when you should really be outside enjoying the scenery.
I have a rule therefore that AC only for use to cool the van before bed, assuming were on a site with ehu of course.

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[Jenka]

We spent 3 years and used the Dometic AC regularly brilliant first thing fitted to the new van !

 

[Simon Meadwell]

We manage in south of France and Spain this year with fans and a Fiamma turbo vent

 

[BillandHelen]

Hi, we have a dometic fresh light fitted in our 7m panel van, and Wouldn’t be without it. It works on sites with 6amp electric, so great in Spain and South of France etc. Also in our new van we specified 200amp of lithium which allows a couple of hours use in the evening when off hookup, easily recharged with 60 amp b2b or our solar. All works great, would recommend it highly.

 

[Neil S]

Interesting. Did you have the water heater on hot and do you use an electric kettle at the same time, obviously not switched on all the time? I must try ours on full to see if it trips the electric.

Ours tripped the electric in Cassis, St Pierre aire and Motril. All were old type two pin hook ups.

We had the fridge on which is one of the larger 175litre Dometic but no kettle or water heater

 

[BillandHelen]

We had the fridge on which is one of the larger 175litre Dometic but no kettle or water heater

We run our fridge and aircon together on 6amp hookup, no issues. Off hookup we have a 2000w inverter, so roughly 8amp, quickly get used to either aircon, kettle, hairdryer etc etc but never 2 together!

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[Lenny HB]

I think it's better to aclimitetise you soon get used to the higher temps in a few days. We don't use sites so it wouldn't be any good for us anyway.

 

[EuroTrotters]

yes, wouldn’t be without it.

42c in Italy last year. Van covered up and felt like a fridge at 26c inside.

But I don’t like roof mounted systems.

I fitted a blown air system in our Motorhome. Our caravan has a factory fitted roof unit, noisy as hell.
Would you like photos ?

 

[AJM2]

Our Eurom has done the job in the South of France in the heat of mid-summer and doesn’t use up weight allowance if not needed at other times. If we ever change vans it goes with us or we sell it.