Panel van conversion cooling (1 Viewer)

[Lost Sun]

We have a PVC (Globecar Globescout) based on a 6m Ducato and are busy fitting it with the necessary for future trips to France. We had initially decided on aircon over the rear bed but as we don't plan to be on hook up much, we are looking at alternatives and need your help with some answers.
1. Do you find Panel Van Conversions get particularly warm in the sun versus a traditional caravan or motorhome construction. I'm guessing they heat up quicker in the day but also cool quicker at night but I'm only guessing.
2. Would an internal fan help?
3. Should we consider a fan that extracts air eg, omnivent/fantastic fan that replaces a roof vent or is there another type that could pull in air from beneath the van when needed?

Regards
Simon

 

[Theonlysue]

@Minxy Girl ?

 

[rosalan]

The Omnivent that can suck or blow air from the roof of the van, does seem to do a good job. Most pro built vans should have sufficient insulation in the roof and side panels to deal with heat and cold.
I personally would forget about A/C which is both expensive and limiting as to where it can be used.
This year in August near Seville, I had to buy extra fans and bought this from Amazon. It proved brilliant and could blow in two directions at the same time.

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[DBK]

If you get one the Endless Breeze fan is very good. We have one and use it when the going gets hot.

 

[mikebeaches]

We had some seriously hot weather in France and Germany this year, but didn't notice much difference in our Rapido van conversion compared to our previous coachbuilts.

In fact, during the day we found it cooler, because of the breeze through when the large side door and rear barn doors are opened fully. Kept an external cover on the front screen.

And it was OK at night, though we kept the windows open.

We also had a decent freestanding 230-volt fan and a 12-volt endless breeze fan available when necessary.

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

Hi Simon,
We have had our PVC a couple of seasons now and go out all year round in all weathers with no problems
I think the level of insulation in your van will determine how hot / cold the interior becomes or stays.
Another factor in hot weather is the colour of the van, lighter colour the better.

I built our van and spent a lot of time fitting as much insulation as possible, it just helps keep heat in and out.
Like yourself i was concerned about the van getting too hot so fitted a Funster favourite, The Fantastic Roof Vent.
Operates on 12v so great for being off grid. As you use it mainly in the summer months then solar if fitted will easily power it. Our fan is roof mounted at the front of the van and if you open a window at the back you get a pull through of cool air.
The mode we chose has a thermostat and rain censor which has come in handy a few times
We also find the fan comes in handy when cooking in the van in the winter months.

Highly recommend this powerful fan

Build Thread if you fancy a nosy....www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/rb-panel-van-conversion-begins.100614/

Here are a few pictures Cheers...Ralph

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[Minxy]

@Minxy Girl ?

You called ????????

We have a Globecar FamilyScout L and have been away in heatwaves where the temperatures were up to 40, yes it gets warm as any vehicle would with those sorts of temperatures but we cope and that's with 3 dogs! We love the sliding door and have it most of the time with one or both of the rear doors too so we can get a lovely cool through flow of air, much more than you get in a coachbuilt, at night we have the roof vents open and occasionally the windows near the bed area and that is usually sufficient to make it comfortable to sleep. I don't think it gets any hotter than a coachbuilt would but we have a lighter coloured (white gold) PVC so it doesn't absorb heat like a much darker one would and as you have an orange one I don't think it would be bad either. We do have a clip on cab type fan that we could use if we wanted but to perfectly honest unless you are sitting right in front of it there's no real benefit anyway, we have had other fans, including an 'Endless breeze' one, but find them noisy even on their lowest setting no matter how quiet they claim to be.

Something which I've done in a few MH and PVCs is to have extra 'insulating' pads/screens to help with keeping the heat/sun out as that's a much better thing than trying to get rid of it once it's in: I have 2 reflective 'pads' (like internal windscreen covers) which I use on the 2 roof vents that have suckers to stick them on so even when open the screens can still be used and keep the sun/heat out; I've also got some thinner ones (a bit like stiff silvered bubble-wrap) that fit on the between the side/rear windows and the blinds and these too reduce the heat coming in. These pads/screens obviously can be used in colder weather to keep the heat in too ... win-win.

Something we are going to try next time are 'chill' pillows/pads, there are various types on the market and when I was having terrible hot flushes many years ago one of these (a Chillow) was the ONLY thing that helped, so we've got a large one for Romy our 13 year old dog who is a warm dog anyway so she can lay on it both inside and outside to keep cool in hot weather, plus another medium one for another dog who also gets hot at times especially when she gets a bit panicky, and also a smaller one for hubby as he gets quite hot in bed (stop it!!!! ). These Chillow/Chill Pillows/Pads (various makes) really, really DO work so hopefully they'll keep the mutts happy (and hubby of course!).

Overall we've found that the ONLY real issue with heat is that the top cupboards/lockers can get warm inside (PVC or MHs) so don't store stuff in them that could be affected by heat ... especially sweets and chocolate (I speak from experience ... although having chocolate going a bit soft is a good excuse to eat it!!!).

I would see how you get on first before forking out for expensive fans etc as you may find that you don't need anything.

 

[busby]

Suppose it depends on the individual ,,Was in France in the 2003 heatwave,,40 plus every day and was in Spain this year on Costa Brava 34 plus every day but didn't have any problems at night. All windows wide open including door,,all nets in use,,,Not too bad,,BUSBY.

 

[Moonchild]

We have used the double type above (rosalan's post) in France & Spain this year and it worked well but was a bit noisy.
We also had a couple of these from Maplin - very quiet.

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[Minxy]

We have used the double type above (rosalan's post) in France & Spain this year and it worked well but was a bit noisy.
We also had a couple of these from Maplin - very quiet.

Interesting alternative to the usual type of fans as you could run it from one of the power packs as mentioned in one of the Q&As so truly portable and then just charge up the pack again during the day for night use.

 

[JockandRita]

@Simon Todd.

During our 12-13 years of ownership, Rita and I experienced our hottest times ever, in the MH this year.............................on two trips.
Whilst we do have roof Air Con, often we didn't have the power source to operate it, or, when we did, we felt that the dull drone might be an annoyance to others, so we didn't use it.

Locations where we felt safe enough to have the windows open wide all night, (with the fly screens in position), were very rare. Although we came close to purchasing 12v fans, (similar to the ones linked above), we utilised our (long ago purchased) 240v clip on desk fans along with our inverter, during the night.
The air flow was directed right across the bed area, which made for a more comfortable night's sleep. The power drain from our 225 Ah battery bank was negligible.

We discovered this to be a very handy option, on and off grid.

HTH,

Jock.

 

[Richard n Ann]

This was my first effort I made/adapted for the skylight about 3 years ago. It's a standard 240v 40w square desk fan, I put a 1000 ohm 100w resistor switchable in with the motor to slow it down. The power resistor gets hot so I made a heatsink for it (the fins top left)

Works great, much better than the noisy factory fitted one above the kitchen. There was room for improvement though as it used about 3 amps on the inverter and the heatsink isn't ideal (I did try a dimmer circuit but they are noisy on fans)

So earlier in the year I started work on a DC version.

4 x 120mm axial fans on a board. The first fans I used were really cheap, were slow and used too much power, so I bought some better ones that were about £7 each, they were then too fast so I fitted a PWM speed control circuit on the back..

They blast outside air into the van and only use about 1 amp turned up to full, on low they are silent, really pleased with the result. ..
Don't worry, I've tidied up the wires and painted the front white.

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[Hughman]

We've got a Possl Roadcruiser, so similar size, and have done several summers in Italy, France, Croatia and other spots where we've seen 40C or so. As per Minxy Girl, we also have a dog (only one, but he makes enough noise for 3!) and he's quite happy as long as there's some shade in the daytime. We leave the Silver Screen on and closed during the day. At night we have rooflights and side windows open, and can usually get a reasonable night.

However, I'm very interested in Ralph 'n' Bev's Fan-Tastic Roof Vent as it would help create a bit more through-flow of air. Depends how noisy they are though. My other half is very sensitive to fan noise so we have to turn off the fridge fan at night as it keeps her awake.

 

[Lenny HB]

Hi Simon,
We have had our PVC a couple of seasons now and go out all year round in all weathers with no problems
I think the level of insulation in your van will determine how hot / cold the interior becomes or stays.
Another factor in hot weather is the colour of the van, lighter colour the better.

I built our van and spent a lot of time fitting as much insulation as possible, it just helps keep heat in and out.
Like yourself i was concerned about the van getting too hot so fitted a Funster favourite, The Fantastic Roof Vent.
Operates on 12v so great for being off grid. As you use it mainly in the summer months then solar if fitted will easily power it. Our fan is roof mounted at the front of the van and if you open a window at the back you get a pull through of cool air.
The mode we chose has a thermostat and rain censor which has come in handy a few times
We also find the fan comes in handy when cooking in the van in the winter months.

Highly recommend this powerful fan

Build Thread if you fancy a nosy....www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/rb-panel-van-conversion-begins.100614/

Here are a few pictures Cheers...Ralph

View attachment 200100 View attachment 200101 View attachment 200102 View attachment 200103

Have a Fantastic vent in the current van and had one in the last van wouldn't be without one. They may not look the prettiest but they are probably the best 12v fan available for the amount of air they shift the current draw is very low. Like Ralph-Bev we set if blowing out with windows around the bed on vent and get a lovely cool breeze over the bed and with the thermostat once the van has cooled down it turns its self off.

 

[Richard n Ann]

I wouldn't say the current draw is very low:

When mine is on low it takes less than half an amp

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[Lenny HB]

I wouldn't say the current draw is very low:
View attachment 200138

When mine is on low it takes less than half an amp

Mine doesn't draw anything like that either, on low about ½amp on high 1½ amps.

 

[DBK]

Supplied by Dometic now. One model has 14 speeds!

https://www.dometic.com/en-gb/uk/products/climate/ventilation/vents

 

[Lenny HB]

Domectic took over Fantastic Vent/Endless Breeze earlier in the year, just hope they don't redesign it because if it works as well as their fridges it won't be worth buying.

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[Richard n Ann]

Supplied by Dometic now. One model has 14 speeds!

https://www.dometic.com/en-gb/uk/products/climate/ventilation/vents

There's no price on your link so I looked them up on ebay. Holy poop! £200+. Even the fan blade is 34 quid!

I'm now changing mode from smug to impossibly smug 

 

[Lenny HB]

There's no price on your link so I looked them up on ebay. Holy poop! £200+. Even the fan blade is 34 quid!

I'm now changing mode from smug to impossibly smug 

Paid €320 as an option on the Hymer thats the discounted price, still good value at that because they are very good they blow in & out and have a thermostat.

 

[Richard n Ann]

Paid €320 as an option on the Hymer thats the discounted price, still good value at that because they are very good they blow in & out and have a thermostat.

That's a good point, it does get a bit draughty at 5am some mornings. I've just ordered a room stat on ebay, if it knocks the fans off about 18°c it will be about right. That's another £8.80, this forum costs me a fortune

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[rosalan]

A further point if heat becomes a problem, is to fit an external silver screen, NOT internal screens which are cheaper but by the time the hot sun reaches them, it is already inside your van.

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

Think i paid around £300 for ours, wouldn't be without it.
Not worried about the draw on it either.We also have a 12v only fridge and run them both in the summer with no problems. However, I do have quality battery's and a good Victron solar setup.

As some of you know from my build thread....I always try and fit the best

Ralph

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

That's a good point, it does get a bit draughty at 5am some mornings. I've just ordered a room stat on ebay, if it knocks the fans off about 18°c it will be about right. That's another £8.80, this forum costs me a fortune

Bloody hell what next.....A rain sensor

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[DBK]

There's no price on your link so I looked them up on ebay. Holy poop! £200+. Even the fan blade is 34 quid!

I'm now changing mode from smug to impossibly smug 

Just click on a specific product to see the price. The 14 speed job is £399 but I'm not sure what it offers over the other models at around £220. But if our Fiamma fan ever needs replacing I would consider this one as a replacement.

 

[Lenny HB]

Bloody hell what next.....A rain sensor

Will be interesting to see your DIY version.

 

[skylinersi]

i have just converted a cheap fiamma fan, so it blows and sucks (fitted a switch to reverse polarity) just need to sort hardwiring.............along with the other projects.....

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[Ralph-n-Bev]

i have just converted a cheap fiamma fan, so it blows and sucks (fitted a switch to reverse polarity) just need to sort hardwiring.............along with the other projects.....

There is two words you dont often hear together, Cheap...Fiamma

 

[Shrimp]

We don't have a panel con but we do have a fan in the roof that works either way.
I have made covers for the windows-ours hinge along the top-so we can have the window open but no sun can get in, they seem to help!
We see a lot af vans on Aires that have air con units on the roof but can't use them because there's no EHU!

 

[Lenny HB]

i have just converted a cheap fiamma fan, so it blows and sucks (fitted a switch to reverse polarity) just need to sort hardwiring.............along with the other projects.....

I did that, See here. The Fantastic vent in my van is in the bedroom area and no room to fit another one over the lounge so I fitted a cheap Fiamma one in the main rooflight. Dosen't shift much air compared to a Fantasic vent, came close to returning it but took the view it was better than nothing and it was cheap.

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