Thinking about installing AC in a possible future van. Need schooling

[JasonRedwood]

So I am contemplating picking up a 60's or 70's van to build out as a family camping rig and mobile chain stitching service for some events next year.
Most the vans I am looking at need rear interior built out and dont have any AC of any sort. What are some nice low profile roof top options some of you might have experience with?
Any and all suggestions are recommended. Even if not a roof top option.

edit: I have googled it but wanted to hear from the pros. Especially if theres anyone with installing AC on such vintage vans.

Thanks,
jason

 

[broncobowsher]

Do you need A/C for going down the road (engine driven) or while parked (plug in electric)?
Not sure which way you are looking at going.

 

[JasonRedwood]

Do you need A/C for going down the road (engine driven) or while parked (plug in electric)?
Not sure which way you are looking at going.

Oh right. I would like AC for both.

 

[Bikersmurf]

Where are you going to be stopped? Away from a plug in or near 110v?

Running off batteries increases the cost a lot.

 

[jonyjoe101]

For keeping cool I found out nothing beats foam insulation. The entire rear of my 1986 astrovan is covered in foam insulation, I used the rtech 1/2" 4x8 foot sheets they sell at home depot (about 8 dollars). I removed the old roof insulation which was thin fiberglass material and hot glued the foam in place, on the roof I installed 2 layers, it worked very well. Hot glue sticks very well to metal and in 2 years havent had any foam come unglued.

Using an IR thermometer you can find all the hot spots and put foam in those areas, I had no choice but to put foam on all the rear windows. I also build a sliding door between the front and rear of the van, 2 thin pieces of wood sandwiched with foam in between.

To stay cool , I tried roof vents, fantastic fans, cut vents on the side of the van. For me AC was out of the question due to no generator or access to 120 volt electricity. All I had was the 240 watt solar panel on my roof. I decided to build my own swamp cooler from directions I found on the internet. The swamp cooler did the trick. I'm in the california area, and the weather is perfect for swamp coolers. The swamp cooler I use right now uses less than 2 amps at full power and I can throttle it down to less than an amp. I also built larger swamp coolers that used electric car radiator fans (about 5 amps) but was overkill for my small van. With the foam it maintains heat or cool temperature very well, so its best to turn the swamp cooler on in the morning when the van is already cool and run it all day, it well stay comfortable all day long and at 2 amps power use is negligible. Worst case, run 2 swamp coolers at the same time, that still less than 4 amps.

As an example how well foam insulation works, before if I dropped water on the rear of my van carpet, the heat of the day would dry it up before it got dark. After I installed the foam, I dropped water on my carpet and 3 days later it was still wet, even pointing fans on it wasnt drying it up, I had to remove the carpet and decided to put foam insulation on the floor instead. Front of the van it can be 145 degrees, the rear of the van maybe 98 degrees (without swamp cooler running) with the swamp cooler running it might get as low as 91 degrees which is livable, around 80 degrees where the swamp cooler is blowing.

If you put an AC, with the foam insulation you would have to run it on low, it would get cold very quickly.

small 2 amp swamp cooler


celdek evaporator pad, water flows over this and cools the outside air


large 5 amp electric radiator fan swamp cooler

 

[hyperboarder]

I'm thinking about a swamp cooler for my setup, any plans you can share?

 

[Treenail]

Instructables website has lots of mini swamper coolers

 

[Mwilliamshs]

...As an example how well foam insulation works, before if I dropped water on the rear of my van carpet, the heat of the day would dry it up before it got dark. After I installed the foam, I dropped water on my carpet and 3 days later it was still wet, even pointing fans on it wasnt drying it up, I had to remove the carpet and decided to put foam insulation on the floor instead. Front of the van it can be 145 degrees, the rear of the van maybe 98 degrees (without swamp cooler running) with the swamp cooler running it might get as low as 91 degrees which is livable, around 80 degrees where the swamp cooler is blowing...

Swamp coolers do work but only under conditions of low humidity. They remove heat energy from air by using it to evaporate water, making the air cooler but more humid. This could be one reason the carpet in the above example refused to dry. Example of how this matters: a factory I worked in for awhile in Colorado had these swamp coolers:

and they worked great to keep things comfortable even in the 90s. Same company opened a facility in Arkansas and installed the same swamp coolers. They actually made things worse by raising the humidity which was already very high. Instead of the forced air absorbing the water like it did in Colorado, it just blew water around. In a dry climate the swamp coolers were a godsend but in a humid environment, they were evil. The floor was wet, tools rusted, mold grew...it was awful. To say nothing of the fact that the air was muggy and did not cool off at all. In dry climates a swamp cooler can make a room cooler and more comfortable. In humid climates they do not cool the room but they actually make it less comfortable. The human body regulates its temperature the same way swamp coolers work. We sweat and the sweat evaporates, cooling our bodies. Humid air can't dry the sweat because it's already saturated with moisture so we are less comfortable and warmer. Air conditioning makes us more comfortable because the discharged air is cooler AND dryer. A swamp cooler can make us more comfortable if the discharged air is cooler (possible only if the air is already dry) but in the process it's also made more humid. If you'll be in a dry area and stay there, swamp coolers can work. If you'll be moving around, I'd not waste the time, $, and energy on one.


IMO swamp coolers CAN work, under the right conditions. Air conditioners DO work, under all conditions.

 

[JasonRedwood]

Where are you going to be stopped? Away from a plug in or near 110v?

Running off batteries increases the cost a lot.

I'll be stopped at different scenarios. Plugs and no plugs in site.

 

[Mwilliamshs]

I should've also mentioned that if you happen upon an arid environment and choose to stay, a swamp cooler can be improvised easily with just about any fan and a towel, t-shirt, spray bottle, etc so actually constructing one to haul around wouldn't be my method of implementing an evaporation cooler.

 

[86scotty]

Mwilliams, that's a pretty great explanation of swamp coolers vs. AC that I had never considered. Thanks for that.

Jason, I had a van with a Coleman Polar cub rooftop AC awhile back. This is a lesser known RV rooftop AC that is only 9500 BTU vs. the usual (and larger) 13500 BTU units. Mine ran great with a Honda 2000 watt generator, which won't run a regular 13500 unit. Those take a minimum of about 2500 watts which puts you in big a** generator territory. This was an expensive setup though with the AC costing about $600 (couldn't find a used one) and the generator costing about $900. These days I would do it different. I think being set up for AC anywhere and always is a waste of space in a van. Just carry a window unit from Walmart, etc. with you, super cheap and effective. 5-6000 BTU (plenty for a van) for about $150. You can rig up a front window mount for almost nothing or put it in the rear door (not the window) like GTRV/Pleasure Way does. These cool a van just fine and use a lot less power. I can't link pics right now but you can find all of these and other ideas on a Google Image search.

Good luck!