Generally it seems the portable ones are waste of money. We did read up on them prior to having a proper air con installed which cools down our caravan sufficiently in hot weather.
Did you look at the Search Facility? previous topics here.
Out of the results the second one down, exact same title, is one I responded to.
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
Bit too general a question, as potentially covers everything from the smallish evaporative cooler types to fairly big domestic type proper air con units.
Evaporative cooler types are generally not great, firstly when you are likely to need it's effects most is when atmosphere is hot and humid, but the unit's evaporative cooling will be minimal in already humid saturated air! - it's little more than just a fan under those circumstances. They can also raise general humidity levels which is often the initial cause of discomfort anyway.
Domestic 'portable' air con units are both heavy and unwieldy, if you've got one you'll know what I mean, and the term 'portable' is relative! They need a vent to the outside for the exhaust hose, no point in just poking hose out of a open window, you need a sealed outlet, otherwise you are trying to air con the entire planet with warm air wafting in through the open window! ... plus you cant leave the window open when you leave the van unattended as it's a security risk. Quite often seem NOT to be recommended/suitable for use in caravans for reasons I'm not entirely clear on! Consider the weight impact on your van payload, could EASILY be 1/4 of your van total payload allowance! Also consider where you could SECURELY stow it during transit, such a heavy weight really needs securing over the axle if not to destabilise your towing performance, and being wheeled you really would need to secure it thoroughly otherwise it could wreck itself and your van if it moved around. You need to measure your caravan door, many domestic units are simply too big to actually get into a caravan through some of the narrower doorways! On the subject of size, do you really have space in your van! A general consideration is that some refrigeration devices need a little settlement time after transit to allow refrigerant to settle to bottom of system before use, that may mean you can't use it for the first hour or so after pitching.
The dedicated 'Cool My Camper' caravan/MH type units are 'Marmite', some love them, some hate them, and not many sitting on the fence it seems! Again you have payload weight and stowage position considerations, they are bulky and not light. Seem to be plenty of comments about the external unit noise being an annoyance to close neighbours. They are in general terms not as effective as a domestic type Air Con as they DO NOT in themselves lower the general humidity, only chill the air, and lowering humidity is often the key to comfort. They are also quite low powered, so may take some time to cool or have limited cooling effect, but the low power consumption can be a benefit.
With all proper Air Con units, they are quite power hungry, you may have issues with the lower powered EHUs, and running any other devices at same time.
With all proper Air Con units, they are quite power hungry, you may have issues with the lower powered EHUs, and running any other devices at same time.
I've tried to be objective with Pros and Cons to the asked question, but opinions vary wildly and you'll get all sorts of responses no doubt.
Not sure why you think they are power hungry. We have use dour air con in Spain where the limited is 6amp.
On maximum cooling our Truma Comfort would use 4.2amp and maximum heating 3.7amp. I don't think we have ever used it on maximum for either cooling or heating. Coolest we would have the caravan is 18C and that is very seldom. Generally 20C is a better temperature.
The size of the unit i.e. caravan or motor caravan that needs to be cooled is very important. Also pointless having air con on if leaving a door open. Maximum weight is 33kg which comes out of your payload allowance.
With all proper Air Con units, they are quite power hungry, you may have issues with the lower powered EHUs, and running any other devices at same time.
I've tried to be objective with Pros and Cons to the asked question, but opinions vary wildly and you'll get all sorts of responses no doubt.
Not sure why you think they are power hungry. We have use dour air con in Spain where the limited is 6amp.
On maximum cooling our Truma Comfort would use 4.2amp and maximum heating 3.7amp. I don't think we have ever used it on maximum for either cooling or heating. Coolest we would have the caravan is 18C and that is very seldom. Generally 20C is a better temperature.
The size of the unit i.e. caravan or motor caravan that needs to be cooled is very important. Also pointless having air con on if leaving a door open. Maximum weight is 33kg which comes out of your payload allowance.
But you couldn't run say a water heater or kettle at the same time! Which was the point I was making. A dedicated Caravan/MH system is obviously built with low amp EHUs in mind to make it usable, but it does take the lions share of available power.
Couple of friends with MHs both commented to me that they had to be careful about A/C and other appliances when on low amperage EHUs, the A/C had to go off if other high power devices were needed.
Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 04/6/2022
But you couldn't run say a water heater or kettle at the same time! Which was the point I was making. A dedicated Caravan/MH system is obviously built with low amp EHUs in mind to make it usable, but it does take the lions share of available power.
Couple of friends with MHs both commented to me that they had to be careful about A/C and other appliances when on low amperage EHUs, the A/C had to go off if other high power devices were needed.
Our kettle is 800w so not an issue. We turn off the hot water boiler during the day and only switch it on in the evening when the a/c is no longer required. Works for us. We have never come across a 6amp site in the UK. However my point was that a/c are not has power hungry as people think they are. The heating system in any caravan used more amp than an a/c, but I understand your point if people want all the singing and dancing stuff operating at the same time.
i have a 2600w portable aircon unit that i bought after last years hot spell.
I went through a few evaporative coolers that were useless.
cools the bedroom in the apartment right down, but i wouldnt like to run it in a van.
As well as all the points monty raises above (and they are really heavy....) is the noise. the fan is ok, but then the fridge unit kicks in and you can hear it over your earplugs...
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Topic: Portable Air Conditioning Unit
via mobile 03/6/2022 at 11:30pm
