AC for van question...

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Yeah, it can. Although you'd have to define what you mean by "convert".

The exhaust hose must be vented to the outside through a 5.1" hole in the wall of the van. The exhaust hose puts out way more hot air than unit puts out in cold air. Way more.

The internal water reservoir holds about 2 cups, or one pint, of water condensate. The manual says it will put out up to 38 pints, or 4.75 gallons, of water per day, but on a humid day in Kentucky it will do that in 8 hours. The unit uses a combination of refrigerant and water condensate evaporative cooling. Evaporative cooling works well in dry, desert conditions. In humid conditions, not so much. In average midwestern humidity, anywhere between 50% and 90% humidity, the internal reservoir fills up very quickly, then the unit shuts off and has to be drained before it will start back up. If you mount it up high enough so that it can constantly drain into a 5 gallon bucket, you won't have to empty the bucket for 7 or 8 hours. Another option is to mount a permanent drain down through the floor of the van.

Power consumption is 9.8 amps AC. Running off an inverter it will draw just about 104.5 amps from a battery bank. You don't want to ever discharge your deep cycle batteries more than 50%. It will completely drain a 100 amp hour battery in 42 minutes, 50% DoD in 22 minutes. When you completely drain a battery and then recharge it on a routine basis, it takes about 3 months before the battery only has about 50% of its original capacity, and your 100 amp hour battery becomes a 50 amp hour battery, which will drain completely in 19.2 minutes at a 104.5 amp draw.

Of course, if you have a generator, you're good to go. Vent the exhaust and the water drain and kick back in cool comfort.

Oh, most portable units like this one won't run unless they are level, because of the internal water tank. And it probably won't run while driving, for the same reason.
 

Twin Pop USA

Expert Expediter
Thanks for the informative response. After hearing all that, I might be best going with an outside generator and rooftop RV AC unit. I really don't want to idle this gas eater all summer at almost 1 gal. per hour.
Does anyone know a reasonably priced RV AC dealer?? And what is a good install price?? Thanks
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
www.campingworld.com is a good place to start. With them or any other RV place, get with them early, real early. Like next week. lol The problem comes from most of them being so busy working on RV's that they have sold, they won't want to take on any business for a vehicle they didn't sell, even if you buy the AC unit from them.

OK, next week is probably a little soon, but I wouldn't wait until mid-April or anything like that.
 
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