Alternatives to Aircon
- trailerdreams
- Aug 25, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 24, 2021
As our TrailerDreams readers know we have been without Air conditioning since pretty much the start of our travels. The trailer aircon is from the 50s and does start up to provide some cooling for 30 mins before choking with a disconcerting clunk - also it is really only designed to work when we have shore-power = external AC power so not good for off grid or dry camping stuff. Also Ruby's F150 AC never really worked properly and has got steadily worse in the heat. We tried topping up with coolant but, unfortunately there is something more fundamentally wrong.
Consequently we have been forced to get more creative about keeping cool, especially on the triple digit days that seem to the norm for inland US summers.
Here are some of the alternatives that we have employed - from the common fan:
To neckerchiefs soaked in water and wrapped around the neck - especially good when driving. Thanks Simon (Bro) for the Glasto neckerchiefs:
The solution that we came up with for Big-Al is an evaporating cooling system which takes significantly less power than a standard AC (only 150W - which is roughly what the Solar will generate mid day) and about a gallon of water/hour.. This works very well in low humidity and, unlike ac, needs the windows open to work effectively. Although it is quite a large "portable" box - it does fit nicely under our table. As Jo says, this is the best $280 we have ever spent as we both do not do well in heat.
A more cost effective version of the evaporator that we have been using in the F150 is the fan with water spray. This was $5 at HomeDepot and only need AA batteries, but is somewhat localized.
Additional items that we found on Amazon and have started using. The very small "swamp cooler" - only needs a little bit of water and runs off rechargeable batteries. Been good in the car as well as taking the edge off in the trailer.
This rechargeable neck cooling fan also does work - although sometimes having palstic against your skin is not that pleasant. Also has built-in flashing led lights - not sure why :)
Hope that this post provide some interesting background as people have been asking "how do you survive in the heat".
Cheers
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