Roof Air/con

terry1956

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Hi, thinking of fitting a roof air/con system to my hymer B544. Can anyone please let me know if these systems are anygood. Can they be made to run when on the move? or is it site only. Can one sleep with the system running. thanks. michael
 
air/con

Thanks G. if it was not for the dogs I would leave it and spend the money on beer. But I am just thinking about it at the moment. Thanks for your input. terry
 
***** said:
Hi Terry.
If you look at my posts (post 1 and 3)in the Wild in France thread you will see that I have roof air con.
It is Dometic and runs only on 240volt, and also gives warm air.
It was on the van when we got her and is quite good. It is fitted just above our double bed and the noise will not keep us awake. The noise is less than an electric fan heater.
The only trouble is that you need hook up as you would not leave the geny out all night to power it;)
You can get 12 volt models, however I believe that they eat the battery power and are not as good.
Would I fit one if I had not got one?
Only if going to hot countries for extended stays (which I think you may do)
as for me, I would probably have other priorities to spend my money on.
Hope this helps
Click to expand...


We were thinking of air con as well and you have answered some queries for me Garth wouldnt be any good for us as we dont use sites ..unless we have to ..so even with the solar panel it would eat the battery.we could have done with it in June in Portugal the dog was ok though it kept under the van in the cool pity I couldnt have got under as well.lol.
we left the Algarve and went north into the centre and the barrogems cooler there.Going early this time so it wont be so hot, many thanks

Val
 
air con

Hi, well after summing it all, It looks like a no go. The reason being that we don,t use sites, will not camp sites, just the camper stop areas. This would leave us in a position of not having the power to run to the air con. I may just look into the normal stand alone systems and see what power they use, but the roof system is out the window. thanks for all your help. terry
 
I did a bit of research on 12/24V a/c units which can run off batteries and alternators.

Eberspacher's Sleeping Well using the Danfoss 12/24V compressor, will keep a small campervan cool but will not cool it down - so you need a vehicle run a/c unit to keep the temp down. Have to be mounted vertically and the condensor and compressor must be on opposite sides of the wall - so not a great option for most campervans. It is designed for truck cab cooling. I saw them on eBay (uk) for about £300.

DC Airco (Dutch company) also have 12/24V units, roof mounted, battery operated or run via the alternator, serious cooling. I've seen some Kenworths used by a mineral exploration company wth these units for use in Western Queensland. They are big $$$/£££.

I wish there was something else - I toyed with putting a 12V motor onto an a/c compressor but at 3750Watts it starts to get heavy and more expensive than buying a DC Airco unit.

I looked at inverters and a 240V unit, but again the inverters start costing the same as a DC Airco.

I'm now of the opinion that seeing as most diesels are reasonably happy to run at idle or just above when they are using their power take offs, I see no reason (other than noise and smell) of running the vehicle a/c unit. Some smart arse could no doubt work out a way of turning the engine on/off when the inside of the vehicle reached temperature.
 
air con

Thanks all for the input, the above are for a 24 volt system not 12volt. here is what I have sorted, for the cost of £30 I have obtained a 2nd hand household air/con unit which runs off my inverter. As the roof mounted units only run when on power take off and cost a lot more money, this was the way for me go with a household unit, I only want the a/c when on a site for the dogs.
thanks again. terry
 
We had a Coleman fitted on our Winnebago ( as does EVERY RV - sometimes two!) It was VERY cold but was slightly noisy, more vibration than true noise, I doubt if we could have slept with it running. They all take a LOT of power apart from the new waeco which is only an evap' unit i.e. NO compressor, so not as cold... but almost as expensive!!!

For our new motorhome we had dash air con fitted, as you tend to spend more time driving than sleeping/parked, so you arrive cool and hopefully remain cool, but I appreciate if you're parked up for a day or two the next day the van will be VERY hot - you're obviously NOT staying in the UK!!!!!!
 
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Hi, No we never motorhome in the UK, just costs far to much. The hymer is based in france, low running costs both for insurrance, mots and of cost no road tax.
terry
 
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