are we thinking air con

hi now we have air con at home, and it is cool in the summer warm in the winter, i bought and fitted 2 inverter units 1 in our bedroom and 1in the conservitory 4 years ago, mainly because our bungalow faces south at the rear and i have 6KW solar aarray that i fitted 20 years ago, so from march to september we are off grid and the aircon costs nothing to run but it does spoil you, so my motorhome is too warm, we dare not go anywhere because we are newbys and dont know what to expect, now i am thinking aircon, so is anyone else using a dometic inverter aircon unit in there M/H?

Most of the Sussex Duos had them, Paul mold will no doubt come back on this, my feeling is that most have been removed and replaced with a roof vent.

Just done 3 weeks at average of 30c with my elderly Exec and with careful parking under trees etc no issues at all. We do fit the windscreen silver screen and when away from the van have all the blinds closed and the 4 roof vents open

We had a recent thread discussing the pros and cons of aircon.  Cab aircon is good when driving but I got the impression that habitation aircon is prone to failure, perhaps because of its irregular use, and in this country is rarely needed.  On the Continent when it might be more useful, low EHU amperage means it has to run off batteries, solar panels or a generator which could struggle to provide enough watts.  As IanH has said, there is an art to keeping MHs and caravans cool in the summer without aircon which is soon learnt.

Hi,
 I have a Bourton with aircon fitted, as Caraman says It probably a good idea for the continent, but not with  6amp power on some sites. Like the idea of swapping it out for a maxxfan or similar. I have used it once in 6 months for 10 minutes. Wouldn't have specc'd it at £1k a throw.
Phil

Wait until next week when we need jumpers again.
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Richard

We had our Bourton a/c on for most of the 4 weeks we were in France. It draws around 3 amps and got the internal temperature down to 24/25 when it was 31/33 outside. Wouldn’t be without it which I guess is why AS now fit it as standard but 3 amps at 230 volt is 60 amp at 12 volt (intermittent of course) so you would need a very hefty battery and solar system to handle that.

A/C came as standard on my Neuvo anniversary edition - have hardly used it in the 10 months I have owned it but guess I would have appreciated it had we been away in the van in last week's record breaking temperatures.

Hi, Currently in Saumur on our way back up to Dieppe. We have had temperatures of 40c over the last week and the aircon certainly made us more comfortable at night. I was initially sceptical as to its value, but it certainly helped us. Still not sure though that it's needed for most of our trips. It worked OK on 6amp now on 10 amps so no problems there.

Highly recommend the Maxxair vent, having had experience of using it over several years and different seasons. During hot weather its reversible fan means we can exhaust warm air during the daytime but pull in cooler air at night.

Tim

Our van is 10 years old. It came fitted with an inadequate CA1000 Aircon unit which failed within a year and we had it replaced with a Freshjet 1700 which has now stopped working properly. It's going to an Aircon specialist next week who has warned me that they cannot be regassed so unless it is a £30 thermistor or the £250 PCB the unit is dead and it would be nearly £2000 to replace. I've already replaced the 40x40 Remis rooflight with a MaxxFan and I don't intend to replace the Aircon with yet another potentially short lived unit at such a ridiculous cost.

inspiredron wrote:Our van is 10 years old. It came fitted with an inadequate CA1000 Aircon unit which failed within a year and we had it replaced with a Freshjet 1700 which has now stopped working properly. It's going to an Aircon specialist next week who has warned me that they cannot be regassed so unless it is a £30 thermistor or the £250 PCB the unit is dead and it would be nearly £2000 to replace. I've already replaced the 40x40 Remis rooflight with a MaxxFan and I don't intend to replace the Aircon with yet another potentially short lived unit at such a ridiculous cost.

I've posted many times  about replacing my aircon with another rooflight. Mine was also a CA1000 unit which could not be repaired (it worked but didn't blow cold so regassing was needed  but couldn't be done). In this country it is not often we actually need it and unless you're on hookup you can't use it anyway. £2000 is a lot to pay for something used just once in a while.

Like BornAgain, we also have a 2022 Bourton. We also found the Air Con to be a blessing during hot weather in France and also during the hot spell here. 

On our previous Stanton we even had to use it during (brief) hot weather in Scotland.

One feature which is useful in Spring and Autumn, or in high altitudes,  is the ability to set the temperature when going to bed. If the outside temperature becomes cold during the early hours of the morning, the unit will then blow warm air, thus maintaining a constant temperature. 

The Air Con is also very useful when returning to a hot van with no cooling breeze outside to enable the inside to be cooled by opening windows. Cold air blowing over you is pure bliss!

We have found others on the campsites where we have stayed are very envious and wish they also had air conditioning. If global warming is going to result in more very hot weather, then Air Con will became a must have accessory.

We have had no problems with power, even when running other items from a 10 amp supply.

grahamsb wrote:.....

One feature which is useful in Spring and Autumn, or in high altitudes,  is the ability to set the temperature when going to bed. If the outside temperature becomes cold during the early hours of the morning, the unit will then blow warm air, thus maintaining a constant temperature. 

.....

The standard heating does this.  We set the internal temp to 14 degrees which we find comfortable at night.  I'm an early riser so the first thing I do in the morning is turn up the heating and set the hot water to high so its ready for showering.

Thanks Caraman.

Yes you can of course use the standard heating, but I thought I would mention the ability to have the Air Con cool you when you go to bed and automatically warm you if needed, without having to use the heater.

Understood but I wouldn't have thought that aircon would be needed or used in the spring or autumn (or winter) and especially overnight and at altitude.  If the aircon is switch on, I would have thought the standard heater is providing the heat.

We find that in France in September it can be very hot during the day, but the temperature drops dramatically overnight.

Amazingly, we experienced the same conditions in Scotland at the end of August/ beginning of September last year. Perhaps I should have said "early and late Summer", but I was just illustrating the cooling/heating functions on the Air Con unit.

As an aside, due to a faulty gauge, we ran out of gas. As the heater will not operate, even with a power supply, when there is no gas, we were then able to use the Air Con unit to provide heat. (Only when the outside temperature is above 6c.)

grahamsb wrote:We find that in France in September it can be very hot during the day, but the temperature drops dramatically overnight.

Amazingly, we experienced the same conditions in Scotland at the end of August/ beginning of September last year. Perhaps I should have said "early and late Summer", but I was just illustrating the cooling/heating functions on the Air Con unit.

As an aside, due to a faulty gauge, we ran out of gas. As the heater will not operate, even with a power supply, when there is no gas, we were then able to use the Air Con unit to provide heat. (Only when the outside temperature is above 6c.)

Interesting.  I imagined aircon as an add on to the existing heater which only cooled (and dried) the air.  I guess you don't have the Truma Combi which derives its heat from gas or mains electricity providing it has a 12V DC supply.  Our Truma's gas supply is nearly always turned off which doesn't stop it working off the mains.

This forum is a mine of information.

When my gas supply ran out, I was told by the dealer and in writing by Truma, that if the gas tank is empty, the boiler will not function, even with electrical power.

So, I have just tried turning off the gas supply and selecting the electrical power supply, not the gas/electric mix. As Caraman says, the heater does operate, albeit at a a slower speed.  

Now, the question is, will it work if the gas tank is completely empty? On my Stanton  it did not work. Immediately the gas tank was filled, it worked again. Is there a sensor which tells the boiler control the tank is empty? In my case the gauge was faulty and showing full, when it was in fact empty, so it is not getting the information via the gauge.

I wonder if anyone on this forum has the definitive answer?

We normally only use the gas for cooking and once we ran out of gas for a couple days but this did not stop our Truma Combi working off the mains.  Our LPG gauge is only on when the engine is running.  Before I start the engine I always disconnect from the EHU and turn the Truma CP off.  I've not been aware of or told of any linkage between the LPG gauge and the Truma Combi except that when there is no gas it can't run on gas.