Poll: Air conditioners

[Ron Stewart]

I come from a part of the world where air conditioning is only helpful for a few weeks in high summer, and some years not at all. OTOH, we plan to spend at least some time in southern states. When we get our Escape in five weeks (who's counting?), it won't have an air conditioner. The trailer will therefore fit in our carport, cost less, weigh less, and create less aerodynamic drag.

I am curious how many people are happy/unhappy with their air conditioners or lack thereof.

Ron

[Doug Mager]

Hi Ron ....I'd guess we live fairly close to each other??
We never even considered A/C. Especially where we live.
We don't LIVE in our trailer, longest time spent inside is just before bedtime, yeah its usually warmish in there by that time, but open appropriate windows/roof vent and maybe turn on A fan for a short spell... On the other hand camping 'southerly' can get a might HOTTER but then again, how long are you going to be in the egg???

Reace has done a good job showing us the benefits of just a fantastic fan (and similar products).

[Frederick L. Simson]

As long as we stay near the coast, we don't need to use our air conditioner. However, we do travel extensively across country. In July we will travel from San Diego to Portland to Salt Lake City to Denver to Saint Louis to Branson to Fort Smith to Oklahoma City to Albuquerque to Phoenix to Palm Springs and Back to San Diego. Once we leave Denver I expect that the air conditioner will be a necessity!

[Marg]

I don't have an AC in my Scamp and don't feel that I need one. I use a fan operated by two D cell batteries that I purchased from Target several years ago and use it in the evenings if it is hot and sometimes leave it on all night. Those batteries last all summer even by using it all night very infrequently. When we went to Death Valley one spring, about April, I got to park under a tree in the Fed. park and, of course, it was hot, but we got by o.k. An AC is, I feel, just another item to run off you battery. Margaret in NW California where it gets hot in the summer.

[Jim Bennett]

Being in an area that seldom needs it, I opted to not get it.....yet.

When I do more longer trips into hotter belts, which will not likely happen for a few years yet, as I approach retirement, I will likely add one then.

[Adrian W]

We have one, would not think about not having one, in our part of the world we need one, but we often camp in higher elevations where one is not needed. But at times we do not. If you are going to do much camping/traveling in southern states which tend to be hot & humid and not prone to cooling off at night, you might want one. When we did a summer trip to Texas, we noticed almost all the campers had A/C, even tent trailers and some tents as well.

A possible idea at least would be to rig-up a temperary way of putting one of the small window unit A/Cs in when it would be needed. The trailer would still fit in a carport, cost less, weigh less, and create less aerodynamic drag.

Perhaps using a small sheet of heavy duty or dense styrofoam to fill in the void above the unit in the window with an adjustable shower pole to help support the weight of the A/C on the outside.

In my plan, it would stick out of a side window much like the one in Frederick's egg, but only when it would be needed. See Frederick's photo on his post above.

As for, An AC is, I feel, just another item to run off you battery. - Margaret . I have never seen an RV A/C which could run off a battery, they have all been run off household current or ac. We have been in places, were an A/C was needed, but we did not have hook-ups, nor did we have a generator to run our A/C on the roof. A Fantastic Fan or some such fan would run off the battery, but in 99% if not 100% of A/Cs will not be off the battery. A vechicle air conditioner will run off the vechicle's battery a short time, mainly just the fan however, not doing real cooling.

Our first RVs did not have them, even after we got a TT with one, we seldom camped in a place with electric power. However, we never went to the Southeast, nor any of the Eastern States with our TT. We kept to the Western States and Provinces of Canada were we felt it would at least cool off at night due to elevation or latitude, or it was on the west coast. Only once did it not work at night, when we were camping by the lake by Parker, AZ.

[Anne H]

I have one but rarely use it - but when I do, I really appreciate it. The only time I use it is in really hot spots so that my very heat sensitive greyhounds can stay in the trailer while I'm away sightseeing or whatever.

As long as I travel with them in the summer, the air conditioning will be needed.

[nathanj04011]

Even in Maine we use it constantly-not so much for cooling, but more for taking out the humidity in the air. Here, the humidity can be pretty high, which we do not care to sleep in. Plus, it provides white noise which blocks out the noise of the campground when we get our kids to bed early.

[Randy Magee]

I live in the land of heat and humidity and air conditioning is necessary 6 months out of the year when camping locally...

[Dan Meyer]

I live in the land of heat and humidity and air conditioning is necessary 6 months out of the year when camping locally...

I agree completely, and I live and camp in Minnesota!

When the dewpoint is over 60 degrees, it's tough to sleep no matter the temperature. If my Scamp did not have A/C, it wouldn't be used from mid June through the end of August.

-- Dan Meyer

[BrianP]

I have AC and am glad I do even though I have only used it on one trip. My philosophy about camping is, if it's hot enough for AC, it's too hot to camp. I like to hike (5 - 14 mile day hikes) and, if it's too hot to hike, it's generally too hot to camp. Therefore, living in Texas and not yet (until January) retired, my camping season runs from October through May. Once retirement day arrives, the sky's the limit - winter camping in the south, summer camping in the north.

[Jim Bennett]

When the dewpoint is over 60 degrees, it's tough to sleep no matter the temperature. If my Scamp did not have A/C, it wouldn't be used from mid June through the end of August.

This comment got me wondering what folks do in these humid areas without electrical hookups. Do you use gensets? What about if they are not allowed? I ask because I would likely melt if put in this situation, I am not at all used to high humidity, especially combined with hot weather.

[Pat Goodwin]

This comment got me wondering what folks do in these humid areas without electrical hookups. Do you use gensets? What about if they are not allowed? I ask because I would likely melt if put in this situation, I am not at all used to high humidity, especially combined with hot weather.

I have two small battery fans - cheap - that help enormously when one directed at me and one at my big dog - little one doesn't care. Rug (bigger one) will nudge the fan and then me to get me to turn it on at night. During day, not in tiny trailer usually. Cooking even with one burner heats up the whole trailer. Right now, Compact II in shop getting window a/c installed. Otherwise, was going to stop camping till cooler weather. Central Louisiana gets really, really hot and humid. If not in totally shaded campsite, miserable camping any where within 300 miles of home.

[Sandra Lair]

We camped last weekend in NE Mississippi with temps in the upper 90s and high humidity. The AC in the Scamp & frequent dips in the lake kept us cooled off. If I didn't have an AC I wouldn't be able to camp from May through October.
Sandra