Best AC unit to fit

Woody777

Woody777

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Apr 22, 2025
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Adria Coral 670DC
Hi all, we have got an Adria Coral 670DC on order arriving July this year. Quick question on which is the best AC unit to get fitted that's not power hungry and trip the ehu all the time but actually does the job and cool down. Thanks Woody
 
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I fitted a Dometic Freshjet 2200 to my van, in place of the rear skylight, and have been pleased with it. The cooling works well when on EHU, and it also has a useful 1kW heating option which avoids using the gas to take the chill off on cool evenings. However I would find it difficult to recommend Dometic as installers as when we turned up by appointment at their Tewkesbury base for the installation they didn't actually have the unit we had ordered. Not impressed! I then bought the unit for less from another supplier and installed it myself.
 
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Woody777 said:
Hi all, we have got an Adria Coral 670DC on order arriving July this year. Quick question on which is the best AC unit to get fitted that's not power hungry and trip the ehu all the time but actually does the job and cool down. Thanks Woody
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Hi Woody
I fitted a Truma Aventa compact plus air con unit due to the fact it only pulls 4amp on start up, I looked into this as like you was worried about tripping the electric as most sites abroad have 6amp.
It has worked very well everywhere we have traveled with no tripping of the electric..
John
 
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I bought a 12" square fan that goes in the window frame during the day and in the sky light above the bed at night. Takes 2 amps via the inverter.
I slowed it down and it's virtually silent at night 👌

Edit: Here it is, took me 15 minutes to find the photo 🥴 it's getting old now but love it ☺️
20210904_122038.webp
 
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fred_jb said:
I fitted a Dometic Freshjet 2200 to my van, in place of the rear skylight, and have been pleased with it. The cooling works well when on EHU, and it also has a useful 1kW heating option which avoids using the gas to take the chill off on cool evenings. However I would find it difficult to recommend Dometic as installers as when we turned up by appointment at their Tewkesbury base for the installation they didn't actually have the unit we had ordered. Not impressed! I then bought the unit for less from another supplier and installed it myself.
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I will see what unit is installed in the roof of my Adria Coral, once light.

It was fitted by a previous owner but sounds remarkably similar to your description!

Never an issue when on EHU or when I'm using my generator for power.

Does very well at cooling the van in hot weather but the heating element is a real bonus. I don't feel the cold but the fresh water safety valve does so the warming effect just nibbles at the edges and keeps my water supply safe.

More after sunrise.

PS, it is quiet in operation.
 
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we have a dometic unit it works ok it was on the van when we bought it

but in the 4.5 years we have had the van we only used it 1 day............

I would have rather have had a maxfan there, but cba to retrofit

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fred_jb said:
I fitted a Dometic Freshjet 2200 to my van, in place of the rear skylight, and have been pleased with it. The cooling works well when on EHU, and it also has a useful 1kW heating option which avoids using the gas to take the chill off on cool evenings. However I would find it difficult to recommend Dometic as installers as when we turned up by appointment at their Tewkesbury base for the installation they didn't actually have the unit we had ordered. Not impressed! I then bought the unit for less from another supplier and installed it myself.
Click to expand...
We have the same unit as you on our Swift Select PVC.
Like you we went and had it installed at their industrial unit in Tewkesbury. We tied it in with an overnight at the Tewkesbury camc site.
Was left most of the day with them, and was demonstrated it working.
However a few days later I tried it at home whilst on ehu on my drive.
The AC unit tripped my house electric. Done all the checks but could not sort it!
My Van was booked into West Country Motorhomes in Brent Knoll for its Hab Check.
I got Dometic to come and fix it whilst there (WCMH were OK with this). Apparently it took most of the day to establish the faulty wiring had been trapped against part of an edge of the roof and on way home had cut through and thus shorted out.
Like you I would not bother having it installed by Dometic. The unit is great, in Italy last year on 6 amp sites it never tripped an ehu supply. Night mode is nice and quiet and it gets very cold.
Suggest the OP looks at this unit but get installed elsewhere.
 
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Woody777 said:
Hi all, we have got an Adria Coral 670DC on order arriving July this year. Quick question on which is the best AC unit to get fitted that's not power hungry and trip the ehu all the time but actually does the job and cool down. Thanks Woody
Click to expand...
FJX7 2200 by Dometic Is what I have. I didn't want a white unit on my roof of my Grey Swift Select 164. It's available in black which in my opinion looks better on non white vehicles.
Don't bother going direct with Dometic for installation ( Tewkesbury). You can see my and other Funster experience..
The unit is itself is fantastic and I highly recommend it.
Woody777 said:
Hi all, we have got an Adria Coral 670DC on order arriving July this year. Quick question on which is the best AC unit to get fitted that's not power hungry and trip the ehu all the time but actually does the job and cool down. Thanks Woody
Click to expand...
 
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fred_jb said:
I fitted a Dometic Freshjet 2200 to my van, in place of the rear skylight, and have been pleased with it. The cooling works well when on EHU, and it also has a useful 1kW heating option which avoids using the gas to take the chill off on cool evenings. However I would find it difficult to recommend Dometic as installers as when we turned up by appointment at their Tewkesbury base for the installation they didn't actually have the unit we had ordered. Not impressed! I then bought the unit for less from another supplier and installed it myself.
Click to expand...
 
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Yes, I like the unit itself, but Dometic's UK operation leaves a lot to be desired! The unit is a bit less tall than other makes, so looks less bulky, and we got it in black which goes well with our grey van.

Hearing the story of the shorted out mains cable makes me doubly glad that I fitted it myself. I took great care over routing the mains cable and used armoured cable. Stiffer and thicker than standard cable with a metal outer protective layer, so more difficult to route, but worth it for the extra safety.

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You will get lots of differing opinions here depending on experiences.

I've had both Dometic and Truma, and will always now fit Truma. At the moment I have the Aventa Compact Plus on my van.

If you choose Truma, as the 670 is 7.5m, I would go for the standard Aventa, and not the Compact models.
 
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How about one that is not noisy and cannot be kept on all day when you go out
 
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Aircon units are possible to run away from EHU. But you should be very aware of how much energy and power they require. You will need a significant bank of lithium batteries and the capability to recharge them. A barn door of solar panels is the usual solution. And normally a beefy B2B/DC charger to tax your alternator too.

By far the simpler solution is one or two MaxxAir units. With shade and window coverings, the van will remain comfortable well into the 30s.
 
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We are just about to remove fully working Truma Aventa if anyone interested but we are in Brittany France x
 
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Guigsy said:
Aircon units are possible to run away from EHU. But you should be very aware of how much energy and power they require. You will need a significant bank of lithium batteries and the capability to recharge them. A barn door of solar panels is the usual solution. And normally a beefy B2B/DC charger to tax your alternator too.

By far the simpler solution is one or two MaxxAir units. With shade and window coverings, the van will remain comfortable well into the 30s.
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I was about to ask this very thing.

Looking at long trips away and assume leaving air con on all day would cost a fortune in electric charges?

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Mark1965 said:
You can switch them off...
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Sorry mate I was referring to other people's units that are quite noisy when parked next to you and leave them on all day long even when out for the day
 
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We’ve got a Truma Aventa, a bit taller than I would like (have to drop the air suspension at toll booths not to trigger the 3m alert), took a while to get used to it, upset a French chap because I inadvertently left it on when we went out for the afternoon. Now we just turn it on for 20/30 minutes to drop the temperature for SWMBO before we go to bed.
Like others on here I can report that is has never tripped the electric in trips all over France & Spain.
 
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I installed a mini-split system. It runs great on the inverter and batteries or EHU, whatever is available. Heating, cooling, dehumidifier or just plain fan mode. When I only want the fan though I use my MaxxAir.

The mini-split is silent and low power consumption compared to traditional roof A/C units. Not a simple DIY job at all, but I needed the efficiency and free up some roof space for solar.
 
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CustomBuild said:
I installed a mini-split system. It runs great on the inverter and batteries or EHU, whatever is available. Heating, cooling, dehumidifier or just plain fan mode. When I only want the fan though I use my MaxxAir.

The mini-split is silent and low power consumption compared to traditional roof A/C units. Not a simple DIY job at all, but I needed the efficiency and free up some roof space for solar.
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Did you fit the outdoor unit in the garage?

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Woody777 said:
Hi all, we have got an Adria Coral 670DC on order arriving July this year. Quick question on which is the best AC unit to get fitted that's not power hungry and trip the ehu all the time but actually does the job and cool down. Thanks Woody
Click to expand...
We have the Truma Aventa comfort . We have been really pleased with it and it fits in the same aperture that the omnivent fan fits in . Truma have just launched a new series 2 model . It’s much quieter and has a lower start up power requirement .
 
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Eddieb said:
Sorry mate I was referring to other people's units that are quite noisy when parked next to you and leave them on all day long even when out for the day
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We had a Truma Aventa in our previous van (Rapido) and eventually had to stop using it because 'neighbours' on various campsites kept objecting to the noise (even on night mode). We haven't bothered fitting AC in our new van (Pilote) as it didn't seem worth the constant aggro!
 
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Eddieb said:
Sorry mate I was referring to other people's units that are quite noisy when parked next to you and leave them on all day long even when out for the day
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That is annoying when they do that.. wasting power etc. Someone said that they left in on for their dog whilst they went out. I then pointed out the rules that stated Pets etc are not alowed to remain in Caravans or Motorhomes whilst they are unoccupied.
 
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To run Aircon in a hot van for half an hour will use roughly a kWh (I'm guessing!) of energy. That's not a problem on EHU. But if you're away from plug and you've currently got a single lead acid battery, it wouldn't be able to deliver the power required, and even if it could, it would be pretty flat. Hence you need +300Ah of lithium batteries to comfortably be able to run Aircon off grid. And then you need a means to replace that energy spent. Solar is the most logical solution as, when it's hot, it's usually sunny. But you'll need several hundred watts of panels to cover the energy use. You'll also need a powerful inverter to drive the Aircon (most units expect 230v input). In summary, it's probably £2000 additional cost if you want the option to run the AC off grid.
 
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