Normally my wife and I tour from mid March to mid May each year in the EU, as we have two Golden Retrievers which don’t like it too warm. Being retired allows us this flexibility. This year however we have met up with my daughter and family in France in July following their purchase of a caravan.
Given the last few years of very high temperatures in France in the summer, I looked to purchase an aircon unit to see us through this summer. We are currently experiencing around 33C in France. Whilst not against purchasing and fitting a relatively expensive (£2000+) roof mounted unit, my Chausson 711 with 2 electric lowering beds leave little scope to fit roof mounted. There is one large roof light (bigger than the standard 400x400) but it is too large a recess to use for an aircon unit. In any case, we see this need as a one off situation - as we will probably revert to our spring departure in future years.
I decided to purchase a free standing household a/c unit made by LUKO and sold via a number of online outlets. There are others too online with similar outputs but check the amps used as this varies. I bought mine from Ebuyer.com for £107 before the summer - but I see they are a bit more now. The unit is a 5000 BTU designed for a room up to 15m2 - so perfect for our 7.4m Motorhome. It is 557 Watts and uses 2.4amps so great for campsite use without overloading the hook up or depriving you of other 230v items. It will cool down to 16C. The French and other EU campsite outputs are usually around 6/10/16amps - so the minimum of 6 amp availability still allows its use, as well as your Motorhome battery charger. The unit weighs 20kgs - similar to a roof mounted unit.
In order to vent it I purchased a sheet of 3mm thick black Perspex and cut a hole to Araldite the hose outlet fitting. Simple task and I used a Velcro strip around the window frame to hold it in place. The vent hose attaches to the supplied fitting and the window opened to vent. The black Perspex maintains privacy through the opened window and no insects can get in. Everything can be removed in seconds. The photo below shows what was done. As we have a hab door on either side, the unit which is only around 30x30x70cms sits at our unused hab door so didn’t restrict space. We store to in our Motorhome garage while travelling but it could be easily secured in the hab area. An added advantage is that it can be used at home or in other situations.
We have used it now for over a month in France and it has been beyond good - keeping us and our dogs cool during the day and night in such high temperatures. Indeed it was too cool at times! For £100+ a superb asset and benefit and well worth the purchase. Hope this info is helpful to anyone looking for a similar facility.
Given the last few years of very high temperatures in France in the summer, I looked to purchase an aircon unit to see us through this summer. We are currently experiencing around 33C in France. Whilst not against purchasing and fitting a relatively expensive (£2000+) roof mounted unit, my Chausson 711 with 2 electric lowering beds leave little scope to fit roof mounted. There is one large roof light (bigger than the standard 400x400) but it is too large a recess to use for an aircon unit. In any case, we see this need as a one off situation - as we will probably revert to our spring departure in future years.
I decided to purchase a free standing household a/c unit made by LUKO and sold via a number of online outlets. There are others too online with similar outputs but check the amps used as this varies. I bought mine from Ebuyer.com for £107 before the summer - but I see they are a bit more now. The unit is a 5000 BTU designed for a room up to 15m2 - so perfect for our 7.4m Motorhome. It is 557 Watts and uses 2.4amps so great for campsite use without overloading the hook up or depriving you of other 230v items. It will cool down to 16C. The French and other EU campsite outputs are usually around 6/10/16amps - so the minimum of 6 amp availability still allows its use, as well as your Motorhome battery charger. The unit weighs 20kgs - similar to a roof mounted unit.
In order to vent it I purchased a sheet of 3mm thick black Perspex and cut a hole to Araldite the hose outlet fitting. Simple task and I used a Velcro strip around the window frame to hold it in place. The vent hose attaches to the supplied fitting and the window opened to vent. The black Perspex maintains privacy through the opened window and no insects can get in. Everything can be removed in seconds. The photo below shows what was done. As we have a hab door on either side, the unit which is only around 30x30x70cms sits at our unused hab door so didn’t restrict space. We store to in our Motorhome garage while travelling but it could be easily secured in the hab area. An added advantage is that it can be used at home or in other situations.
We have used it now for over a month in France and it has been beyond good - keeping us and our dogs cool during the day and night in such high temperatures. Indeed it was too cool at times! For £100+ a superb asset and benefit and well worth the purchase. Hope this info is helpful to anyone looking for a similar facility.