My recent Aircon addition (1 Viewer)

[Kayak Kid]

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.

 

[Tombola]

great tip.

and a further one to add, as we use these in some of our offices, keep the hose as short as possible or cover it with something as that gets hot and transmits slight heat back.

nice job

 

[Kayak Kid]

Hi Tombola,

Yes, the temp around the hose is a bit higher - but in no way affects the overall brilliant cooling of the Motorhome. The key is to use your blinds on the side of the vehicle getting the sun, as well as the skylights as this is where most of the solar heat gain comes in. As I said before, this has been an invaluable mod/addition which I will transfer to my house on return and leave the Motorhome as it was before!

 

[Joethejoiner]

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.



View attachment 925590

Thanks for that . Last time in southern Spain in November it was just too hot .
Am also considering 'proper' , roof mounted Aircon but , as I don't often have EHU , power is a problem.
I'm assuming this would run off one of those ecoflow power units ?
Would also consider venting it out sky light ?

 

[rob1234]

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.



View attachment 925590

what a good idea ,,and could use it in the house on warm summer nights ,,,if we get any ,,

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[Kayak Kid]

Thanks for that . Last time in southern Spain in November it was just too hot .
Am also considering 'proper' , roof mounted Aircon but , as I don't often have EHU , power is a problem.
I'm assuming this would run off one of those ecoflow power units ?
Would also consider venting it out sky light ?

I am not too familiar with the capabilities and capacities of the various Ecoflow units but can’t see why you could not plug a unit like mine into it. Obviously the ecoflow unit would need a source of recharging as to get the best out of the aircon unit it needs to be on for a period of time and perhaps most of the day and night dependent on how hot it is. Easy enough to calculate how much time you would get from whatever Ecoflow you buy.

I suppose you could vent out of a skylight - but dependent on where the Skylight is situated, it could be quite intrusive in your space in the Motorhome and the outlet hose would need to be insulated, as it would be longer and generate radiated heat as your unit extracts the heat and vents it- ( hope that makes sense?) Personally, I would favour venting out of a side window, as the hose would be shorter and there are various cheap venting kits for windows available online. You could also consider doing what I did - as shown in my original posting.

I hope this is helpful.
Jim

 

[Joethejoiner]

I am not too familiar with the capabilities and capacities of the various Ecoflow units but can’t see why you could not plug a unit like mine into it. Obviously the ecoflow unit would need a source of recharging as to get the best out of the aircon unit it needs to be on for a period of time and perhaps most of the day and night dependent on how hot it is. Easy enough to calculate how much time you would get from whatever Ecoflow you buy.

I suppose you could vent out of a skylight - but dependent on where the Skylight is situated, it could be quite intrusive in your space in the Motorhome and the outlet hose would need to be insulated, as it would be longer and generate radiated heat as your unit extracts the heat and vents it- ( hope that makes sense?) Personally, I would favour venting out of a side window, as the hose would be shorter and there are various cheap venting kits for windows available online. You could also consider doing what I did - as shown in my original posting.

I hope this is helpful.
Jim

It is indeed
Cheers

 

[rob1234]

hi could you say what size the pipe is my window only opens 5" ? that i could use anyway

 

[Guigsy]

The issue with these single output "portable" units is they continuously blow air from inside out the back. So you've always got a stream of hot outside ambient air being sucked in to the room. It's like leaving the door open. The better double piped units keep the outside air separated so it's only ever recirculating the already cool air inside. Which is much more efficient. Unfortunately they are rarer.

The other downside is the compressor is right there in the room with you, so they aren't quiet. The "window mount" style puts the compressor outside and doesn't suck ambient outside air in.

 

[andycap63]

great tip.

and a further one to add, as we use these in some of our offices, keep the hose as short as possible or cover it with something as that gets hot and transmits slight heat back.

nice job

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[Kayak Kid]

The issue with these single output "portable" units is they continuously blow air from inside out the back. So you've always got a stream of hot outside ambient air being sucked in to the room. It's like leaving the door open. The better double piped units keep the outside air separated so it's only ever recirculating the already cool air inside. Which is much more efficient. Unfortunately they are rarer.

The other downside is the compressor is right there in the room with you, so they aren't quiet. The "window mount" style puts the compressor outside and doesn't suck ambient outside air in.

Hi Guigsy,

Not sure what you are saying re sucking in outside ‘warm’ ambient air into the area. The portable unit recirculates the air and cooled air from within the vehicle and doesn’t draw outside air in. It only exhausts the warm air from the unit. In any case - whatever the process technically, it works very well and cools the Motorhome efficiently - hence my recommendation for anyone looking for a much cheaper option than roof mounted or window mounted units.

As for the unit being in the Motorhome as against being fitted externally, I can say that my portable unit is no louder than the various roof mounted units I have had on previous motorhomes. In any case we had it at the low speed fan setting during the night and it never caused us any issues. It is well known that external units can cause annoyance to neighbouring ‘campers’ especially if there are a number running (as can be the case) - as they operate during the night. The internal unit can be more considerate therefore to neighbours.

 

[Kayak Kid]

hi could you say what size the pipe is my window only opens 5" ? that i could use anyway

The outlet pipes are normally 5” or 6” but you can also get rectangular flexible outlet pipes to easily fit through your 5” opening. You can find them online.
Hope this is helpful.

 

[Guigsy]

Not sure what you are saying re sucking in outside ‘warm’ ambient air into the area. The portable unit recirculates the air and cooled air from within the vehicle and doesn’t draw outside air in. It only exhausts the warm air from the unit.

So where does the air come from that replaces the air that gets pushed out through the vent? Or it would slowly create a vacuum.

 

[Tombola]

So where does the air come from that replaces the air that gets pushed out through the vent? Or it would slowly create a vacuum.

Not quite, but I see your thinking.
It's the same as saying recirculating your car air con doesn't cool.quicker but we know it does.
I have a few of these units only larger in some offices and they work a treat.

 

[Guigsy]

Not quite, but I see your thinking.
It's the same as saying recirculating your car air con doesn't cool.quicker but we know it does.
I have a few of these units only larger in some offices and they work a treat.

They do work. But the in and out, double vent ones are quite a bit more efficient because they aren't continuously drawing in warm air into the room.

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[HKF]

hi could you say what size the pipe is my window only opens 5" ? that i could use anyway

You need something like this....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Conditioner-Connector-Interface-Conditioning-Portable/dp/B0D99T72LC/?tag=mhf04-21

 

[HKF]

Looks like Ebuyer have sold out. The only place I can find with stock is Probreeze.com at £159.99 with free 2 working day delivery. I just ordered one. If you want one and use this link https://go.refrl.co/r/fHy6SeMr5ovE you'll get 15% discount and I'll get a £15 voucher for Probreeze.

 

[Joethejoiner]

Looks like Ebuyer have sold out. The only place I can find with stock is Probreeze.com at £159.99 with free 2 working day delivery. I just ordered one. If you want one and use this link https://go.refrl.co/r/fHy6SeMr5ovE you'll get 15% discount and I'll get a £15 voucher for Probreeze.

Thanks for that . Did you look at the universal window seal ?

 

[Kayak Kid]

So where does the air come from that replaces the air that gets pushed out through the vent? Or it would slowly create a vacuum.

Of course it ultimately comes in through the natural ventilation of the van. In same way that if all windows and doors are closed you don’t suffer from CO2 excess and lack of oxygen. However that makes very little difference to the cooling experience of a portable unit whether used in a motorhome, caravan and indeed a home!
As I said previously, what I have done offers a very effective solution at a fraction of the cost of a window, roof or locker unit! Take your pick and pay the price!

 

[Kayak Kid]

You need something like this....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Conditioner-Connector-Interface-Conditioning-Portable/dp/B0D99T72LC/?tag=mhf04-21

This normally comes with the unit as part of the vent kit. It certainly did with my Luko unit and another higher output unit that I bought for my house. It was that fitting that I fitted to the Perspex sheet as shown in my original posting photo.

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[HKF]

Thanks for that . Did you look at the universal window seal ?

No, I didn't. I'm going to fashion something similar to what Kayak Kid has done

 

[Kayak Kid]

Thanks for that . Did you look at the universal window seal ?

The universal window seals can do the job ok - but as the name suggests, they are ‘universal’ fit and can need a bit of fiddling and perhaps cutting to fit properly. Also they don’t look as neat - but if you are struggling with the heat then I suppose it doesn’t matter how it looks. As I had the small window I decided to get a black Perspex sheet (cut to size) from eBay, and cut the oval hole to fit the connector shown earlier and in my photo. I Araldited it to the Perspex. The Perspex is then held in place on the window frame with double sided adhesive Velcro. It is then easy to remove the Perspex and doesn’t affect the use of the window in any way - whether the Perspex is fitted or not.

 

[HKF]

Kayak Kid You don't happen to know the length of the cable do you, please? Just trying to work our which window I'll use to vent it

 

[Kayak Kid]

Kayak Kid You don't happen to know the length of the cable do you, please? Just trying to work our which window I'll use to vent it

I am assume you mean the exhaust hose rather than the electric cable to reach a socket?
If the exhaust hose, then they are telescopic and mine is around 0.3m extending to at least 2.5m. If you mean the electric cable it is around1.5m but an extension cable could be used to reach the 13amp socket.

 

[HKF]

I am assume you mean the exhaust hose rather than the electric cable to reach a socket?
If the exhaust hose, then they are telescopic and mine is around 0.3m extending to at least 2.5m. If you mean the electric cable it is around1.5m but an extension cable could be used to reach the 13amp socket.

Yes, it was the electric cable length I was after but it's good to know both. Thank you so much

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[HKF]

My ProBreeze (same as the LUKO one mentioned by the OP) A/C unit arrived today (ordered Saturday, arrived Tuesday morning by Yodel) and it looks great. I'm still waiting for the two hours to pass before starting it up for the first time but it seems sturdy, well made, very well packed and came with all the parts, including batteries!

We've decided it'll be sited just inside the bathroom and vented out of the skylight. This means having the bathrom door open but it opens towards the back of the MH, so that's not going to be an issue. It also means we'll have to switch it off and push it backwards into the shower if we need to use the loo but that's also not going to be an issue for us. For travelling, it'll be strapped in the garage, against the wall. I'll let you all know how it performs later. This test won't be in the MH but will be in a static caravan with 32 degrees outside

 

[Joethejoiner]

My ProBreeze (same as the LUKO one mentioned by the OP) A/C unit arrived today (ordered Saturday, arrived Tuesday morning by Yodel) and it looks great. I'm still waiting for the two hours to pass before starting it up for the first time but it seems sturdy, well made, very well packed and came with all the parts, including batteries!

We've decided it'll be sited just inside the bathroom and vented out of the skylight. This means having the bathrom door open but it opens towards the back of the MH, so that's not going to be an issue. It also means we'll have to switch it off and push it backwards into the shower if we need to use the loo but that's also not going to be an issue for us. For travelling, it'll be strapped in the garage, against the wall. I'll let you all know how it performs later. This test won't be in the MH but will be in a static caravan with 32 degrees outside

Very helpful . Can I ask which model/price ?

 

[HKF]

Very helpful . Can I ask which model/price ?

It's a ProBreeze PB-AC08.
Rated input current - 2.5A
Rated power output - 563W
Net weight - 18kg
Dimensions - 310 x 682 x 302mm
Cooling capacity - 5,000 BTU/H

Can be used as an A/C, dehumidifier or just a fan. It comes with a rigid and a flexible window kit, too. You can use it via the remote, buttons on the unit or an app.

If you use this link https://go.refrl.co/r/fHy6SeMr5ovE you can get 15% discount and I'll get a £15 voucher for Probreeze.

 

[Joethejoiner]

It's a ProBreeze PB-AC08.
Rated input current - 2.5A
Rated power output - 563W
Net weight - 18kg
Dimensions - 310 x 682 x 302mm
Cooling capacity - 5,000 BTU/H

Can be used as an A/C, dehumidifier or just a fan. It comes with a rigid and a flexible window kit, too. You can use it via the remote, buttons on the unit or an app.

If you use this link https://go.refrl.co/r/fHy6SeMr5ovE you can get 15% discount and I'll get a £15 voucher for Probreeze.

Thanks for that . On my list for next week . In the middle of getting new kitchen , house not van

 

[HKF]

As promised, yesterday we did a quick test on our new A/C unit (see above). We were really impressed. It blows very cold. There are three fan settings; high, low and night setting. The high fan is no noisier that you'd expect with an A/C and it's certainly a LOT quieter than our floor standing large A/C unit we have at home. I don't think it would take long at all to cool a MH on high, then you could turn it down to low to maintain the setting. We were very impressed that it's an A/C, dehumidifier and fan, which we hadn't realised. Also, you can operate it by using the included remote, buttons on the unit or by an app. You can even use it remotely so the MH is cool when you get back (but I don't understand this 'smart' stuff, so I can't say if that's good or bad). Overall, we're very impressed

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