Dust Prevention in caravans

Submitted: Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 03:14
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Hi All,
I'm just having an off road caravan built and will be putting in an electric fan to combat the dust. We feel if we increase the pressure of air in the van this will force the dust out. We will be running this on our 12volt system. We have had pressure hatches before but still get the dust in. We were looking for any other ideas or has anyone tried this before. Any idea on stopping the dust would be great as we do a lot of corrugated roads.Thanks elross
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Reply By: Member - Doug T (FNQ) - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 04:21

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 04:21
A fan on the inside of the van is not going to create inner pressure,all it will do is circulate the inner air,
Best way to create a little inner air pressure is to have a forward facing roof vent slightly open and all windows closed,
Have you ever been in a car with all windows closed and switch the air vent from Recirculate to circulate , you will feel the pressure in your ears, An open roof vent will give same effect.

,

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Follow Up By: Member - Doug T (FNQ) - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 04:26

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 04:26
I might add that a little clean dirt never hurts anyone, you'll get use to it and and at least you'll know your not home in all the city pollution, Go on get out out there and enjoy Australias bulldust, it won't kill you.

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Follow Up By: Baz & Pud (Tassie) - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 06:55

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 06:55
Doug T
Interesting what you say, but does it really work. We did what you suggested on the GRR in 06 and copped a lot of dust inside from on coming traffic.
Decided to close everything up and worked fine, except for minimal amount which i don't think you can stop, that dust seems to get in anywhere.

Baz
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Follow Up By: Member - Doug T (FNQ) - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 07:32

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 07:32
Baz
1 You would have to moving at a brisk pace to get an airflow, not possible on GRR, 2 don't pass oncoming traffic, ????
Just have to put up with it , I recall when I was taking loads of pre-fab steel to the Osborne mine , use to go via Boulia and up the dirt to the new haul road at Chatsworth Stn, the T-Line Inter was bad for creating a swirl behind the cab and because it had no A/C and temperatures over 40 deg had to leave the windows down , those trucks were bad for dust swirling forward and come in the windows over and into everything, when going to bed in the bunk I could smell the dust in the bunk , all part of being an Aussie.
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Follow Up By: Member No 1- Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 07:45

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 07:45
yep doug thats probably the best way...could use a fan but it willl need to be a wheel type and not axial..the wheel could be forward curve or backward (backward curve is best for suck and pull which means size of fan may be more suitable) and it will need an energy source.....

one could go to a filter mob and get a small filter to slip into airintake side of the roof plate so that air is filtered before it enetrs van...this could be a disposable type of washable type
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Follow Up By: furph - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 09:07

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 09:07
The big advantage of have that fan running whilst travelling in the dust is that it will distribute it nicely throughout the van giving the impression that hardly any had got in!
Our old Viscount used to let so much in through the rear window I siliconed it well and truly shut.
Agree, when travelling into a cloud of dust from an oncoming vehicle, the pressure hatch is a great point of entry.
Best solution might be to wash it down (the throat) with more Cascade.
furph
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Follow Up By: Baz & Pud (Tassie) - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 10:39

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 10:39
Thats what Baz lets me do.

Pud
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Follow Up By: Member No 1- Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 11:57

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 11:57
does baz have any say in the matter
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Follow Up By: elross - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 19:51

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 19:51
Hi Doug, I have no qualms about dust but why not prevent it if you can. I live on the outback roads most of the time and have had to get into a dusty bed many times but as I'm having my van custom built why not try to solve the problem. Hatches are fine if the PSI on the inside is greater than the outside air pressure which doesn't happen if you are driving corrugated roads with caution. Thanks Julie
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Reply By: Member - neville G (QLD) - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 08:21

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 08:21
Phoenix have a presureising system fittet to some of their later vans, don,t have any details and have had no feedback on them but they are at the Sydney show if you happen to be able to get there. Maybe they have something on their web site!. Cheers,
Nev
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Follow Up By: elross - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 19:52

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 19:52
Thanks Nev will follow this up.
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Reply By: John from Phoenix Owners Group - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 13:38

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 13:38
elross,
It will work if the fan is big enough.

The dust pressure system on our Phoenix's works. We've only had a light layer of dust in the back bathroom which comes in from the roof vent, this area's closed off and doesn't get the full pressure effect.

The fan blows in an enormous amount of air. You can feel air rushing out the vent in the entry door when it's on.

It's controlled from a simple switch in the vehicle. This is good for roads that are constantly changing from dirt to bitumen. e.g. Birdsville to Mt Isa.

The intake is located high up on a side wall, I'd prefer it on the roof. The unit has a simple repco air filter which can be removed and cleaned.

Because the vans are made pretty well airtight to begin with, the pressure does build up. We don't need to tape up or close off the gas vent in the entry door. We do put foam in there in case the fan stops.

Some air will escape through the roof hatches like the 4 seasons and fantastic, which are not designed to be airtight anyway, as per gas regs I'm told. But with the fan on, air is going one way - out.

Scupper vents don't make sense to me because they let in dust from the vehicle and oncoming traffic. If a filter is fitted to these it does work.

Oh and us boys don't mind the dust Doug, but we came across a van owner at Bedourie and his wife was NOT happy.

Saw another very upset lady at the B'ville CP who owned a well known brand of off-road van, her comment after doing the B'ville Dev Rd - "look at all this dust inside, off-road van my a_ _ e!" :-(

Cheers
John
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Follow Up By: elross - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 19:39

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 19:39
Thanks John you are thinking like me.
I should have been more detailed in my first note. My brother is a electrical engineer and we thought if we have higher air pressure (PSI) inside the van the air would be forced out and stop the dust coming in. I have had hatches before and done the sealing of windows and doors but these dont work. The pressure hatches dont work when you drop your speed on dirt roads as the air pressures levels out. I have been asking at the last two caravan shows and all the reps thinking I'm going over the top. We live in WA and I havn't seen a Phoenix van. What size fan are you using and would you increase it if you built again. We intend to filter the air coming in through our hatch and the fan will be swung down to clean. It will be situated at the very front of the top of the van. Do you have any photos you could send me.
I don't mind dust thats why I travel these roads but if I can prevent some of it I will. Thanks again John
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Reply By: Gone Bush (WA) - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 15:42

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 15:42
elross, is that an "elross" van from Perth you're having made?

Will be interested to see what you think of the finished product.

I have aTrakmaster and the first thing we did was put duct tape all over the vent on the bottom of the door, a foam insert in other thru-wall vents and we use the scupper vent on unsealed roads if we are going fast enough otherwise we close it.

Be aware that these vents I closed off are required by law because of gas appliances etc so if you close them off make sure you have windows open when you camp and that you turn the gas off at the bottle when you set off.

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Follow Up By: elross - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 20:01

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 20:01
Yes I have done a lot of research and am really happy how they construct their vans. Mind won't start to be built till June just trying to sort this fan out. The service down there is so personal and you can see your van being built from ground up. They are doing so many personal extras for me. I have spoken to other owners who are very happy with them.
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Reply By: Member - Vince M (NSW) - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 18:35

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 18:35
have a 12volt fan in my camper that sucks air from the outside thru a holden air filter to the inside & pressurizes the camper & it works great but you have to clean the filter every day as it blocks quickly (I just blow it out every morning & the Fan is a Nissan electric radiator fan from the wreckers $25)
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Follow Up By: Member - Murray R (VIC) - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 21:51

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 21:51
I have similar set up on glide on camper but no fan just hole cut in front of camper and vent grill over hole works realy well
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Reply By: kiwicol - Saturday, Mar 29, 2008 at 12:35

Saturday, Mar 29, 2008 at 12:35
If you have a fan set up pull the air from the out side trough a donaldson air filter, this is what the large denning coaches do for their luggage bins under neath. They have a donaldson mounted on the bullbar and a large fan in the bin, i have driven these coaches over the plenty high way and get no dust at all, but when they break down the bins are full of dust. Col
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Follow Up By: Member - Julie C (WA) - Saturday, Mar 29, 2008 at 16:35

Saturday, Mar 29, 2008 at 16:35
Thanks Col will pass that on to my brother. We are starting to look at different fan and filter types I never realized they had them in the luggage compartment but it sounds like the way we are thinking.
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