Do you need an airconditioner if you have fantastic fan?

Depends where and when you are planning to travel I guess. Also how well you tolerate sleeping in a lather of sweat.

Some places if you don't have air con you won't sleep at night. A fan only helps if the atmosphere isn't saturated with moisture.

That depends on how hot it gets. Most of the time, up to 35c, we use a fan and that is quite adequate. Over 35c the wife starts to feel the heat so we switch on the air con. We also use the air con when the humidity is high. Hope this helps. Cheers

If you plan on being up north during the wet season then you need an aircon. Fans just don't cut it in high humidity.

Hi Peter

What climates will you travel in?

How well do you cope with the heat?

Will you be in the van during the heat of the day or driving in air conditioned comfort?

If you will travel in hotter climates (and to me our north can be hot even in June/July) and you don't like the heat, have an air con as well as a fantastic or two, even if you only use it occasionally.

If it is 40º outside, a fantastic won't bring it down to 22º like an air con might. I don't cope well with heat, and even though we travel at optimum times of the year for the region, it can still get hot. However on our last trip of five months, we didn't use our air conditioner at all when independently camped, but did welcome it when in caravan parks in Darwin and Mt Isa. Otherwise if we stopped early we found it quite comfortable sitting outside in the shade, and much nicer than sitting shut up in the caravan.


Motherhen

There are still a lot of people who live in the top end of Australia that don't have Air conditioning & our pioneers did not have it, I did not have it on my 1st trip several decades ago but it was also unbearable some nights due to the heat & it became standard practice on sleep on the roof of the cruiser without mossy nets as that would stop the breeze & that alloy hot box on wheels called a caravan became a storage unit on wheels as no one could have lived in it & it was a insulated model

we still travel to remote Australia without air con in the camper but try to not be there in the hot months of the year (Did the cape & the Simpson late October that was bad enough some nights)

good luck with the fantastic fan as that will probably turn it in to a fan forced hot box but if your got the power to feed Air Con go for it you wont look back
& it may even save your life as i know of a few accidents caused by fatigue due to the lack of good sleep due to the heat
Good luck
Vince

Hi Peter,

As others have already written, it depends on where and when you'll be travelling.

My guess is that you are considering a 240v air con - have you considered a 12v one?

Our van has a 240v and 12v air conditioner...the 12v acts like an evaporative air conditioner. All I can say is IT IS BRILLIANT!

We have recently got back from a 7 week trip in central Queensland. Initially, we got the 12v air con to help sleep when free camping, but its uses are much more than that. We drove with the 12v air con on as it pressurises the van and keeps the dust out, it keeps the van cool so when we pull up for a morning coffee or lunch, the van is nice and comfortable to sit in, it's quiet, and pulls very low amps. We will also sleep with it on and with the extra use of a couple of 12v fans by our bedsides to keep the air moving (and also acting as a bit of white noise...I sleep light), we sleep really well.

We have used the 240v air con when it's really stinking hot, but the 12v gets a lot more use for us.

I think if you can afford it, add at least one air con to your wishlist - 2 if you can go the whole hog - you won't regret it!

I say "go the air conditioner" all the way. Our last trip we took a portable air conditioner with us (camper trailer) and used it. It was a life saver for sleeping on hot nights. We have little kids, including a baby, and found it invaluable. Best thing we took with us. A good night sleep is soooo precious LOL.

Peter. Weigh up all the advice and options then fit the Aircon. You won't regret it.
Dave.

Some replies above ask the obvious question on "how hot"

I suggest that the real question should be "how hot AND how humid"

If it is hot with low humidity a fan may suffice. If it is really warm and you dampyourself with a wet towel a fan will work even better in low humidity

BUT if you go to the Tropical summer areas where it is only 33 degrees but with 95% humidity, mate it fels like 40 degrees, and a fan just blows sticky air at you. Damp yourself and you make it worse. This is where the AC is king

CJ

Dont forget that it can get very cold aswell and a reverse cycle may also come in very handy.
Glen

My attitude is you cant use what you havent got do its an aircon for me.

You can use it as just a fan or cooling or heating.

Wouldnt take a second similar appliance as weight comes into it and if you

take a backup of everything you wont be able to move the van except with a

Mack truck.

We had to leave 190kg of stuff behind when we set out Thought we would need it. Never missed any of it.