why not a/c in a tent?

[lawman]

my old camper trailer needs repairs i haven't been able to get to, so to take my girlfriend/pit crew chief to the last enduro, i resurrected my old tent camping setup & was reminded of some of the benefits: no fee to store it at the mini warehouse place, girlfriend isn't scared to drive since no trailer is needed, little or no maintenance, no holding tank to find a dump station for, way better mileage for the truck, less wear on the truck, etc. etc. we were quite comfortable sleeping in the tent with a fan run by the generator. however, as any true southerner knows, it ain't summer yet, by a long shot. in my checkered past, i have rigged a/c's for vans & enclosed trailers, & got to thinking: why not run a window unit, maybe mounted on a block of wood or something, in 1 of the "doors" of my 2-room tent? i could seal it with tape from the inside. that way i could keep the advantages of trailer-less camping & yet sleep in cool comfort. any ideas? any reasons that it won't work? thanks!

 

[nikki]

I think it will work... but you will probably lose the majority of the cool air through the tent walls. :think:

 

[Highbeam]

so let me get this straight. You were sleeping in a tent with a generator running outside all night so that a fan could blow air around the tent? That would be a sight. Wasn't it loud? If you have a source of significant power, I see no reason that you couldn't rig up a home or rv AC unit to blow cool air into your tent. I would mount the AC unit firmly somewhere a little away from your tent to prevent a fire if the thing fell over on the tent. Mount it level like a fridge. Please don't run the generator all night under the load of an AC unit. I'm trying to sleep.

Storage is a bummer for RVs but don't give away the nice, hot, post ride shower just to avoid a holding tank. The furnace, security of walls, and protection from weather is nice. Every time I think tent camping is allright, I get a loud neighbor, a rainstorm, a windstorm (think collapse), chipmunks, or a flood to get my bedding wet. Rocky ground is no fun for your back either. I suppose some of these things aren't a problem down south though.

I camp in the back of the truck under a fiberglass canopy and I think that is way better than a tent. This may be a good compromise for you. You can buy a fold up flatbed bike trailer for cheap.

 

[tileman]

Here you go lawman Tent AC

Ron.

 

[lawman]

hey tileman: thx for the great info! that's a cool website you have. i figured somebody else must have thought of this & tried it. you've saved me lots of r & d.

highbeam: if it had been some secluded wilderness area i wouldn't have done it, but it was a sera enduro. just about everybody runs a generator in the warm (or hot) weather, the campground sounds like a tank division is running maneuvers all nite long. (ever camped in louisiana or miss. in summer?) i used my generator, which normally runs the a/c in my camper when needed, to run my fan & a buddy's fan in his enclosed trailer, along with his lights, etc. i almost never use the shower, or the water tank, or any of the camper stuff besides the stove, toilet & beds. i really use it only for 1 nite at a time, at enduros or organized trail rides, so long stays in it or security won't really be an issue. the only real advantage the camper has is that i don't have to put it up/take it down in bad weather or worry about trying to sleep in it in a storm (i admit, this has happened to me with a tent, & it's a drawback). but i also don't have to haul it back & forth or work on it all the time or pay to store it; i'm trying to decide which set of problems/benefits i'd rather compromise for, & the tent has some attractions. my buddy & i have used the gen. to run a window unit in his enclosed trailer, w/an extension cord, w/no problems, & i know that the new lightweight rv's w/ the canvas ends have a/c, so that got me to thinking about trying it in a tent.

nik, i figure the tent won't hold the cold air for long, but the tent is so small & i'll be so close to the unit that i think it'll work fine. my big worries were the kind of electrical engineering/safety problems that tileman has been working on.

thanks, everyone, i'll keep working on it.

 

[Highbeam]

You're right, I haven't been to the deep south to camp where you need the power at night. Good to know about the generators. If you tried to pull that up here in the NW, you might wake up to some rowdy neighbors or slashed tires. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be the slasher, I might just give you the stink eye if you were camped next to me and I couldn't sleep.

I would think the cool air blowing out of the AC directed at your head would be a big step in keeping cool. Since you already have the generator running... why not use it for the AC.

All the ususal things apply like using a heavy gauge extension cord rated for the power you need. I would consider building a table/stand to mount the unit to since it can't be mounted on a window sill. Also you would want to keep it off the ground at least a couple feet to promote proper circulation of air through the unit.

If you have all of the parts, give it a test run in your garage.

 

[lawman]

hey tileman, i went back & read your entire website this time, not just the page about a/c in the tent. it was like going home, buddy, i'm from God's country myself (that's miss'ippi to you infidels) & have been to some of the places you talk about, & am a blues afficianado & fellow pbr drinker (tho not in the same league at either pursuit as you). i got the same scowls in the campground from the hi-end campers about my battered camper, b/f it became totally hors d' combat. couple more questions for you:
(1) what are you, a blues & saints fan, doing marooned in florida, of all places? some jealous husband run you out of town?
(2)if your a/c pulls only 5.3 amps, could you run it off the rv battery with the appropriate inverter? that would save me hauling the generator & its gasoline, plus save the racket. what do you think?
(3)what kind of dirt bike does a semi-pro tent-camping miss'ippi delta blues bum ride? do you haul with the bluesmobile?

 

[BunduBasher]

I can now sleep late in the mornings. The hum of the fan and compressor motors drowns out the sounds of morning birds and insects. Ever noticed that morning birds are happiest when you have a hangover?

:)

 

[lawman]

hey highbeam, i'm with you on the noise if the place is otherwise quiet. i hate the noise, too, in a place like that. when i go backpacking in the wilderness, i want peace & quiet, just like our greenie friends. but i don't camp at the enduros to rough it in the wilderness. the heat & humidity here must be experienced to be believed, & the enduro camps are so noisy in the summer that 1 more generator doesn't make much difference, esp. compared to the giant 1s that are needed to power some of the rock star rv's that people are bringing to the enduros now. thus my question to tileman about running the a/c off the battery. i figure that if a frugal guy like tileman thinks he needs to buy an a/c at walmart to camp around here, it must be worth having, but the battery idea would be way easier & cheaper (& quieter) than the generator. q. for you, hb: you think i'd need to mount it up on a table? does it need that much circulation? or could i just set it on a couple pieces of 2 X 4?

 

[2001yz250]

The Army has been using A/C in tents for years. 'Course, only the motorpool knew about it. :p Why do you think those generators ran all night...lights? :cool:

 

[Highbeam]

The condesnor on an AC unit is like a radiator so you would want to ensure flow though the condensor for efficient operation. Some models use the bottom to flow the air to their condensors.

It would be like sealing the bottom of your truck's engine compartment so no air could flow through the radiator, it would start to overheat.

Depending on the design of your AC unit and how big it is.. a couple of 2x4s might leave sufficent gap underneath. Also, the owner's manual might give minimum clearances just like a fridge.

 

[lawman]

ah so, highbeam, i didn't know that, thanks! i don't have a window unit right now, so i'll know what to look for if i decide this is worth trying.

tileman, i checked your website again & see that you sit yours on 3 bricks. does this seem to work ok? did you factor this into your design?

 

[tileman]

Hi lawman
that site I posted a link to is Not My Site I was just searching for some info for you and found it.
I am from Fl. been here all my 36 yrs.

Ron.

 

[lawman]

how about that, i guess that's what i get for assuming. i'll see if i can track the guy down. thanks again for the link!

 

[Timr]

Originally posted by lawman
but it was a sera enduro. just about everybody runs a generator in the warm (or hot) weather, the campground sounds like a tank division is running maneuvers all nite long. (ever camped in louisiana or miss. in summer?)

I'm going to have to agree with Lawman on this one. I was at the same SERA enduro and usually attend most SERA enduros. At least 50-60 generators run all night long, including the one that was powering the AC in the motorhome where I slept comfortably all night long. It usually sounds like a squadron of B-17s flying low overhead. I've slept in tents at these events, and the number of generators create a low harmonic hum that kind of cancels each one out. It doesn't bother me too much.

I've seen fliers for races in Northern series where they say things like quiet hours from 10p-6a. Absolutely NO GENERATORS. Well, they haven't tried to camp in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas or Alabama in the heat of the summer.

I've camped up in Norhtern Michigan in the summer time, and you better have a nice sleeping bag and maybe an extra blanket. If you camp in a tent down south in the summer, you better have a snorkle for the pool of sweat you'll be sleeping in.

Law, could you imagine the backlash if they tried to shut down all of the generators at a race? :)

 

[lawman]

oh yeah, there'd be a riot. i can see where they wouldn't be needed up north or in the west, but summer camping without 1 in the sera district is no fun (i've tried it). i'm working on this a/c in the tent thing, i'll get it figured out.

 

[ADS]

Hey, Lawman, how's the course looking at Somerville? I hope I have a better race than I did at Saulsbury. It was not much of a AA debut for me.

 

[lawman]

hey, andrew, i haven't seen it yet, i'll prob. go out there tomorrow. i'll prob miss the race to do the nat'l enduro in mo. that weekend. when ya gonna come with us to 1 of those?

 

[ADS]

I will go to an enduro when ya'll teach me some of the "tricks of the trade". Or you could just make sure that I am on either your or Jerry's minute. Just give me a holler sometime.