One of the reasons I have such a huge solar array (945 watts) and a huge battery bank (780 amphours) is so I can run an air conditioner. I went with a portable air conditioner called the Haier 8,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner. I have the HPRB08XCM model. I selected this air conditioner because it was listed as using about 700 watts and it seemed to be sufficient to cool a well insulated van. In reality, it uses around 750 watts when the compressor is on with a peak startup power of about 2,760 watts. There is some loss when inverting from DC to AC. So you’ll actually need closer to 850 watts DC (70 amps at 12 volts). This means if you go with this air conditioner, you’ll need an inverter that can handle this peak current such as the Xantrex ProWatt 2000. It can handle 2,000 watts continuous and a 3,000 watt peak.

Installation:

Installation was simple. I cut a well planned hole for the exhaust hose and one for the drain hose.

I slid this duct extension through the floor and used some adhesive on the outside.

On the outside of the van, I secured some metal mesh to act as a bug screen on the exhaust hose and the drain hose.

Any sort of tubing will work fine for the drain hose because it only drips out occasionally.

I left the wheels on because it wouldn’t sit flat without them. The AC is just strapped in place between two pieces of plywood.

The downside of the portable air conditioners is the exhaust hose. They can’t compete with the efficiency of the window units or the roof top units because the exhaust hose is always giving off heat. However, I did my best to mediate this by wrapping the hose with as much reflectix duct wrap insulation as I could. My exhaust goes through the floor, but placing the hose through the wall or through the ceiling would certainly work much better to remove the hot air. The less of the hose you have inside the van, the better it will work. I didn’t want to have a hole on the side of the van so I settled on the floor for the exhaust.

But Joe, how long can you run the AC?

If you don’t feel like reading all the information below, just watch this 10 minute video:

This will be a complicated answer with different scenarios. I think anywhere from 75-80 degrees is a good compromise while living the van life. The higher the temperature that you can comfortably tolerate, the longer the AC will be able to maintain it. In my experience, I’ve been able to lower the temperature approximately 5 degrees within a few minutes, then slower after that. So if it’s 90 degrees outside, I’ll compromise at 80.