I was thinking of building a bulkhead behind the front seats on my Nissan NV 3500 using the foam board and fiberglass and venting a portible AC unit through the bulk head and into the cab. I would then leave the windows open a crack to let the hot air escape the cab.. Any thoughts. I have a 9000 btu unit.
Hi Michael,
I guess that would work — a couple thoughts…
The portable AC units are known for not being very efficient. This is not so much a concern when operating on shore power (although good efficiency is always good from a less waste of energy standpoint). But, if operating on your house battery, you want every bit of efficiency you can get — and also very good insulation and good window treatment.
The better roof ACs have an EER (efficiency rating) up toward 12, so if you can find a portable in this range, that should be fine.
I have heard from some people who use a portable AC unit that vents through the cab windows. I think that they found or adapted the think that allows a portable AC unit to vent out of a house window.
From the point of view of reducing the volume of space being air conditioned, the bulkhead would be good, but on the down side is the work to build it and that it would isolate the cab area from the back to some degree. We find that we use the cab area quite a bit when camped both to sit and to stow stuff that comes out for the night.
I’d like to hear how this comes out if you have time to drop me a note.
I was thinking of building a bulkhead behind the front seats on my Nissan NV 3500 using the foam board and fiberglass and venting a portible AC unit through the bulk head and into the cab. I would then leave the windows open a crack to let the hot air escape the cab.. Any thoughts. I have a 9000 btu unit.
Hi Michael,
I guess that would work — a couple thoughts…
The portable AC units are known for not being very efficient. This is not so much a concern when operating on shore power (although good efficiency is always good from a less waste of energy standpoint). But, if operating on your house battery, you want every bit of efficiency you can get — and also very good insulation and good window treatment.
The better roof ACs have an EER (efficiency rating) up toward 12, so if you can find a portable in this range, that should be fine.
I have heard from some people who use a portable AC unit that vents through the cab windows. I think that they found or adapted the think that allows a portable AC unit to vent out of a house window.
From the point of view of reducing the volume of space being air conditioned, the bulkhead would be good, but on the down side is the work to build it and that it would isolate the cab area from the back to some degree. We find that we use the cab area quite a bit when camped both to sit and to stow stuff that comes out for the night.
I’d like to hear how this comes out if you have time to drop me a note.
Gary