I parked my van in the sun today and when I got back the thermometer said 50C.
It's got all my kit in it and that can't be a great way to make the carbon fibre last.
Has anyone else fixed up a solar fan or anything similar?
Apparently the new Prius has a solar panel that runs air conditioning while you're parked, seems very clever but also a bit prone to going wrong... and I'm not going to be able to get 5 boards in a Prius
I've seen some vans, especially older ones with those air vents, the round ones that spin in the breeze. Other than that get a sun roof installed and keep it open? As hot air rises I guess some sort of way for hot air to escape out the roof will help a lot.
My Econovan has the whirly-gig thing on the roof and in conjunction with the sun shade on the windscreen when parked stays fairly cool compared to no screen and windows closed tight......
looking online I've found some caravan people who wire up a solar panel to a computer fan and then install it in the van.
it seems a bit 'enthusiast' though
these things have been around for a while, easy solution www.thinkawesome.com/t-solar-powered-ventilators.htm
The whirlygig is called a Flettner air vent and i'm sure you can get them from UES in Malaga WA. I think/hope they have branches in all states.
I glued a layer of astro foil to all accessable areas on my old ute(mazda bravo) and the drop in temperature and noise levels were nothing short of amazing.
Try the roof and sides of the van and add an air vent and i think you will be happy with the results.
They only work in a breeze. Driving,parked outside in a breeze etc.
Will not work in a garage at all, but will work in a carport.
Hope that has muddied the waters enough.[}:)]
You do need another vent to get an exhaust type flow.
i pulled all the panels off my van and filled the voids with pinkbatts (house insulation) and sealed it back up... Once you clean the van its sweet and the car is nice and cool even on a hot day - especially if i leave the drivers window just cracked...
The thing I posted works all the time, it has a solar powered fan. It goes in between the door frame and the window. Either side of the vent is a weather strip that fills up the rest of the gap left by the window not fully closing.
My van becomes cool by me sitting in it. Needs anti-freeze because of how cool I am.
I just stuck some insulation in my van (T4), hasn't been hot enough to test properly, but the roof and side panels are now much cooler than the few bits of exposed body on the inside - should cover those with something really too. I used some foam from clark rubber which is shiny on one side and about 10mm thick and about $27/m. Much cheaper than the alternatives but hopefully nearly as good. Got one layer in the roof cavities and 2-3 in the sides.
That window fan looks good, but the reviews on Amazon are terrible: http://www.amazon.com/Trillium-Worldwide-TWI-7001-Solar-Powered-Ventilator/dp/B0007LXTN2 - then again it's pretty cheap.
On ebay if you search for "solar vent" there are lots of stainless ones like this: tinyurl.com/yck9sx4 but I'm not that keen on chopping a big hole in my van to find out how good they are.
The heat a van builds up combined with the weak air-con in the T4 is the biggest con to having a van for me at the moment, so if anyone has a good cooling solution would be glad to hear it!
Put a whirlybird on the roof and a small vent in the side. Natural convection will make the hot air flow out the top and draw cooler air through the vent. Any breeze will help drive the whirlybird and make it more effective.
Your van won't be cool but it will stop it getting hotter than the ambient air temperature which is the big problem.
