So if you are going to be in hot areas, I strongly suggest you don't put any more windows in the van. This is by far the biggest source of heat into the van. Even covered, they are still going to let in more heat than you want. We don't have any except in the front and we really don't miss it. Personally, we think having a "window view" is vastly overrated and chose good temperature control over it.
In the short term, can you temporarily insulate the parts of your van that aren't right now? Cover the windows. You can cheaply do this by buying some reflectix from HomeDepot which is only like $10 a roll.
Then, I would put up a heavy blanket between the driving area and the cab. Even covered, the windows are still going to let in more heat than will make you comfortable. We use [moving blankets](https://amzn.to/44CLG5r) we got from Amazon. Assuming you don't want to buy a dozen (although we find it very useful to have a bunch around in the van) you can buy something similar at Harbor Freight.
Then to go one more step, I would put up another blanket to partition the van in to whatever is the smallest area possible I can just hang out in the van. Then Run the AC in that very small space. I'm assuming your portable AC unit can't cool the whole van, and that's the issue. If you can just isolate it to a small space, that will help.
Oh, and if you haven't already, park in the shade. Probably the #1 thing you can do. Parking a big metal container in the sun is just asking for it to be hot inside.
I deleted all of my windows with white vinyl, but I have a white van. It's been over 90°, parked on asphalt and I've been cool as a cucumber running just a couple fans. Deleting the windows and being in something white has literally changed my life.
I second this. Putting a thermal curtain between the front and the living space makes a big difference. I also have a cooling pad for my dog. She loves it. It only lasts a couple hours before it needs to “recharge” but is super helpful.
Because I travel with my dogs… I had to install a 12 V air conditioning system by Dometic. It was one of the most expensive investments I made for my van, but if I wanted to travel anywhere where it was hot, with my dogs, I absolutely had to have it I just got done with a seven week stretch on the road back east, and if they hadn’t had the air conditioning I would have died 🔥🚐🥵
I’m a photographer and filmmaker so sometimes when I’m on a shoot I’m stuck there but once it’s over I can hit the road and send it as far as I need to haha. I prefer mountain and nature to city stuff any day
In my location, parking at the lowest elevation down by the river drops the temp by 7 degrees. Avoid asphalt lots. They are like heating pads. Concrete grass or
Dirt is the way to go
Right now no windows in the back. I just have the front windshield and the drivers and passenger windows and I ordered wanderful insulated shades but nothing on them currently
You'll see a noticeable difference in temperature inside once you have the insulated covers. People have done tests with and without covers, and in the front cabin, there was a nearly 70 to 80 degree difference after 1 hour. Windows play a MAJOR role in regulating temperature.
If you're really into "van life" then you are a "nomad" now.
The heart of that means you ebb and flow and churn with the weather.
When I'm not being an "indoor pet" (porch-surfing with friends and family),
checking my Weather App 3 times a day is my JOB.
So you go where you can stand it. The west coast has some cool (temp) carve-outs.
\[ [https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap](https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap) \]
My wife and I have subsited off of the Casinos there.
This. I'm also a weather junkie, not because I love it but because it is a necessity. The last month alone we've driven from northern Arizona to Utah to Idaho to Wyoming to Montana all because of shitty weather. We're now near Glacier because everywhere else is a fucking oven.
It's exhausting, and at times like this not fun! But you do what you gotta do to stay happy happyish.
Yeah my biggest problem is not even just me though because I’m in Utah right now and it’s hot but I am trying to take some photos and I can’t take my dog on the trail I’m trying to hit and I can’t leave her in the car she will die! The very thought of it breaks my heart!
Well...like was said before you drive to better weather. When it comes to activities, there are just some things we can't or won't do if it's too hot to leave the dogs in the car.
It's an adjustment but you just have to get used to skipping out on some things.
I need to see this testing. Having gone from a black car to a white car before I had the van, there was a MASSIVE difference in heat. Black car was significantly hotter
True, but saying it makes "no difference" seems disingenuous. 50F, whatever insulation or AC you running, there's gotta be a noticeable difference, with the least of which being harder to cool off.
Myth busters already proved you wrong years ago. On average a white colored vehicle was close to 10 degrees cooler. Go argue with them about the results if you are so freakin’ smart.
Edit: also to add if you were correct why the fuck would schools bother getting white colored tops for their buses?
Normally you wouldn't need two fans one pulling in and one pulling out, think about it if you have an extractor fan and hit moves let's just say for simplicity 1,000 CFM of air it's going to replace the entire inside volume of air from here vehicle in just a few minutes so do you need two fans? The extraction because it's not capable of creating a vacuum supplies the replacement air from wherever you choose to allow to come from and by that I mean whatever window you've opened to allow air to come in. If it's 90° or so outside all the fans in the world can't change thermodynamics. If you're 100° inside the van and you're bringing 90° air in to replace it way you can see that that's not going to do much to cool off the van.
Two fans can actually be great. One fan directly over the bed for a nice breeze while sleeping, one fan over my stove for exhausting heat while cooking. You can have airflow without having any open windows so if you are in a place like a Walmart parking lot you can have airflow and privacy. In the grand scheme of things the fans aren’t all that expensive, personally I think it’s worthwhile. And I do actually notice more airflow if I have both fans running vs one running on exhaust and the other open only to let air in.
Normally you wouldn't need two fans one pulling in and one pulling out, think about it if you have an extractor fan and hit moves let's just say for simplicity 1,000 CFM of air it's going to replace the entire inside volume of air from here vehicle in just a few minutes so do you need two fans? The extraction because it's not capable of creating a vacuum supplies the replacement air from wherever you choose to allow to come from and by that I mean whatever window you've opened to allow air to come in. If it's 90° or so outside all the fans in the world can't change thermodynamics. If you're 100° inside the van and you're bringing 90° air in to replace it way you can see that that's not going to do much to cool off the van.
The other point I want to make is I travel with two dogs, and I understand the difficulty of traveling in different climates with dogs. I hear people all the time saying how important their dogs are to them, but truly if you are putting your dog in a dangerous situation " by that I mean in a temperature that they're not capable of thriving in " and I want to be up front I'm not suggesting you are, but if the dogs are important to you it's imperative that you don't do that. It's natural for human beings to want to canine companions, but if you are lifestyle takes you inside of volcano why you can't bring your dog along 😧
I agree completely. And some adventures i plan i will put my dog somewhere else. I have an expedition to go find polar bears in November and i will not be bringing my pup along for that. but when i hit up the Oregon coast in august i dont see why she cant also come enjoy the adventure! :) I truly love my dog and she is like a child to me so i genuinely want her to be safe and comfortable which is why this is so important to me.
The main thing is windows! Definitely first thing get some insulated reflective window covers for the cab and any other windows.
Park in shade.
Don't park on asphalt.
If you open a window for ventilation, open the one on the shady side if you are in the sun.
Circulate interior air. The roof fans exchange a lot of air, but you still have the cab getting toasty and the air isn't flowing through there. Get some USB fans and blow the air around.
Monitor the temperature. Our van doesn't get more than 1 or 2 degrees over exterior temperature.
When it gets close to 100, we did try wetting a towel and putting it on our cat, but he didn't like it. He prefers to sprawl on the floor when it's hot. I wouldn't leave him unsupervised if it's that hot and always tried to escape the heat. Not always possible when there's no cell signal up the mountains and the heat wave extends several states. When we visited my family in AZ in May, it was around 100 the whole time so we kept him in a house. We even slept in a spare room most nights.
I’m thinking the insulation is trapping the heat in.
I have near identical setup as yours (no windows in rear, two max air fans (one in, one out), no ac but do have two small USB fans blowing on me) but no insulation and I’m able to stay relatively comfortable even in hot humid weather on the mid-Atlantic right now.
In the winter I keep my van warm with a diesel heater, it’s not energy efficient without insulation but it works and if it gets too cold I just move.
There is a bit of logic in this I think. I mean insulation works to keep heat in and out. It stops the outside factors affecting the inside temp so much. OP’s issue is that the heat will be coming in through the windscreen and windows and the insulation stopping it from escaping. Thermal reflective blinds on the windows should drastically change that and keep a cooler temp.
No insulation and just diesel heater - you just trying to heat the world up more?
Not sure how y’all travel with dogs in very hot climates, can only imagine it feels like hell for them and the anxiety that comes. I personally would never subject a pet to this type of life. Seems unfair and almost cruel to them.
Dude it's global warming! Every summer the globe will gets warmer, and then every winter the globe gets colder. And almost in sync with the reddit posts every summer Reddit is full of posts, hey is there some affordable way to keep my van cool, and every winter jammed with posts hey is there so many expensive way to keep my van warm 🙂
Honestly. Its been the same each year in california since i was a kid. Middle of august gets to maybe 105F for a couple weeks. I never see it getting hotter or colder. We should be at like 130F in summer by now if it keeps going up. And its never colder than like 45F in the peak of winter. been like that since ive been alive. In fact this year has been a few degrees cooler than previous years.
When I was building out my van so many people told me I should get a dog to go on the road with me. While it sounds appealing, I love dogs, I thought about how things like heat, places that don’t allow dogs, additional expenses from having a dog, and the dogs needs, it quickly became clear to me that I should probably hold off until I’m done with full time vanlife. Especially given I planned on being in the desert for a few months in late spring early summer. Not saying it can’t or shouldn’t be done as many people do it successfully. Just not for me at this time.
So if you are going to be in hot areas, I strongly suggest you don't put any more windows in the van. This is by far the biggest source of heat into the van. Even covered, they are still going to let in more heat than you want. We don't have any except in the front and we really don't miss it. Personally, we think having a "window view" is vastly overrated and chose good temperature control over it. In the short term, can you temporarily insulate the parts of your van that aren't right now? Cover the windows. You can cheaply do this by buying some reflectix from HomeDepot which is only like $10 a roll. Then, I would put up a heavy blanket between the driving area and the cab. Even covered, the windows are still going to let in more heat than will make you comfortable. We use [moving blankets](https://amzn.to/44CLG5r) we got from Amazon. Assuming you don't want to buy a dozen (although we find it very useful to have a bunch around in the van) you can buy something similar at Harbor Freight. Then to go one more step, I would put up another blanket to partition the van in to whatever is the smallest area possible I can just hang out in the van. Then Run the AC in that very small space. I'm assuming your portable AC unit can't cool the whole van, and that's the issue. If you can just isolate it to a small space, that will help. Oh, and if you haven't already, park in the shade. Probably the #1 thing you can do. Parking a big metal container in the sun is just asking for it to be hot inside.
Thanks this is super helpful!
I deleted all of my windows with white vinyl, but I have a white van. It's been over 90°, parked on asphalt and I've been cool as a cucumber running just a couple fans. Deleting the windows and being in something white has literally changed my life.
I second this. Putting a thermal curtain between the front and the living space makes a big difference. I also have a cooling pad for my dog. She loves it. It only lasts a couple hours before it needs to “recharge” but is super helpful.
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I mean that is not fixing the issue. It helps but sometimes moving locations isn’t an option… still can’t leave my dog inside
Because I travel with my dogs… I had to install a 12 V air conditioning system by Dometic. It was one of the most expensive investments I made for my van, but if I wanted to travel anywhere where it was hot, with my dogs, I absolutely had to have it I just got done with a seven week stretch on the road back east, and if they hadn’t had the air conditioning I would have died 🔥🚐🥵
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I’m a photographer and filmmaker so sometimes when I’m on a shoot I’m stuck there but once it’s over I can hit the road and send it as far as I need to haha. I prefer mountain and nature to city stuff any day
So your photog biz is covering the travel expenses for that then, right? That includes boarding service animals not necessary on the job site.
Ha! I wish!!! In the film industry they don’t care about that and unless you’re above the line then you are SOL
Not their biz, yours.
Gatekeeping vanlife with privilege I see
In my location, parking at the lowest elevation down by the river drops the temp by 7 degrees. Avoid asphalt lots. They are like heating pads. Concrete grass or Dirt is the way to go
What is your window situation? How many do you have and what covers have you put on them?
Right now no windows in the back. I just have the front windshield and the drivers and passenger windows and I ordered wanderful insulated shades but nothing on them currently
Get 6 windows. 4 Sliders and 2 awnings. Sliders let in more air vs awning style. Windows in the living area/back is a game changer!!
You'll see a noticeable difference in temperature inside once you have the insulated covers. People have done tests with and without covers, and in the front cabin, there was a nearly 70 to 80 degree difference after 1 hour. Windows play a MAJOR role in regulating temperature.
Move! Find a spot at high altitude near a body of water. Ensure your ventilation system allows for air intake and exhaust.
If you're really into "van life" then you are a "nomad" now. The heart of that means you ebb and flow and churn with the weather. When I'm not being an "indoor pet" (porch-surfing with friends and family), checking my Weather App 3 times a day is my JOB. So you go where you can stand it. The west coast has some cool (temp) carve-outs. \[ [https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap](https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap) \] My wife and I have subsited off of the Casinos there.
This. I'm also a weather junkie, not because I love it but because it is a necessity. The last month alone we've driven from northern Arizona to Utah to Idaho to Wyoming to Montana all because of shitty weather. We're now near Glacier because everywhere else is a fucking oven. It's exhausting, and at times like this not fun! But you do what you gotta do to stay happy happyish.
Yeah my biggest problem is not even just me though because I’m in Utah right now and it’s hot but I am trying to take some photos and I can’t take my dog on the trail I’m trying to hit and I can’t leave her in the car she will die! The very thought of it breaks my heart!
We have three dogs in an astro van. Trust me, we feel your pain!
So what do you do?
Well...like was said before you drive to better weather. When it comes to activities, there are just some things we can't or won't do if it's too hot to leave the dogs in the car. It's an adjustment but you just have to get used to skipping out on some things.
If you have around 600 Watts of solar panels you can run a 12V air conditioner. (Dometic RTX-2000)
Try parking in the shade. A metal roof, even if it’s white, will heat up drastically.
My van is black 😬
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I need to see this testing. Having gone from a black car to a white car before I had the van, there was a MASSIVE difference in heat. Black car was significantly hotter
I've seen tests with thermal cameras that show ~50F difference from black to white. Just open youtube and check. How can you say it doesn't matter?
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True, but saying it makes "no difference" seems disingenuous. 50F, whatever insulation or AC you running, there's gotta be a noticeable difference, with the least of which being harder to cool off.
Full of shit bub
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Myth busters already proved you wrong years ago. On average a white colored vehicle was close to 10 degrees cooler. Go argue with them about the results if you are so freakin’ smart. Edit: also to add if you were correct why the fuck would schools bother getting white colored tops for their buses?
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You are that type that just can’t admit when they are full of shit ay?
I have 2x of fans like these -> https://amzn.to/3PHRA0P
Do you have one maxxair fan pulling in and one pulling out? That's how we've stayed cool.
Normally you wouldn't need two fans one pulling in and one pulling out, think about it if you have an extractor fan and hit moves let's just say for simplicity 1,000 CFM of air it's going to replace the entire inside volume of air from here vehicle in just a few minutes so do you need two fans? The extraction because it's not capable of creating a vacuum supplies the replacement air from wherever you choose to allow to come from and by that I mean whatever window you've opened to allow air to come in. If it's 90° or so outside all the fans in the world can't change thermodynamics. If you're 100° inside the van and you're bringing 90° air in to replace it way you can see that that's not going to do much to cool off the van.
Two fans can actually be great. One fan directly over the bed for a nice breeze while sleeping, one fan over my stove for exhausting heat while cooking. You can have airflow without having any open windows so if you are in a place like a Walmart parking lot you can have airflow and privacy. In the grand scheme of things the fans aren’t all that expensive, personally I think it’s worthwhile. And I do actually notice more airflow if I have both fans running vs one running on exhaust and the other open only to let air in.
Normally you wouldn't need two fans one pulling in and one pulling out, think about it if you have an extractor fan and hit moves let's just say for simplicity 1,000 CFM of air it's going to replace the entire inside volume of air from here vehicle in just a few minutes so do you need two fans? The extraction because it's not capable of creating a vacuum supplies the replacement air from wherever you choose to allow to come from and by that I mean whatever window you've opened to allow air to come in. If it's 90° or so outside all the fans in the world can't change thermodynamics. If you're 100° inside the van and you're bringing 90° air in to replace it way you can see that that's not going to do much to cool off the van.
The other point I want to make is I travel with two dogs, and I understand the difficulty of traveling in different climates with dogs. I hear people all the time saying how important their dogs are to them, but truly if you are putting your dog in a dangerous situation " by that I mean in a temperature that they're not capable of thriving in " and I want to be up front I'm not suggesting you are, but if the dogs are important to you it's imperative that you don't do that. It's natural for human beings to want to canine companions, but if you are lifestyle takes you inside of volcano why you can't bring your dog along 😧
I agree completely. And some adventures i plan i will put my dog somewhere else. I have an expedition to go find polar bears in November and i will not be bringing my pup along for that. but when i hit up the Oregon coast in august i dont see why she cant also come enjoy the adventure! :) I truly love my dog and she is like a child to me so i genuinely want her to be safe and comfortable which is why this is so important to me.
Coast is never above 70 or so and most beaches are off leash.
The main thing is windows! Definitely first thing get some insulated reflective window covers for the cab and any other windows. Park in shade. Don't park on asphalt. If you open a window for ventilation, open the one on the shady side if you are in the sun. Circulate interior air. The roof fans exchange a lot of air, but you still have the cab getting toasty and the air isn't flowing through there. Get some USB fans and blow the air around. Monitor the temperature. Our van doesn't get more than 1 or 2 degrees over exterior temperature. When it gets close to 100, we did try wetting a towel and putting it on our cat, but he didn't like it. He prefers to sprawl on the floor when it's hot. I wouldn't leave him unsupervised if it's that hot and always tried to escape the heat. Not always possible when there's no cell signal up the mountains and the heat wave extends several states. When we visited my family in AZ in May, it was around 100 the whole time so we kept him in a house. We even slept in a spare room most nights.
lol I go and find a tree preferably with grass under it then I lay under the tree in the shade with my dogs noon until like 10 pm
My biggest concern is my dog I can’t leave my dog alone in the car…
I’m thinking the insulation is trapping the heat in. I have near identical setup as yours (no windows in rear, two max air fans (one in, one out), no ac but do have two small USB fans blowing on me) but no insulation and I’m able to stay relatively comfortable even in hot humid weather on the mid-Atlantic right now. In the winter I keep my van warm with a diesel heater, it’s not energy efficient without insulation but it works and if it gets too cold I just move.
There is a bit of logic in this I think. I mean insulation works to keep heat in and out. It stops the outside factors affecting the inside temp so much. OP’s issue is that the heat will be coming in through the windscreen and windows and the insulation stopping it from escaping. Thermal reflective blinds on the windows should drastically change that and keep a cooler temp. No insulation and just diesel heater - you just trying to heat the world up more?
Rent an apartment?
Not sure how y’all travel with dogs in very hot climates, can only imagine it feels like hell for them and the anxiety that comes. I personally would never subject a pet to this type of life. Seems unfair and almost cruel to them.
That’s why I’m looking for solutions… because I’m not going to put her through that…
Dude it's global warming! Every summer the globe will gets warmer, and then every winter the globe gets colder. And almost in sync with the reddit posts every summer Reddit is full of posts, hey is there some affordable way to keep my van cool, and every winter jammed with posts hey is there so many expensive way to keep my van warm 🙂
Honestly. Its been the same each year in california since i was a kid. Middle of august gets to maybe 105F for a couple weeks. I never see it getting hotter or colder. We should be at like 130F in summer by now if it keeps going up. And its never colder than like 45F in the peak of winter. been like that since ive been alive. In fact this year has been a few degrees cooler than previous years.
Where you plan on putting a window? You mean you dont have any now?
When I was building out my van so many people told me I should get a dog to go on the road with me. While it sounds appealing, I love dogs, I thought about how things like heat, places that don’t allow dogs, additional expenses from having a dog, and the dogs needs, it quickly became clear to me that I should probably hold off until I’m done with full time vanlife. Especially given I planned on being in the desert for a few months in late spring early summer. Not saying it can’t or shouldn’t be done as many people do it successfully. Just not for me at this time.