Keeping cool

Keeping cool in your vehicle is challenging! If you want to stay as cool as you could in an air-conditioned sticks-and-bricks home, be prepared to spend a lot of money or move your vehicle to a cooler region. Keeping cool is generally more difficult than keeping warm.

Passive cooling: Passive cooling relies on shade, reflectivity, and insulation to keep your vehicle cooler. It's not technically cooling your vehicle, just reducing the rate at which it heats up, so the result is the same. Shade blocks the radiant heat from sunlight from reaching your vehicle at all, reflectivity bounces it away, and insulation slows the heat transfer into your vehicle.

Snowbirding: Snowbirds are those who travel to warmer climates during the winter and colder climates during the summer, following good weather to stay comfortable. Many nomads are snowbirds, especially those with uninsulated vehicles, but many non-nomads make these trips as well, especially retirees who don't have work obligations to stay in one place. Snowbirding reduces the need for expensive and bulky amenities like air conditioning.

Air conditioning: Air conditioning (A/C) for your nomad life is very expensive, but many consider it an essential expense, especially in hot and humid regions. Air conditioners require a significant amount of electricity, which means you'll need either a very large investment ($x,xxx) in solar panels (plus enough roof space to hold them all), high-capacity batteries, and other components, or a generator, or regular access to shore power.

Ventilation: Ventilation is an essential part of any nomadic vehicle; when living in a vehicle you cannot keep everything sealed up tight, even in very hot or cold weather. Ventilation is needed primarily for humidity control, but also for fresh air, to reduce odors, and for temperature control. Humidity is an ever-present consideration for people who live in vehicles. Excess water vapor and condensation can cause mold and mildew, and it can discomfort in warm or hot weather.

Evaporative cooling: Evaporative coolers (or swamp coolers), are a cooling option for nomadic living in areas with low humidity. They do not cool by a certain number of degrees, but rather air ~5-7F above the wet bulb thermometer reading.

Cooling towels: Cooling towels (or evaporative towels) are specially designed towels intended to be soaked in water and placed on your skin. They provide significant cooling effect as the water evaporates. This can be an effective way of keeping cool on hot days, though they are more effective in drier climates.

Water dousing

If you have access to fresh water (such as at a self-service car wash), spraying or pouring cold water over your vehicle can reduce its temperature if it has been sitting in the sun. This will help prevent heat transfer from your vehicle body into your living space.

Leaving your vehicle

If you don't need to be in your vehicle during the heat of the day, leave! Spend these times doing things elsewhere (work, tourism, relaxing at the library, etc.

Heat sources

Part of keeping cool is limiting the heat that gets generated inside your vehicle. Heat comes from several sources:

Greenhouse effect from sunlight entering windows
Reradiated heat from the exterior van surface panels, and the engine if you have been driving
Body heat from humans and pets
Cooking
Heating devices such as diesel heaters, blow dryers, etc.

Resources

	Resource	Description
	Testing temperature reduction strategies	Testing a few ways to keep your van cool, such as ventilation and paint color
	HVAC and insulation forum	A sub-forum of VanLivingForum.com
	Search forums and groups	Search van life discussion groups for "keeping cool"
	Search related sites	Search van life sites for "keeping cool"
	Search NomadLife.wiki	Search other pages on this wiki for "keeping cool"