By William Coleman
There was a time when I had a 1997 Renault Clio, this was in 2006, no electric windows, no power steering, tape deck radio and no air conditioning. Now I am a little bit older and cars are a lot more advanced, and i am not in college, there are certain fittings and fixtures that I couldn’t do without. The main one being air conditioning. Something that is becoming a lot more popular as an aftermarket fitting for caravans and motorhomes for a multitude of reasons.
As popular as on board air con is becoming there are still a lot of people who are not interested in installing it, yet can’t go without in their day to day car. Having spent a fair bit of time with caravan and motorhome air conditioning I have found some hidden benefits that can make it very worthwhile.
Keeping The Pets Comfortable
It is always a pleasure taking your pets on holiday with you and for many leaving your cat or dog at home is just not an option.
When you are making the most of the great British weather and going bike rides, swimming or other non pet safe activities you do sometimes have to leave the animals in the van for a few hours during the day. As we know the caravan can sometimes get rather warm and be extremely uncomfortable for anyone inside.
Having air con means you can set I cool temperature to ensure your animals can relax and put their paws up and enjoy their own little private staycation.
Safety & Insurance Benefits
Off the back of the setting a pet friendly temperature you may also want to consider what you may do without air con to keep the pets cool. Keep a window open, pop open the sky light to keep the air flowing through the van.
These options can lead to quite a few unpleasant situations for the caravan owner. In some cases leaving windows and skylights open can invalidate your insurance in the event of an incident taking place. Not in all cases but it does happen so I strongly suggest checking your insurance paperwork as it is always better to be safe than sorry.
This also presents the perfect opportunity for the would be thief looking to get his hands on your goods. So imagine leaving a window open and then having someone break in to then find you have invalidate your insurance. Doesn’t bare thinking about.
Drying
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where the site you’re staying on where you can wash your clothes but not dry them? I have found myself in that situation quite a few times over the years.
This is where air con can save the day and have your clothes dry in no time at all. An air con system will take the moisture out of the air and blow dry air around the van and help speed up the drying process of your clothes.
Pop the clothes up, turn the air on, go out and enjoy yours and then come home to bone dry clothes.
Climate Control
The weather in the UK can be very unpredictable, despite what weather reports might say. One moment is it nice and warm with not a cloud in sight, then moments later your in a full on downpour running for cover.
Once you return to your home you are going to want to get right into a warm van and dry off. If you do not have climate control then you will sit and have to play the waiting game, which is very unpleasant if you are soaking wet.
Climate control acts as a sort of “smart air con” system that allows you to not have to worry about changing any temperature settings.
No matter the outside temperature the climate control will use sensors to ensure the air con output maintains the chosen setting. So if its 32 outside and you want the van at a cool room temperature of 21 the van will maintain the cool temperature throughout the van.
Dealing With Humidity
So back to drying clothes inside the van. Without having a third party plug dehumidifier on one of your counters you may start to experience damp being caused.
A lot of people I know use their vans all year round and do a lot of outdoor activities such as canoeing, mountain biking and other various sports that can get you soaking wet. Bring soaked clothes on board and letting them air dry inside unassisted will, over time, cause some real headaches.
The aircon, as I mentioned before, will take away the humidity in the air and keep everything dry and comfortable. So if you are into your water sports it may just save you a lot of hard work down the road.
