Keep Cool in the RV with a Portable Air Conditioner
Traveling in an RV guarantees a greater level of comfort than tent camping, but they’ve got a few drawbacks of their own. If you’ve ever spent a summer in a camper, you probably remember getting pretty hot. I have a lot of summer memories of hot, muggy RVs that were worse than the sunlight outside!
Thankfully, there are ways to beat the heat in an RV. One of the best weapons you can have is a good air conditioner. Most RVs come with an A/C built-in, but you don’t want to run the battery all the time just to cool down the interior. That’s where portable units come to the rescue!
Below we’ve compiled a few of our top choices. I’m confident that somewhere in the list below, you’ll be able to find the perfect portable air conditioner for camping.
HAYI Evaporative Conditioner
We’re starting out this list strong with this personal air conditioner. This unit is extremely lightweight and only weighs 2.33 pounds. It’s the perfect size for an RV, but you don’t have to sacrifice great quality for the small size!
This model is an evaporative type and it cools the surrounding area using ice cubes and cold water. All you need to do is add ice, plug it into a power socket or USB outlet, and set the right speed! This HAYI model offers three different wind speeds and they can be adjusted using the touch-screen interface. Because it uses ice and cold water as a fuel source, it will also leave your RV smelling fresh and clean.
This product also been highly rated by customers and has an easy-to-clean design. Overall, this is a compact, efficient model that is a great portable air conditioner for camping.
HAYI Evaporative Conditioner, $40 on Amazon
BLACK+DECKER Portable Air Conditioner For Camping
The BLACK+DECKER brand has been making high-quality products for years now. They’re a well-known player in the appliance industry, and this portable air conditioner is a wonderful addition to their lineup. It is a free-standing unit that has an attached set of wheels. It’s easy to move from one room to another, and all it needs is a power outlet.
This air conditioner weighs 28 pounds, so it’s a bit heavier than a lot of options on this list. However, it’s also quite powerful and effective. This personal air cooler is capable of cooling indoor spaces that are 350 square feet. This is ideal for an RV! A single A/C unit like this is more than enough to regulate the temperature of your camper.
BLACK+DECKER took things even further with this model and gave the 1 machine the ability to perform 3 functions. This air conditioner works as a cooler, fan, and dehumidifier. On top of all that, it has an adjustable fan speed, is easy to clean, and has a sleep setting that makes it run more quietly at night.
BLACK+DECKER BPACT14WT, $492 on Amazon
SereneLife Portable Electric Air Conditioner Unit
If you are shopping around for the best portable air conditioner, this SereneLife model definitely deserves your consideration. This is the largest and heaviest model on the list, but it’s still quite portable for an A/C unit. It weighs 53 pounds, but it has a sleek upright design that will blend in quite well with an RV interior. It can stand up fine on its own, but it also comes with attachments for a window mount if you’d prefer to hang it.
In addition, it can cool down a room that’s 215 square feet or larger, which is ideal for most campers and RVs. Like the previous model on the list, this air conditioner also functions as a cooler, fan, and dehumidifier. This last function is especially important because everyone knows that the heat is impossible to escape when it’s humid outside.
This SereneLife A/C also has 8,000 BTU cooling power, and a remote control that’s perfect for quick adjustments. It comes with an optional sleep mode as well, so you won’t be kept awake because of loud whirring. Customers love this portable air conditioner and it’s sure to be a great companion for any camping trip.
SereneLife Electric Air Conditioner, $289 on Amazon
NASUM Personal Space Air Cooler
When it comes to a lightweight and portable air conditioner for camping, you won’t find a more compact model than the NASUM. This air cooler is just under 2 pounds and it’s perfect for a desk or table. You can even perch it on the kitchen counter to cool down the cooking area! It has a small handle as well, which makes it even easier to transport.
Much like the first model, this air conditioner uses water and ice cubes to cool the surrounding area. It’s also battery-powered, so you don’t need to worry about finding an outlet nearby. It can run steadily for about 8 hours at a time, which is more than enough time to beat the hottest part of the day. You can recharge the battery by plugging it into a USB port. You also don’t have to worry about the amount of energy it consumes. The NASUM is an environmentally-friendly option that leaves a small carbon footprint.
This air cooler has 3-speed settings (high, medium, and low) and also functions as an air purifier. As long as you keep it clean and well-stocked with ice cubes, you’ll be able to enjoy a steady supply of cool air in your RV. So far, customers have been quite satisfied with it!
NASUM Personal Space Air Cooler, $30 on Amazon
Related articles:
- Summer Camping Is Here: How Will You Stay Cool?
- Run Your A/C Units On 30-Amps & Keep Cool While Boondocking With SoftStartRV
Some of those units will draw up to 12 or 13 amps so plan for that.
The person who wrote the article on portble air conditioners knows nothing on how hot a RV will get in the sun. A normal 13500 BTU roof a/c can sometimes have a hard time keeping up. The ones you add water and ice to , will add humidity to your RV, the last thing you want it to make it more humid. The portable air conditioners ratings are always off. A 8000 BTU has the cooling power of about 5000 btu window air conditioner because it sits in you RV and generates heat as it works. It also has to be vented out a window, so the window kit might have to be adapted to a RV size window.
AC units in campers don’t run off batteries they run off of shore power or generators!
IT SEEMS YOU ALSO NEED TO DO SOME RESEARCH. THE PORTABLE UNITS VENT THE HEAT OUT THE WINDOW USING HOSES THAT ATTACH TO A MANIFOLD THAT GETS SECURED IN YOUR WINDOW.
Air conditioners are divided between swamp coolers, the evaporative type and the rest which are genuine refrigeration. RV’rs are particularly interested in how much the unit draws–either in watts or amps. Battery operated units and those using ice are useless to RV’rs. This piece of floss is useless.
Hi ,has anyone did a insulation of outside walls on your camper? Big to small insulating is the way to go.Insulated my camper stays cooler in summer and furnace runs less rest of year. Your 🇨🇦subcribers….Randy & Judy D.
This article would have been useful if it discussed energy usage.
It seems to tell us what the manufacturers tell us in marketing material.
Other than listing them in one place what value has the author added?
Maybe I missed it. But if you didn’t include it, you should have included a caution that the use of evaporator style coolers are of little use in high humidity areas.
Maybe find some that run on 12 v, not every camper has a generator.
Please discuss replacing a high rise Dometic A/C with a low profile one.
An evaporative cooler is not an air conditioner considering the common usage of the word.
The basic principle of an air conditioner is fairly simple to understand. You have two sets of metal coils; the first one collects the heat from your house and the second one disperses the heat outside. The key part here is the refrigerant; this is a liquid mixture that transfers heat between the two sets of coils.
Nothing to do with water or evaporation.
The general consensus is that you cannot run an RV A/C unit off batteries. WRONG!!! I installed a microair smart start in my A/C unit and “trained” it as directed. Now for the power; I have 990 watts of solar power on the roof (3 REC 330 watt 10.5 amp panels), Victron SmartSolar Charge Controller (150V 70A Tr), 3 100AH Deep Cycle AGM SLA VRLA Batteries and an AIMs 2000 watt inverter. Cost was about $2500 for the parts which I installed myself. We camp in the SW and use the A/C to cool the trailer every day. Next year I’m going to spring for lithium batteries. So, if you want to use the A/C installed at the factory you just have to spring for the upgraded power system.
900watts of solar, which is probably your peak output at high noon, wont keep the 2000W inverter running 24hours a day, nor keep the batteries charged when they got drained all nite running the AC. Laws of Physics require a nice gen set!
Your 900 watt system will only provide 1/2 of the energy needed to power one a/c. The Micro Air device will aid in reducing the start amps of an a/c but will do little to reduce the run amps. Sorry to break the news, but your 3 batteries aren’t going to run an a/c very long.
The evaporation coolers only work in areas of low humidity like southern NM, under 10%. The portable refrigeration units can be run off an extension cord if there is power available, most RV pedestals have a 20amp outlet along with the higher amp outlets.
There are battery operated evaporation coolers, known as swamp coolers, battery operated says it all, they work as long as it’s blowing directly on you, have lots of batteries. When you live in an area with 100+ degree heat regular you learn what works. RV’s with a single A/C in heat might look at a 14,000 BTU portable, not cheap it will run you $500-$600. You like cold w/ 2 A/X’s this will get you there.
Well, that is one person’s opinion. But not mine. In Nam, in heat that was 120 degrees, in the shade, I slept well using a fan. So I’ll not be going with any AC in mine camper. A plus is, if the fan breaks, a replacement is quick, and cheap. One of those ACs breaks it will likely take at least a few days to replace, and cost lots more than a fan. I’ll stick with fans.
I bought Black and decker but we have CURVED WINDOW at bottom – we are not handy enough to put. Apiece of wood – anyone now of pre made part that fits and you can run exhaust hose out?
evap coolers use water to cool if the air if in a dry climate they work but if you are in a humid area they just add more humidity to the air and just it gets worse