Air Conditioning for Vans

The Packard Motor Car Company kicked off automotive air conditioning in 1939. It was not a cheap option… several hundred dollars in ‘39 money. As the years passed auto a/c❄️ improved to some degree😅, until nearly every new vehicle offered factory a/c.

Today, new vehicles have incredible a/c systems. Most work really well. But that was not the case a decade or two ago.

When I purchased my 1986 VW Vanagon T3 the air conditioning system in the rear never really did much for the driver and passenger. It wasn’t powerful enough to blow cool air the 8 feet it required to reach those in the front. While the rear passengers froze. Many van enthusiasts face the same problem, especially those with cargo vans. Factory a/c in the front is great, but if you’re camping in your van getting that cool air to the rear most portion of the ride is nearly impossible. The later model Vanagons had better positioned vents and it worked more efficiently.

My ‘86 Vanagon a/c worked, but it never really blew cold after it was retrofitted to accept R134 freon by the previous owner. Then it broke. Specifically, the a/c fans in the rear suddenly began making noise. I decided to shut it down, and that’s when I began doing some research into auto a/c systems.

The research took me down a rabbit hole🐇. Because I was skipping around to other vans, not just Vanagons. What I discovered is that there are thousands, maybe tens of thousands of van owners that are trying to figure out how to cool down their vehicles in the heat of summer. If you live anywhere near Florida, I feel your pain❤️.

I’ve test driven all of the newer cargo vans, and none of these had factory a/c that kept the rear area cooler than the outside temperatures unless they were modified. The only models from Ram, Mercedes and Ford that seem to keep the entire van relatively cooler were the passenger style vans. That was my experience.

Back to my Vanagon🚐.

Even when the a/c was working fine it robbed horsepower. Some said, the ‘86-’91 systems in the Vanagon were the best. I happened to have an ‘86 and I disagree. They all suck. I may get it repaired, or I’ll DIY it when I find a new fan system. Or, I may pass that job to the next owner. I don’t think any of the Vanagon a/c systems can be improved upon unless you spend $$$$… last told $4,000 to $10,000. I don’t believe those figures are super accurate because truthfully… I got those quotes over the phone. If you can do the wrenching yourself you can cut that figure in half easily.

The Vanagon system is complicated, but totally doable. I may tackle it one day. For now, I’m in search of alternatives. I read on The Samba that someone updated his Vanagon a/c with new hoses, etcetera👀, for under $1,000.😅 But you better have a big garage and lots of pati🙏🏼ence.

I’ve been thinking of installing the front A/C system from Small Car in Sacramento. It essentially gives the driver and passenger cool air all the time. When it works. But judging by the comments made on The Samba, I don’t know if it will do much and for $2,400 that’s a lot of risk. People say, just open your wing window and keep your foot planted on the throttle. Instant air conditioning. People also say that the Small Car system only cools the people in the front. Anyone out back, suffers. That’s why I’m leaving the stock one out back alone for the time being. I’m not touching it until I can make a clear decision.

Or, I could buy one of the new 12-volt systems you see all other social media that are essentially plug and play. These can be as cheap as $800, plus the cost to install. Except, to play you have to have at least a 200ah battery and a powerful 300 watt solar panel to make sure the battery never dies. All that costs money, and certain skills. You also must mount it perfectly flat, and God forbids it leaks inside your van.

The new 12-volt from OutEquip looks pretty promising. It’s super low profile. Some Vanagons enthusiasts place it in the Westy vent area of their camper, the VW Tin Top guys cut a whole somewhere on top. But cutting a sizeable hole in a Vanagon doesn’t feel right. Ah… I don’t like cutting into sheetmetal either. Especially, factory sheetmetal. I also lived through the days when aftermarket sunroofs were a big deal. I’ve seen my share of leaking sunroofs. Water has a way of finding the smallest opening as you know. Drip, drip, drip.

I just watched a YouTube video of a guy who removed his Westy’s air vent on the fiberglass pop-top of his camper. He plopped in an OutEquip 12-volt system. It fit nicely. It looked cool. But again, there’s a problem with that approach. The 12-volt OutEquip won’t work when you pop-the-top at your favorite campground. The OutEquip must be kept level to operate. Yet, this is only a problem if you want A/C with the camper top open. Otherwise, I would think you could create a quick power disconnect of the OutEquip once you’re done driving and ready to set up camp. The 12-volt power disconnect could be re-connected again when you’re on the drive and the pop-up is in the shut position. Just a thought on how it might work in a camper edition Vanagon.

Sebastian Stonum’s YouTube channel shows a good presentation of a 12-volt a/c system being installed on a high-top Vanagon.

Here in California you can camp just fine without air conditioning. In Florida, hell no. The bugs will eat you alive.

If a 12-volt system isn’t working for you, there’s the portable A/C unit called the Zero Breeze that weighs about 22 pounds and put out 5,500 BTU. It’s portable enough even though there are hoses that need to expel the hot air, but it is said to cool approximately 250 sq. ft. of space. There’s lots of YT videos on it and I believe it has it’s place for van owners that have the room to store it. In all, I’m not sure it’s going to cool a van interior like a traditional A/C unit can do. Again, I haven’t tested these portable units so do your homework before buying.

People who travel in vans are also using “mini splits.” They were made for homes, but some clever folks are modifying them to be used with batteries and solar panels inside their van. Apparently, they work. But again, I don’t like drilling holes or cutting into factory sheetmetal if I can avoid it. The cost for a mini-split is probably under $1,800 once you factor in labor and additional equipment. That’s still a lot better than the $4,000 to $10,000 one guy quoted me to repair my factory Vanagon a/c system. I think he may have been in the sun too long though…

The problem with old vehicles like my Vanagon is modern gadgets aren’t easily adapted. I say that because I’ve yet to see any solid proof that a 12-volt system is hands down the way to go. The guy on YouTube I wrote about… well he’s a long way from convincing me that his OutEquip system is the correct way to go. And, the woman on YouTube who took the mini-split approach… we’ll maybe that would work on a newer cargo van, but I don’t see it inside a classic Vanagon.

Yes, sadly VW did everyone a big injustice by designing such a terrible A/C system. It was terrible because time passed it by so quickly. And, the truth is parts are difficult to locate for repairs. Not only that, they made it incredibly difficult to remove and repair!

For now, I’ll follow what’s trending online and see what everyone else is doing before I make a decision. It’s definitely going to be entertaining.