air conditioning in tents

[Louisianafive]

Anybody done air conditioning in tents? Any suggestions??

 

[dbenlee]

I have not done and AC in a tent, but here is a site with a good idea for using a small window AC with a tent. If I ever do try and AC in a tent, this is something I will probably seriously think about.

http://www.acboot.com/

 

[becky1960]

There have been several posts on the A/C tent question. You might do a search and find some. I remember several of them saying they had good luck and a couple saying that the used the standup type which can be found at Walmart.

 

[ldubberly]

We do the a/c for the tent every year at 4th of July and it works great. We have a pop-up too but allow the boys to stay in the tent. It also comes in handy for keeping breads and drygoods fresh.

We just bought the smallest unit we could find and DH built a small stand out of pvc and we cover it with a tarp to direct the cool air into the tent.

 

[security030]

I had not gone for that yet but i saw that in sum company which install small air conditioning in tents buildingregister.com

 

[mousebrain]

Here is what I learned with having a tent AC.....

I thought I would wait until we got down to Orlando and pick a A/C up at WalMart to cut down on weight on the way down. well since most homes in FL have central air, room A/C units are not big sellers and Walmart didn't carry them. Luckily Kmart up the street had some.

Make sure that your tent is not "to vented"
We bought a huge cabin tent and one of the features is the way it is vented.... not good if you are trying to cool it off with a AC, our old tent would work much better with the A/C since it is not as vented.

A good silver vinyl tarp over the top of the tent helps keep the cool in the tent, and makes the tent much more resistant to wind, and vertually rain proof.

Most tents nowdays have a shoe door, this is what I used for the A/C vent, was big enough luckily without having to cut or modify the tent.

If we used the room dividers, we could keep half of our 10' by 14' "vented" cabin tent pretty cool. It was nice if you did get to hot and just needed to cool off for a bit, and I did sneak in a afternoon nap or two. If the tent wasn't vented the way it was we could of easily kept the whole tent cool. Next trip we might break out the Dome tent and use it since it is more airtight.

Oh yea, bring a big roll of duct tape!

Good Luck!
Mouse Brain

 

[univmd]

I've never done it. But there is a great website http://www.acboot.com that sells ac boots, and even complete tents with the ac boot already installed...

 

[shocker]

I've use a window A/C on 2 camping trips and here's what I determined:

For low usage it just wasn't worth getting the boot. So, I used a tent with 2-door construction so I could dedicate one as a door and one for the A/C.

I used netting material to fill-in around the A/C so that bugs couldn't get it.

I closed off all vents and used the middle dividing curtain at night or during naps to significantly cut the amount of space I was trying to cool.

I used the foam insert from the A/C packaging to put under the face of the unit just to prop it up enough to ensure drainage to outside the tent (or use a 2x4).

I created rain protection for the unit by attaching a tarp to the tent pole and staking to the ground beyond the unit.

I also have a fan that attaches to the top of my tent so that I could keep the air moving.

This was an August trip to FW.

Here's a few photos, inside and out. Good luck

 

[MommaluvsDis]

I find it surprising that someone doesn't have a tent with a/c on the market. Or do they and I just don't know about it?