Portable AC

That is a table-top device about the size of a lunch-box. It only will cool a very small area IF THAT AREA IS VERY DRY. In about 75% of the US, any place with humidity above 50%, all it will do is add damp air to a hot area.

Evaporative coolers, sometimes called swamp coolers, are popular and useful out West in near desert conditions with almost no humidity. An air conditioner's ability to remove the humidity in the air is almost as useful as the temperature drop.

If you want to run the experiment, buy a bag of ice or fill a cooler with ice and then put that cooler full of ice in the truck but leave the lid fully open or take it off. You will see that the temperature only drops a little for a short period, maybe an hour or two if you have a big cooler, but the added humidity will make that temperature feel less comfortable than when you started. It's why southeastern states can feel miserable at 85 F and El Paso can feel mildly uncomfortable at 95-100 F. In the southeast you are essentially surrounded by water vapor. Your sweat has no place to go. In El Paso your body's sweat evaporates so fast your clothes don't even get damp.

Don't be tempted to use dry ice in the truck or an enclosed room. The evaporating carbon dioxide (CO2) could suffocate you.

There are cooling vests for motorcycle riders on Amazon. They are vests with small tubes sewn into them. The small tubes run into a small coller full of ice. There is a small water pump that circulates water through the ice in the cooler and back into the vest. Those units cost $200 and up. There are cheaper vests that work by evaporating water. Once, again it cools for a short period, maybe an hour, but it increases relative humidity in the area so once you no longer feel the cooling you will feel more uncomfortable due to the high relative humidity.

 

You can get a portable AC/Heat unit for $500 from Home Depot, get a Honda generator for $900, get a permanent storage box, permanent small tank for gas and whatever other small things needed. For under $3k you can have your self a poor man APU

 

I got one 2 years ago. It works great with a flat top sleeper. I put it where my passenger seat was, and have it blow into the sleeper.

The problem is the generator runs for about 8 hours before dying.

I'm talking about a portable ac, not a mini swamp cooler

 

I bought one of these and honestly they really don't work that good, I freeze the filter and then have it in the bunk with a fan blowing, if I manage to fall asleep quickly I can usually get a decent rest, but once the ice is gone from it, gets pretty warm! I'm with you though, I won't idle my truck overnight. I joined the Choice hotel system and grab a room when its too hot for me.

 

What if you mount a permanent 20 gal gas tank?

 

Then I might be able to do a 34 hour reset on the road.

 

FYI.

Walmart sells em too.

 

Search the forum. There are several threads that discuss in detail installing portable and window units using a generator or small portable generator.

 

Or battery pack