26' Van body, ac/heat/ suggestions

First off, if Im in the wrong sub-forum, let me know!

Hi All, new to the commercial driving game this year. Had a post awhile back about purchasing and building my new spray rig. Basically I'm an industrial painter, and built this for spraying polyurea and foam. Here's a few pics to give you an idea of what it is. Walls and ceiling are insulated with spray foam and lined with diamond plate.






As you can see, we have decent sized material tanks onboard which allow us to go work for about 3 weeks before we RTB for a refill. In the front of the box is a diesel fueled Kubota that powers a 35cfm compressor and 35KW generator.

I am wondering the best way to heat and cool the van body. We only need A-C while we are actively working. Which means only while the generator is running, and it has plenty of power to spare. Basically I would hang a vinyl strip curtain between the pumps and the white shelving. I only want the front half of the box to have A-C. It is just for doing paperwork and for the spray man to cool off periodically. Its typically 150-180F degrees where we work (confined space) so its nice when your done to hop in the office for a bit.

I know a lot of other guys that just buy a residential window unit. They'll build a 2x4 wall for separation, and put a regular household door in the middle aisle. The problem with mounting it in the divider wall (above the shelf) is that the hot exhaust air from the AC then just shoots into the back half of the box, making it extra hot.

So I would like something that I could mount in the front of the van body, above the generator. And that I can plumb the exhaust air down through the counter-top and out the side by the radiator on the generator.



I'm also looking for ideas for heat. The material can't be allowed to get below 50F for the most part. I don't plan on working through the winter (central MN) but even the shoulder seasons can be pretty cool. I tried an electric space heater on an extension cord a couple months ago when the night time low got to like 49. It ran wide open all night and only managed to keep it about 60 degrees inside. So basically that's not going to cut it, especially when fall rolls around. I would like to have enough heat that I can keep the van body warm 70+F even when its 20-30 outside with the rear roll up door open. During the cool seasons, I will also install a curtain wall at the very back to try keep the whole van body warm. I would prefer to have some sort of heater that can kick on/off by itself so I can park outside and not have to worry about being near an outlet. I have also had friends who lost a batch of material ($25,000) because the breaker tripped when they plugged into a hotel outlet.

Any suggestions I'm all ears! Sorry the post got long winded but wanted to try prevent the usual questions!
TIA.

 

I'm already at 12'9" so don't really want to be any taller. Makes it tougher getting in and out of plants etc. Also feel like I have enough penetrations already with the big side vents for cooling the generator. Ideally I would be able to plumb the hot air out the existing vent, or else the floor.

I have spent some time looking at RV units. Need to look some more. If I could find something wall mount that would be great I think. Basically I only need small cooling capabilities, but bigger heat capabilities to keep the whole box warm later in the year.

 

Interesting. I have not put a ton of thought into plumbing it into the engine coolant because we don't do that much driving. The main concern is being able to keep it warm (without truck engine running) throughout the workday and also overnight when parked. Most days we have about a 30 minute drive to the job, work 8-10 hours, and then drive home where its parked for the night.

 

So it heats whenever the truck is running but then turns on its own burner overnight? Have a recommendation as far as what brand(s) to look into?

Any idea how many btu's you can get out of one? I don't know scientifically but thinking I could probably use 30,000 btu of heat. Also, how much heat would I lose in the plumbing from the motor going back into the van body? I suppose it would have to be insulated pipe...