Tent Insulation Liner

Thread Starter

Brownout

Joined Jan 10, 2012
2,390
Awhile back, I posted about a motor home I was hoping to purchase. I found the perfect unit, price and everything else. However, after looking at my finances and considering licensing, insurance, storage, gas costs, etc. I decided I couldn't afford it at this time. And so, I bought this tent http://shopping.yahoo.com/852644860-camping-high-sierra-appalachian-family-cabin-tent/ It's very roomy an comfortable. My goal now is to make it as comfortable as the RV would have been. So, I bought some camp beds for comfortable sleeping, tent lights, etc. Now, I want to add air conditioning. I've read a few blogs about this subject and decided what I needed was a liner to provide insulation. Mind you, the A/C would rarely be used, but I am planning some summer trips to Florida, and anyone who's been there in the summer knows A/C is an absolute requirement.

So, after looking for something ready-made, and not finding it, I decided I need to make my own. At first I was looking at polyester fiber filled fabric, but it was way too expensive for the size I needd ( approximately 350 square feet ) Next I considered polyethelene foam aka "shipping foam fabric." I looked up the thermal conductivity and calculated the R-value to be just about 1 for a sheet 1/4" thick. That's not great, but I ran a quick calculation using a 5,000BTU unit to see what I can expect: ΔT=1/c*Q/A, or
1*5,000/350 = 14.3. So, in essence I can cool the interior by almost 15 degrees with a small 5KBTU unit. Now the best part, our S&R department throws away reams of this stuff that they receive as packing, so all the material is free.

in the equation above;
c=thermal conductivity = 1/R where R is the "R" rating.
Q=Heat transfer 5KBTU
A=area of liner = 350 sq feet - I'm only lining a portion of the tent as the front is a sort of screen room.
 
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maxpower097

Joined Feb 20, 2009
816
Get a self contained AC that rolls around on the floor. They use em in grow houses and are quite reasonable. You just empty the resivour every couple days or so and it works great with no exhuast or anything. Also have you considered picking up a used popup camper and remodling it for your purposes. I love popups.
 

loosewire

Joined Apr 25, 2008
1,686
What about moving around,buying gas,camp ground rates arn't what they

used to be. Being turned away from a full campground and stuck at night.
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
air conditioning a tent. at first thought, sounds like polishing a turd, but you've done the math so I await your results with curiosity.
 

Thread Starter

Brownout

Joined Jan 10, 2012
2,390
air conditioning a tent. at first thought, sounds like polishing a turd, but you've done the math so I await your results with curiosity.
It might take awhile before I have everything set up, but I'll do some measuring and post the results.
 

Thread Starter

Brownout

Joined Jan 10, 2012
2,390
maxpower97 said:
Also have you considered picking up a used popup camper and remodling it for your purposes.
Hi Maxpower; not that fond of popups. I've thought about getting a slide in camper for my old pickup, but that quite expensive, then gas cost, etc. With the tent, I can cram it it the trunk and drive anywhere. I wll be using it mostly without any temperature control, I just wanted to do this for the rare times I really need it.

Another thing about the tent, I often trailer my boat, so another trailer wouldn't really work.
 
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debe

Joined Sep 21, 2010
1,389

maxpower097

Joined Feb 20, 2009
816
air conditioning a tent. at first thought, sounds like polishing a turd, but you've done the math so I await your results with curiosity.
Its a normal tourist thing to do here at the camp sites. We kinda laugh when your from here but having lived up north a good while then come back to S. Florida in the summer it was brutal! I thought I was gonna pass out many times just standing drinking a beer or walking around. Same effect when a guy from S Florida goes up north. No matter how much clothes you put on your still freezing and shaking.
 
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