Sleeping cool without AC

AC is a must have in my book. Rather stay home if it is too hot to sleep. DW would kill me if we had no AC...LOL

Thanks for all the replies; definitely getting some good ideas here.

I didn't mention our two canine companions on the camper floor. Closing some of the windows might help us, but at least we humans can sweat. Still may be room to experiment here, although getting out of bed to perform those experiments doesn't help the situation.

I know the gel toppers get great average reviews, but I always check the 1 and 2 star horror stories too. Like KansasKen, many claim the gel pads make them hotter. The wool fleece looks intriguing, as does the Sirocco fan.

Looks like it's time to break out the credit card. Thanks again all.

JoeChiOhki wrote:


Having traveled Central and Eastern Oregon, unless you're on a lake high up in the hills, its gonna get hot.

That, or wait until mid-October, then you'll not need to worry about cooling off ;).

Heh. I was there at that time one year. It was in the 20s at night! We slept out under the stars, in a mountain of down and wearing lots of clothing and wool hats. Warm in the daytime :).

Here's an interesting option.
Vented memory foam mattress topper.

If you have a bathroom with a vent or fan, I would suggest you install the Fantastic Fan there.

These are great fans, and move a lot of air. But they do still make noise.
If you install it where the bath fan is you will have 12 volts right there, and the noise wont be right over you.

I've put them in every truck camper we have owned, I switch them to exhaust and open the windows and vents around the bed. This draws in a nice breeze across you as you sleep.

Also if you have a source of water, you can spray or have a continuous flow of water to the outside of the camper (misting hose or sprinkler) you can remove some heat.

Also if you're traveling, stop and open up the windows. Try to keep the camper as cool as possible before you stop for the night.
It takes forever to get one cooled down that has been closed up all day rolling down the road.

Finally cool wet wash cloths, wipe down your skin, let the water evaporate.

OK, my Fantastic Endless Breeze 12 volt fan arrived today, so I had to take it out to the TT and check it out. At the highest of 3 settings, it draws 2.6 amps, and makes a nice little breeze. It does appear to move the 900 cubic feet of air per minute claimed, which will be enough to completely change the air in our 21 foot TT about every minute and a half. The noise wasn't bad at all. Certainly a lot less than the fan on our furnace or the AC unit.

At 2.6 amps, it will take about 20 hours draw the house battery down to 50% or thereabouts. I'm guessing that 15-20 minutes at full speed to cool the interior, then the rest of the night at low speed might just do the trick.

I believe we'll have to test it out in the driveway tomorrow night.

Purchased in 2011 a Serta iComfort memory foam mattress with gel layer for our home at DW's insistance, and there is noting cooling about the gel layer. Maybe I generate to much heat, but I find my self waking up and changing position to get away from the hot spot I created. DW insisted on a 4" memory foam mattress over our TC stock mattress with mattress cover and normal sheets, and frankly I don't like it either but DW thinks memory foam is the greatest invention since black socks, so there you go.

stevenal wrote:
we've been using a dense memory foam topper that makes our bed nearly as comfortable as our Tempurpedic at home. Maybe this is part of the problem; but with a sheet and two layers of sleeping bag on top?

I have 3" of very good mem foam with a wool covering, a heated pad over that, and a sheet. I have never noticed any heat-retention issues as others claim. Perhaps they are using a cheaper foam, and/or don't have enough cloth separation betweeen the body and the foam.

My bedroom ceiling fan coupled with my headboard window open does a great job of cooling. Make sure NO other windows are open.

This works great if I'm not in the path of campfire smoke.

Get as high as possible in elevation, 6500ft + and you won't need A/C at night. Otherwise, you're going to want the A/C, I just carried a generator around with me.

Having traveled Central and Eastern Oregon, unless you're on a lake high up in the hills, its gonna get hot.

That, or wait until mid-October, then you'll not need to worry about cooling off ;).

In dry climates, there are evaporative coolers made for the standard 14x14 roof hole that do a pretty good job. They run economically on 12V (just a fan and a very small pump). In the high desert these things can keep you 15 degrees cooler. In the deep south where it is already 100% humidity, they don't work at all.