Foam Insulation to stay cool
This is the way I keep cool in the back of van. I tried fans, roof vents, swamp coolers, leaving the windows open etc. The only thing that kind of work was leaving the sliding door open but I prefer to keep my doors closed.
Using a IR thermometer I went around to see where all the heat was coming from. The biggest culprits was the roof and windows. The roof headliner was falling down, I removed that to expose the metal roof. Even though the windows had dark window tint, when the sun hits it , it heats the glass and the heat goes in the van.
At home depot I bought some rtech foam insulation 1/2 inch thick 4 foot by 8 foot sheet costs about 9 dollars. You can easily cut it with box cutters or scissors. Some people use spray glue that comes in a spray can or other glues. Myself I used my 20 dollar pro100 hot gluegun I bought at harbor freight, I also use the glue sticks they sell there. Installation is fairly simple, i wasnt sure how well the hot glue was going to work so I cut the foam into small 1 foot by 1 foot or smaller, I didnt even use a ruler, just eyeball it . If its too big or small just cut a piece off or add some smaller piece of foam to cover all areas. Some areas I added an extra layer of foam, the thicker the foam the better results you get. Hot glue works great in 2 years that I've had the foam on my roof none has fallen off. Just wear gloves and goggle when using the hot glue it will burn you.
I also put foam on all the rear windows and all areas that I felt heat coming in. I built a divider separating the front of the van with the rear including a sliding door. These dividers are basically thin wood with some of the foam sandwich in between.
Does it work? I enclose a picture of a thermometer measuring the front of the van with the rear of the van. Park in the sun around 12 noon. 133 degrees in the front and 89 degrees in the back. In the back I had a 12 volt swamp cooler running (putting out 71 degrees) no windows/vents/doors were open in the back. Normally the swamp cooler wouldnt keep a large area cool, but with the foam insulation I was nice and comfortable.
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