Hello once again! Now that we might actually be allowed out again before too long, I thought I’d try to catch up with my woefully disregarded camper. Today’s question is given it’s still the original conversion, how do I work the evaporative cooler?! In the absence of finding anyone around that knows and with no instructions, I’ve long ignored it in favour of using a cool box. I’m presuming It either draws moisture of its contents or you have to pour in water in. If so, how much and where?! In addition, has anyone any experience of swapping it for a fridge without destroying the original carcass and the sink above? Thank you! Hopefully I can get a bit more involved with this site now that I finally escaped full-time working at the end of last year! Posting a question once every year and a half hasn’t really been doing it! Had hopes of getting some longer tours away in the bay, so let’s hope for things continuing to improve for all of us!
Cheers! That’s what I assumed but wondering what quantity and how often?! Hoping somebody might also know what they’re filled with to soak up the water, since I assume it wraps round inside the walls of the cooler. State of the art 70’s technology!!
I think that you put ice on top but that the water you put in there ends up on the floor under the sink. I will be taking my sink out to fit some mains wiring.. I shall investigate.. I usually put an ice gel pack in there but drinks usually seem to stay cool even on hotter days.
Thanks! Ice gel pack a good idea. I need a new one for the cool box, so maybe I’ll go wild and buy two!! Meanwhile I’ll take it out of the van for a dry (wet?!) trial run to see what leaks out where...!
I’m not sure about those ones but others had a sort of porous plaster type casing that soaked up the water
Maybe filled with cat litter...?! I shall investigate further, - I just wondered if anyone else might possibly have had any direct experience of them. Thanks for the responses already sent though, - they’ve made me more confident than I was!
Thanks for that. Seems to have changed a bit since 1971. No ‘drop down flap’ on my one, - such was the obvious march of design progress! I’ll remove it and experiment where any leaking water won’t matter. Bound to work perfectly, - it’s only 45 years old after all...!!
I'm sure a frozen bottle of water or a few blue ice blocks will keep it cold, regardless of pouring water over it
Well that was fun! Four screws holding the cool box in but you have to take the carcass door off and disconnect the sink drain hose to free it completely. Carcass door on a piano hinge with lots of tiny little screws holding it, - one now residing somewhere on her majesty’s public highway (was two but spotted one!). For anyone that might care there’s a casing around the outside of it, with the soakable material sandwiched between that and the plastic cooler/‘fridge’. Whole thing sits on a floor-fixed metal tray, with a plastic drain pipe at the rear going out through the van floor. Not sure how much water is needed to be poured in. Obviously less than the litre I tried in order to see where any excess might leak out (bottom left hand corner when tipped up!). Judging from the drain tray and drain pipe it’s obviously not been used for some while! Ice packs/blocks (as appreciated comments/helpful suggestions above) look like the safer way forwards, - or remembering not to turn too sharply to the right when going uphill!?!!
The other thing I noticed when I had mine out to fit the mains sockets wiring underneath was that there is nowhere for the water vapour to go from the cooler except between the outer side panel of the bus and the inner frame , just behind the slider, or escape from around the sink drain hose through the floor. Every litre of water that goes into that cooler ends up inside the body work. Good idea ? I will stick with the cool pack under the cans of drink stored in that area. I find that even on a hot day, drinks stored in there tend to stay a bit cooler than just being stored in the bus.
Hi Steve If the cooler is still removed from your bus would you mind getting the dimensions of it for me please.
Looks like mine had this at some point, but it's now just a cupboard. I'd love to fit a fridge in there, but not sure whether one would fit... you've spurred me on to investigate
