Keeping your tent cool in the summer with a tent AC unit

During the summer months, it can get really hot outside so if you enjoy camping it can be nice to come back to a campsite with a nicely air-conditioned tent.  Having an air-conditioned tent can be a way to quickly cool off on a hot day when you otherwise could not.

It’s also nice to have an air-conditioned tent for at night when you are trying to sleep on a hot summer night, otherwise, your tent can get stuffy and it may prevent you from getting a restful night’s sleep.

There are cheaper alternatives to a tent AC unit such as a portable tent fan or putting your tent in the shade but if you want the ultimate in cooling power you are going to want to get a tent AC unit.

LG LP1215GXR Portable Air Conditioner

LG’s LP1215GXR Portable AC unit can cool a room up to 300 square feet and features a digital display and LCD remote control.  It has a 24 hour on/off timer built is so that you can cool your tent while you are not there.

It also has built-in oscillating air vent technology to circulate the cooled air from the AC unit efficiently around your tent without the need for another fan.

This unit does not come with removable or replaceable air filters so if that is a must for you I would look at the other models in this list as many of the other ones offer that feature. While this is also one of the more expensive AC units on this list so keep that in mind if you are looking to get the most bang for your buck.

To check out the current prices of this LG portable AC Unit click here.

Global Air 10,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner

The Global Air 10,000 BTU portable air conditioner is designed to cool a room that is 300 square feet in size so that should do fine for most 2-6 person tents.  This AC unit offers digital controls and a remote so that you can adjust the temperature without having to get out of your sleeping bag.

It also features a self-evaporative system so that you don’t have to keep emptying a water tank which is nice.  Another nice feature is that it allows the use of carbon filters if you want to filter the air inside your tent.

It does require that the unit is vented externally of the tent so keep that in mind, you will need to figure out a way to get the vent tube out of your tent.  You should just be able to put the tube outside of one of your windows or doors of your tent to vent the AC unit.

If you are interested in checking out the current prices on Amazon for this Global Air portable AC Unit click here.

Honeywell MN12CES Portable Air Conditioner

The Honeywell MN12CES portable AC unit is designed to be able to cool a room up to 450 sq feet so it may be a bit overkill for a standard tent.  It’s designed to cool medium to large rooms such as a living room or bedroom.

The Honeywell MN12CES AC unit offers washable filters so that you don’t have to keep buying replacement air filters which would save money over time.  

This AC unit also has a digital thermostat display but does not come with a remote control so if that’s a must with your portable AC unit then look elsewhere.

This AC unit also requires the exhaust from the unit to be vented outside of the vent so keep that in mind.  The exhaust tube should be able to be routed out of a window of your tent or a door.

To see the current prices on Amazon for this Honeywell portable AC Unit click here.

BLACK+DECKER 8,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner

The Black and Decker 8,000 BTU AC unit is designed to cool 150 square feet so it’s still sufficient to cool most 6-8 person tents.  

The Black and Decker AC unit also features a digital display and comes with a remote control so that you can adjust the temperatures of the AC unit without having to get up.

This AC unit has four caster wheels to make it easily moveable. The Black and Decker AC unit also features washable filters. This AC unit also looks to be one of the cheaper AC units for sale that are suitable for tents as it’s currently less than $300.

If you wanted to check out the current prices of this Black and Decker portable AC Unit on Amazon click here.

Honeywell MOO8CES Portable Air Conditioner

The Honeywell MOO8CES portable AC unit is designed to cool up to 350 square feet of space which will offer plenty of cooling power even for larger tents.  

This should be suitable to cool even a 10-12 person tent. This Honeywell AC unit offers a digital thermostat and comes with a remote control and also features sliding wheels.

This Honeywell AC unit also offers washable air filters as well.  This AC unit will need to have its exhaust hose routed outside of the tent while in operation. The Honeywell MOO8CES should offer plenty of cooling power for your tent at an affordable price.

To check out the current price on Amazon for this Honeywell portable AC Unit click here.

Frigidaire 5,000 BTU Window Mount Compact AC Unit

The Frigidaire FFRA0511R1 is the only AC unit on this list that isn’t portable and is designed to be used as a window AC unit.  

This Frigidaire AC unit also happens to be the cheapest AC unit featured on this list. This tent AC unit is designed to cool a room up to 150 square feet so that should be plenty of cooling power for most tents.  

It’s designed to offer 5,000 BTU’s of cooling power. This is the only tent AC unit that does not offer a digital display or remote but it’s pretty affordable overall.

This AC unit will need to be fitted to your tent as a window unit so it will require extra modification to your tent to be able to operate.  I’ve included a YouTube video of someone that’s fitted a window unit to their tent and how they went about doing that.

This AC unit is also listed as one of Amazons best sellers so it’s been selected by purchased by plenty of other people on Amazon.  It looks to be one of the cheapest window AC units on Amazon.

If you are interested in checking out the current prices of this Frigidaire window mount AC Unit click here.

Things to Look for in Tent AC Units

Portability

When looking at a tent AC unit for your campsite it’s best to try to find one that is going to be portable enough for you to easily get in place at the campsite and be able to easily pack back up once you are ready to leave your campsite.  

There are portable tent AC units that are designed to be used in a room in a house that is physically small in size in order to make them be easily moved from room to room in a house.

Wired connection

Most portable tent AC units are going to use a wired connection which means that you will either need an electrical hook up at your campsite or you will need a portable generator in order to run the tent AC unit at your campsite.  

Just ensure that your campsite is going to have an electrical hook up before you decide to lug along your portable tent AC unit.

Generator

If your campsite will not have an electric hook up at it your other alternative is to get a portable generator so that you can run your AC unit at night.  You can get a portable generator like the one below that you could run during the night while you are sleeping in order to provide power to the portable tent AC unit.  

One thing to keep in mind though is that some campsites may not let you run your generator at night and your campsite neighbors may not be too pleased with you running a generator all night.  

Regardless of how quiet gas generators are marketed, they are still someone loud at night especially if no other campsite has a generator running.  If you wanted to check out the current prices on Amazon of a generator that I would recommend click here.

Battery powered

In researching battery powered tent AC units there are a few out there on the market but I wouldn’t really recommend going with one.  The ones that I did see were mainly just battery powered fans and not really an AC unit.

There was one type that was a cooler that you would have to fill with ice you would then turn on a fan that would blow air through the ice-filled cooler out to try to cool the surrounding air, in reading reviews it looked like most people said it didn’t work that well.  

Other “battery” powered AC units were designed to be running off of the 12-volt cigarette power outlet which kind of defeats the purpose of using a battery pack to operate your tent AC unit.

Bottom line I’d stay away from battery powered units.  You could theoretically use enough portable battery packs at the campsite to run a portable tent AC unit but the cost to purchase the battery packs would outweigh the cost associated.  I would just get a cheaper generator

One battery-powered AC unit that I would recommend is called the Zero Breeze air conditioner.  It says on their website that it can run for up to 5 hours on an optional battery pack which would be sufficient to run for most of the time that you would be sleeping at night.  

The downsides to the Zero Breeze are that it costs $900 and that it would need to be recharged after every night. You also can’t buy the Zero Breeze air conditioner on Amazon so if you normally buy all of your stuff through Amazon that’s not going to be an option with this one.

Zero Breeze Air Conditioner

https://youtu.be/YVNgkXeNup4

Physical size

You will want to pay attention to the dimensions of the portable tent AC unit that you are selecting as you will want to find one that will easily fit inside your tent without taking up too much space.  Ideally, you would want to find one as small as possible if you could while also providing adequate cooling power and still being cost efficient to purchase and run.

Room or window

When choosing a portable tent AC unit you will have two main options regarding what the AC unit is intended for.  There are portable tent AC units that you can bring along with you that are designed to be used in a specific room or square footage.  

Usually, the room type or portable tent AC unit will be designed with an exhaust line that you would need to put outside of the tent to exhaust the hot air and condensation from within the tent.  

The other type of portable tent AC unit that you can go with is a compact window unit.  A compact window AC unit can be fitted to a tent like it was sitting in a window.

You will need to buy a tent with a hole in it that you could fit the AC unit to or you would need to make a hole in your tent by cutting a hole in it just big enough to fit your window AC unit.  

You would then want to create some sort of gasket around the window AC unit so that hot air could not get in around the opening around the AC unit.

Youtube video of window AC unit on a tent

Indoor or outdoor

You are going to want to go with an outdoor portable tent AC unit as if you are going tent camping on a campsite you are more than likely going to be outside, I would hope at least. If you were to go with an indoor unit it may not be able to keep up with your cooling needs, an outdoor tent AC unit is going to be better designed to be able to handle cooling a tent.  

Heater included

Some portable tent AC units are designed with a heater built into them as well.  This would keep the unit beneficial during the winter months if you decided to go camping during the winter months as you could use the unit to heat your tent instead of cool it down.  This would effectively make sure that your tent is comfortable to sleep and live in year round.

Price

In general, the larger window unit seems to be the cheapest of all the tent AC units that I’ve reviewed. If you have a tight budget and you have plenty of space in your tent then you may want to go with the window tent AC unit as it will be cheaper than all of the room AC units.

If you wanted to check out a wall mounted AC Unit on Amazon that you could mount to your tent click this link here.

Tent AC Unit Tips

1. Use a tarp

Put a tarp over the top of your tent followed by the rain fly to help keep the cold air inside the tent instead of escaping through the vent holes at the top of most tents.

2. Create a gasket around your window tent AC unit

Use bungee cords and towels to create a gasket around a window style AC unit in your tent so that you can prevent any openings from letting hot air in and cold air out.  This is beneficial to the AC unit as well as it won’t have to work as hard to keep the inside of the tent cold.

This also should be done to help prevent insects from getting inside the tent through the hole that you created to put in the window AC unit.