Keeping cool off grid with Sirocco Fans
We recently got ourselves a new caravan and when preparing to get it ready for off grind living, high on the list was 12 volt fans to help us cope with the warmer weather.
The Sirocco fans seem to be the popular choice of fans in caravans, they are quiet and efficient, yet pack a punch in moving air. So, I got 4 new Sirocco fans to install in our new caravan. I found the installation instructions were very thorough and easy to follow. The Sirocco fans have the ability to rotate the head in a 360 degree direction which opens up a lot more options on where you can mount it, and still get the required air flow. The whole installation process was an easy job for me as I installed the new fans in place of existing lighting which I had in the caravan. I was able to do this as we had ample lighting and loosing the few lights in question would not impact the lighting in our caravan all that much, yet gaining the fans would be a great help in keeping us cool and comfortable when we are not able to run the aircon, when we don’t have power hookup available. I was able to use the exisiting wires which fed the old lights and use them to power the new fans. As the Sirocco fans only draw 0.35 amps of power on 12 volts at full speed there was no question on the wires handling the load.
Since I installed the new Sirocco fans, we have spent many nights camping out without any power hookup available up while travelling through outback NSW, QLD and SA. The four fans together have been great in keeping the van cool in the hot outback weather. Even when we have had power hookup available and the aircon running, the Sirocco fans help in moving the cold air around the caravan more effectively and cool the bunk area far better than without the fans.
The Sirocco fans have an off timer which can be set at 3,6,9 or 12 hours. This is a great feature which my kids use every time. They turn the fans on at bedtime and set the timer for 3 hours. The fans then turn themselves off during the night. Even with all 4 of the fans running all night, they do not draw much power, approx 1.4 amps per hour combined, this means we can run them at any time without much concern of draining the batteries of the caravan. So far, we are very happy with the Sirocco fans and looking forward to many more off grid camp outs with our new Sirocco fans.
Install Video
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