Air conditioning unit Bourton.

The Bourton is currently being built but after visiting the Manchester Motorhome and Caravan show today (by no means as good as the Birmingham show) we are considering having an aircon fitted at  Autosleepers as part of the build in order to preserve the warranty (as opposed to having it fitted on the drive by another vendor which might void it?).

At the show one vendor was oferring to fit a Dometic unit for £1600 ( vs £2000 out of show)

The Autosleepers rep suggested that the Truma they fit is a better option. I understand there are two models from them - the Eco and Comfort.

Does anybody have any views on
1. Truma vs Dometic
2. The usefulness/value for money of an aircon in the MH.. We do intend to take the MH to Spain in the summer - having caravanned in Europe in the summer before I think the unit may be a vital addition for a cool night. In the caravan we have survived with a cooling fan in order to get sleep.
3. The sort of price we might expect to pay

many thanks for any views

If you message padraigpost, he has a new Bourton and had air con fitted, he will be able to advise. We have had our Bourton a couple of months, six weeks in Spain and am impressed. No real problems, superb drive, storage a bit limited but there is always a compromise.

I believe that truma do an aircon that goes in a bed locker as opposed to on the roof so you may want to check that you are comparing like with like. Space on the roof is limited but then so is space in bed lockers and A/S don't always fit things as closely together as you may like.

I am a supporter of air con - It not only cools but it also provides heat - if you don't want to fire up the boiler! Remembering also that it "conditions" (it dries) the air in the van on a damp day and deposits it outside - so all round we find it very useful. 

Several things for you to consider - additional weight (about 34kg comes off your user payload), it will reduce the space on the roof, extra overall van height and of course cost. 
I would suggest that a factory fitted A/C unit is better from an integration viewpoint - the appropriate wiring being in the correct place at build as well as any warranty issues that may arise down the line!

As to which type - I believe A/S used to fit Truma (at least that was what they fitted to ours last year) - so not sure what the flavor of the moment in now.

Hope this helps.

Liam

I had air con fitted at the build stage on my Bourton and A/S fitted a Truma Aventa comfort model which also provides heat as well as cold ( the eco model is cold only ) I have found it to be very good and would not be without it, I also had the solar panel upgraded to 80w from the standard 30w, I have found the Truma air con excellent and can recommend it, it is great for cooling the dog down when she is panting in the heat,  mine is operated via a separate remote control and not incorporated into the Truma wall mounted combi control unit for some reason ( the manual says it can be ) it is especially good as the large roof light fitted is a Remis model which does not open as far as the Heki fitted to earlier models, in my opinion the Remis roof light is inferior to the Heki and seems very flimsy, I worry about it breaking when opening and closing it.
we are well pleased with our Bourton and am sure you will love yours.
Don