[RunningtheRace]

Hi,
We're being offered a great deal on an XL w/o the rear A/C option.

Dealer claims the front AC is strong enough to cool the entire cabin. Our concern is our kids all the way in the rearmost passenger seats will be unhappy in back w/o air vents & w/o windows they can open.

Any inputs from actual owners of said configuration (non rear AC passenger wagons) would be appreciated.

 

[beesigner]

Hi RunningtheRace,
Just speaking from experience: I have the XLT with vents in the rear and would assume its not that great to not have them.
off course it will depend very much on where you live at and what temperatures to expect. Our XLT is a low roof in black and the air conditioning is not really cool at all, even after driving for a while it only provides some "cooler air" . Plus the vents in the front dash are not really very well designed to swivel in all directions. When pointing them down the louvres also close with it which reduces the air flow. Not sure how much you really will be able to push to the rear from the Dashboard.
but we also live in New Orleans and temperatures are currently in the 90s to 100. I think if you only will have a couple of hot days per year where it really is a concern, it might be doable and if its a good deal on the XL would consider it. Hope that is somewhat helpful.

 

[RunningtheRace]

Wow! Thanks for the note.

We currently drive a small minivan in +95 degree hot/humid weather. We would not dream of taking the kids anywhere without our rear AC.

When the Ford dealer stated that the front AC was strong enough for the entire cabin (low roof Transit is significantly larger than our present minivan) I chuckled.

I am amazed that anyone would build a +10 passenger wagon & not offer ventilation of any sort for the rear passengers- especially in light of the fact that you can't roll down any windows back there??

Is the missing rear AC also the case in the mid-roof XL's?

I guess any XL w/out the rear AC option is out of the question- no matter how good the discount.
Thanks for the warning!

 

[Nathan Green]

Don't do it...

I have a cargo van with front A/C only. I have a pet transport business....it gets hot in the back, on the hottest days the front A/C has to stay on max to even get the back somewhat cool.

Can't even imagine if there was all that glass in the back. Unless you plan on adding a roof A/C...really think you should hold out for the rear AC.

Nate

 

[Damien89]

Dont buy the van without rear ac. Just order one and wait for it and order it just like you want it.

 

[Epps]

You can't live without the rear air! I really wish I had rear window also. Ford needs to address the air flow, or lack of air flow in the rear.


Epps

 

[RunningtheRace]

Is the lack of rear vents also the case in MR & HR XLs?

 

[taverre]

I see this is an old thread but I am considering a similar dilemma. If I go with the cargo van with the idea of eventually building a conversion and minimalist camper then I am not sure what I'll do about air conditioning in the back for my kids. Currently I am planning on having a bench seats directly behind the driver and passenger seat and therefore think we might be able to get by without rear air conditioning as the kids would be sitting approximately 3 feet from the front air vents. I also plan to add a pop out window on either side for air flow and so the kids can see outside while driving. Can anyone attest to this being enough? I also plan on adding a roof vent and possibly a floor vent.

 

[Longboard]

I also plan to add a pop out window on either side for air flow and so the kids can see outside while driving.

Is there a pop-out available that can be left open while driving?
I know the Atwood/Creation awning windows I had put in my old Sprinter could not survive DWO.

 

[danketchpel]

I see this is an old thread but I am considering a similar dilemma. If I go with the cargo van with the idea of eventually building a conversion and minimalist camper then I am not sure what I'll do about air conditioning in the back for my kids. Currently I am planning on having a bench seats directly behind the driver and passenger seat and therefore think we might be able to get by without rear air conditioning as the kids would be sitting approximately 3 feet from the front air vents. I also plan to add a pop out window on either side for air flow and so the kids can see outside while driving. Can anyone attest to this being enough? I also plan on adding a roof vent and possibly a floor vent.

I basically just tried this out last weekend. I have installed 2 rows of seats in my MR 148" cargo van, windows all around w/privacy glass tint, w/o rear A/C.

We took a long trip (~350 miles each way) with a couple adults sitting in the 1st row bench seat and went through some areas with the outside temps ranging from 65 to around 104 deg F.

What I found was the front A/C could just barely keep things mostly comfortable for the rear passengers. If the temps are down in the 85-90 range outside it's not "too bad", but once it gets to 100+ then it gets worse quickly.

Here's my observations and plan of attack;

I will proceed quickly with insulation and some interior panels to help with both heat and road noise. I had only the factory rubber floor mat which has about 1/2" of insulation under it and helps a great deal after a couple times driving without it.

I plan to put a white vinyl wrap on the flat area of the roof as my van is the dark gem green color. I will do it so it's not so visible from street level. If you had a white van this would not apply.

I might add additional window tint if it can be proven to help enough to cover the cost. I am considering doing the door windows in the driver/passenger area as they are large and really let in a lot of heat. I have to see what's legal and reasonable as there are flip sides to this for driving at night.

I am considering a curtain of some type that runs across the van that can be repositioned as needed to cut down on the area required to be cooled. It would also serve to block light/add privacy for camping. I have marginal vision out the rear door windows now so giving that up might not be so bad.

I will see how things are after those mods. I am considering some sort of rear A/C with an eye towards camping so it would need to operate with the engine off. I have not spent much time on that research yet. I loath the idea of cutting a hole in the roof but it's hard to argue with the potential benefits of either a Vent/Fan or roof A/C. This will be my last resort option.

Is there a pop-out available that can be left open while driving?

I have the first row flip-out windows. You can drive with them open. I think when driving they help when trying to evacuate the hot air while running the A/C but I'm mixed on whether they help to cool things if the outside temps are pretty hot. If the out temps are lower then I think they would help with a trade off in noise. They are not super noisy but there is an increase.

Leaving them open seems to help quite a bit when the van is parked and don't appear to create a security risk.

 

[BlueJay]

I basically just tried this out last weekend. I have installed 2 rows of seats in my MR 148" cargo van, windows all around w/privacy glass tint, w/o rear A/C.

We took a long trip (~350 miles each way) with a couple adults sitting in the 1st row bench seat and went through some areas with the outside temps ranging from 65 to around 104 deg F.

What I found was the front A/C could just barely keep things mostly comfortable for the rear passengers. If the temps are down in the 85-90 range outside it's not "too bad", but once it gets to 100+ then it gets worse quickly.

Here's my observations and plan of attack;

I will proceed quickly with insulation and some interior panels to help with both heat and road noise. I had only the factory rubber floor mat which has about 1/2" of insulation under it and helps a great deal after a couple times driving without it.
...

This is very helpful info to those of us trying to figure out what to order, thank you! I would really like to know results once you insulate, etc. (since it seems that this test drive happened with no interior insulation at all except for the floor mat). Having searched around on these forums for information on insulating, too, there seem to be a number of approaches, and I'm still wondering which one is best for which conditions, there are so many variables!

 

[OregonExPed]

For those who already have a van that has no rear AC and who need to be able to run AC with the engine off, I ended up getting an IndelB truck cab AC unit. It's not something you permanently install, rather it is a portable unit that runs off a 50 amp connector to an auxiliary battery. Mine cost around $1,600, and I use it to cool a dog crate for an hour while I'm out of the van shopping or doing laundry. (Got mine from Badger Truck Refridgeration, here in the US.)

The hour limit for me is because my auxiliary battery is only 100AH, and is pretty old. Could probably get two hours of run time out of a new 100AH battery before it would hit 50%. If you have a large house bank, you could run the IndelB much longer.

Also, this unit is only about the size of a travel cooler, and does not have the umph to cool the entire van. It does great for sitting in front of though, or pointing into the dog crate. I've also used it to blow across the bed on a really hot night, and that was great.

This unit does need an exhaust vent to push the hot air out of the van. It comes with all the hoses and a window vent to do that. If someone rides in the passenger seat regularly, it is inconvenient to keep hooking and unhooking it every time they have to open the door, so you might want to put a small vent hole in the floor instead. I use the passenger window, but don't have passengers often.

 

[danketchpel]

This is very helpful info to those of us trying to figure out what to order, thank you! I would really like to know results once you insulate, etc. (since it seems that this test drive happened with no interior insulation at all except for the floor mat). Having searched around on these forums for information on insulating, too, there seem to be a number of approaches, and I'm still wondering which one is best for which conditions, there are so many variables!

Thanks, it is hard to quantify and project what might be needed.

Yes, there was no insulation or panels except the OEM rubber floor mat which does have insulation under it.

This is how it currently looks.


I'm currently doing the same research for what type of insulation materials etc. to improve things.

I have talked to a car wrap company and I think I'm going to try a pure white vinyl wrap on the flat section of the roof as my van is a dark color. They quoted me ~$425 to do it and it looks like I can expect about 5 years from it before it should be re-wrapped. Another motivation for this is to protect the paint on the roof.

I talked to a window tint shop. I'm considering the 3M crystalline tint which is pretty clear but reflects about 90% of the IR heat energy which is really the spectrum that "cooks" you. The UV spectrum doesn't heat things up much. I was quoted $300 for the front door windows which seems kinda high to me. I am also considering doing a wide strip of it across the windshield up high, maybe from the top down to the top edge of the rear view mirror? I have found a lot of heat comes in the windshield and front door windows, and they are large. If I do it I'd do the front ones first and see how much of a reduction I get before doing the rear windows. There's a good chance I'll be making some window block off panels for camping and possible passenger use when they are only in the first row of seats. The other rows could be blocked with insulation.

I'm still doing the insulation material research. A lot of people point towards 3M Thinsulate which has a lot of good qualities but is very expensive and the R rating doesn't appear all that awesome. I may use a mix of materials in different locations, not sure yet.

I'm wading through other people's build videos to see what seems to make sense. I don't see myself going totally overboard with it like some I've seen where they are filling every little nook and cranny with expanding foam etc.

I suspect it will be a work in progress......

 

[Tourneo]

Here in hot/humid FL, rear AC became a Deal Breaker for me while deciding between Transit & ProMaster. Ram Truck didn't even offer rear AC as an option.

However, it's still unclear to me just how effective Transit dual AC systems really are. Have only been able to test drive a Transit with front AC & it was very disappointing compared to my loaded E-Series.

Ford used to advertise "High-Capacity" front & rear AC, a system that featured an oversize AC compressor, a larger amount of refrigerant & separate rear AC evaporator/blower unit on E-Series. It's also got a separate rear heater core.

Wish they provided BTU specs on these AC systems for the sake of comaprisons. Haven't seen "High Capacity" used to describe Transit AC.

Some other vehicles merely provide extra duct work to distribute AC to rear passengers. Such systems should not be confused with Ford's Dual AC & its separate rear AC evaporator/blower.

 

[[email protected]]

Though this is an older post , I ran across it searching for a fix for our lackluster rear A/C airflow.

The only recommendation I can provide to this thread,is look at enterprise car sales. After our last van was rear-ended and totaled, we sought a larger van to accommodate our 6 growing kids and their friends and cousins. We decided on a 15 passenger Transit 350. Made sure it had A/C, front and rear.

Enterprise provided the ability to rent several large van models, which the 350 proved ideal. That is until today, 6 months of ownership and this is the first time sitting in the back. My eldest son had been complaining about the A/C, and now I see why. The rear vents only point down when open. They will snap closed, cutting off airflow unless pointing straight down, which gets no air to the outside seats. I'm resorting to sticking paper in, to rig the vent to stay opened, at an angle, to the outside seat I'm sitting in.

Conclusion, I recommend renting to find what you like, then source Enterprise car sales, they will get what you want, shipped in. When settling on the Transit 350, plan to modify the rear vents (paper or Lego blocks), or overhaul the rear vents to put one vent above every seat, like on an airline. In my searching for this latter option, there is a company in PA that does the modification. Next time we are visiting friends we may stop in.