I had alway thought that a great big plate over the vanagon, would be a
great heat shield.  I would have to be light, and aero dynamic.

            Eric                   86-VW4x4
            vw4x4@fyi.net          86-SS Syncro
            Pittsburgh, PA USA     1936-Chrysler
                                   92-Jetta GWC
            www.fyi.net/~vw4x4/vw4x4.htm

On Sun, 9 Mar 2003, Roger Reynolds wrote:

> In a message dated 3/9/2003 12:35:43 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET writes:
>
>
> > I can see that.  It really would depend on what you're trying to
> > assess.  How long it takes the van to reach a given temperature would be
> > useful if you're concerned about how long you can leave your dog or
> > musical instrument in the van before it's likely to suffer brain damage
> > or delaminate, respectively.  On the other hand, I typically don't leave
> > animals or instruments in the van any length of time when there's that
> > possibility.  What I want to know when I get into my 120 degree F van is
> > how quickly is it going to cool down!  :^)
> >
>
> OK,
>
> Let me first state that I am not suggesting reinventing the air conditioning
> system.
>
> So.... since there seems to be some concensus that, with or without window
> tinting to slow down the energy input into the vehicle's interior, eventually
> the interior temp is going to be elevated reletive to the ambiant (outside)
> temp.
>
> Now my question is has anyone (or can we) come up with a nifty way to remove
> this built up heat more rapidly than occurs naturally by loss through the
> walls of the vehicle by, for example, installing a small fan in such a way as
> to exhaust the hot air while pulling in cooler outside air.  I realize that
> this would not make the interior temp cooler than the outside air temp but
> would hopefully help to keep it from being significantly hotter.  Then the AC
> would have an easier time getting rid of the built up heat when it is first
> turned on.
>
> I'm thinking of maybe a PC type fan hooked up to a small solar panel so it
> would run whenever the sun was out.
>
> Roger Reynolds
> Charlottesville, VA
> Dark Blue Topped '89 Westy
>