Using ZERO BREEZE Mark 2 in A Campervan

Bradley is one half of Dream Big, Travel Far. The travel blogging duo currently on the mission to drive their self-converted campervan around the world. They have been using ZERO BREEZE for almost a year now, and this is their honest experience so far.

When we set off on our round the world drive just over a year ago, we had put a lot of preparation into cold weather environments. But not the heat!

When we reached Southern Europe in the heart of summer, we were shocked by how uncomfortable it becomes in a camper. We had a Maxxfann in place, and a large skylight above our bed. And our assumption was that this would provide us enough cooling at night.

We were wrong …

Even at night time, it was next to unbearable in countries like Croatia, Albania and Greece. So we set to work looking for a decent campervan air con solution. That’s when we found ZERO BREEZE.

The reviews online seemed fantastic and the power-to-cooling ratio seemed very impressive. Especially as it can run off-grid on rechargeable batteries. As opposed to traditional campervan air con solutions which are large, have to be built into the ceiling and need mains hookup in order to run.

So when our ZERO BREEZE Mark ii arrived, we were very keen to give it a go. We were honestly surprised by how straightforward it was, and found that the batteries genuinely performed as advertised, which is one thing we were maybe slightly skeptical about.

The other thing we were worried about was whether or not the ZERO BREEZE would be genuinely good enough to cool our entire van. The answer? Of course not! You have to realize that the ZERO BREEZE is not designed to keep a giant space cold, especially when it’s a van that’s parked out in 30-40 degrees heat!

Instead, what we realized was that ZERO BREEZE is fantastic for delivering targeted cold air, wonderful for if you are cooking in the van, or for sitting down. You can direct the air onto you and remain cool despite the van itself being in heat. It isn’t powerful enough to fight the almighty sun, though here is where I believe the ZERO BREEZE is best placed for use in campervans.

We positioned the unit next to our bed, so that we can then put the tube under the covers and it gets wonderfully cold in there! So much so that I usually have to turn it off after an hour or so and then turn it back on in the morning once the sun comes back again.

We even took things one step further by making the decision to installing the ZERO BREEZE into our van. Hard wiring it to our 12v leisure batteries, and cutting holes in the side of our van so we could apply permanent ducting.

Now, it’s a simple case of just switching the unit off and on from in bed with the remote control. There are a few things worth pointing out here. You will need to be creative in how you position your unit, and I do recommend having someone competent, or better yet professionally trained, to install the electric side.

Also, to get enough power to run your unit for hours on end without fear of depleting your batteries, you will need a larger leisure battery. We splashed out on a 300ah lithium ion battery, SPECIFICALLY for the ZERO BREEZE. That is how much we wanted this unit permanently installed in our van. We went to the hefty expense of massively upgrading our battery power to accommodate it.

So far, we have used the unit extensively across Canada and 3 states in the USA. I am currently writing this from Moad in Utah. Which is canyonlands and the temperature is just about hitting 40 degrees Celsius. If I didn’t have our ZERO BREEZE in the van, there is no way we would safely want to stay in the van tonight; so I can wholeheartedly recommend it as a great camper solution.

If you want to learn more about our exact setup, how we installed the unit in our van, and the exact power drain we experience with the unit on, check out my more in-depth review of the ZERO BREEZE Mark ii here.