Do I absolutely NEED A/C in Phoenix?

[Mathew Zelezen]

Hello Phoenicians!

My wife and I just rented a house near Encanto Park and are very excited to be in the area. We drive back up to Telluride on Sunday to grab the Syncro and the rest of our stuff in storage and start unpacking next week. Amy is going to Thunderbird for her MBA and I'm going to attempt transitioning property management from the mountains to the deserts (still looking).

Big question: I know it gets wicked hot here (albeit a dry heat) in the summer... do I absolutely need air conditioning in the van?
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87 Syncro Tintop
~Rocky J Motor
~Steedle Trans


Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been.

[Luckypabst]

I lived in Death Valley a few years back and didn't really feel the need. Even a July trip to Taos and back wasn't terrible, passing Furnace Creek one afternoon at 127 degrees...

I've not yet owned a car with AC and I figure that if people got along just fine without it for so long, then I don't need it either.

Drink lots of water!

Chris
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'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

[PaulGinAZ]

Having lived here for about six years (and six summers) I am going to break some sad news to you. The weather we are having right now is abnormally cool; we normally sit about 10 degrees warmer than we are right now.

Having lived for a summer commuting from Chandler to 44th and Camelback with my non-AC equipped Scirocco was one of my most unpleasant experiences in my life.. many may read that and think that I haven't lived much then but I think that having to do regular duties on a daily basis with a non-AC car in July would be pretty much unbearable.
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-1989 Syncro Tristar TDi on Air Ride
-1980 Scirocco "S" with 16v Oettenger
-1996 VW Cabrio VR6 turbo
-2014 Silverado 1500 High Country
-2010 BMW X5 3.0 Sport (wifes)

[VisPacem]

[?Waldo?]

People vary dramatically. I drove across the desert from Flag to Las Vegas w/out A/C in the middle of supper (temps between 110-120°F). I kept dousing myself with water. Still pretty miserable. At this point, despite Flagstaff's summers being the nicest weather of anywhere in the U.S. (75-85 and sunny every day with no bugs...) I still will add A/C to any vehicle I plan on keeping for those times I come down off the mountain... I don't even like to go to Phoenix from April to November WITH A/C. It seems crazy to choose to live there without out. I even wear shoes, prefer a lot of my food cooked and have lots of tools that are more advanced than rocks and sticks...

Do you NEED it? You probably won't DIE if you don't have it, but if you are a normal individual you will seriously question why you are suffering to such an extent for seemingly no good reason.

I assume you are asking the question here because you have a vanagon that does not have A/C? If I were in a similar situation I would get another vehicle with A/C even if it required selling the vanagon.

[vannygun]

I drove my 1965 unimog for three years down there. It is hot but not "the south hot". I also drove alot of no A/C fleet vehicles. You will be sweaty and sticky when you get home but its not mind boggling hot. Humidity is around 20% or less most of the year.
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definition-Vanagon, "a ideal breeding ground for gremlins"
2000 jeep Cherokee sport (DD)
1990 vanagon gl 2.2 subaru(sold)
2006 jeep commander

[Mathew Zelezen]

Thank you all for the input.
Its seems that most feel A/C is a must and while it isn't so terrible if you're just "passing thru" it is necessary for working/living here.

Correct Libby, I had a non-working A/C when I bought the van in CO and in short sightedness ended up ripping everything out. (I know! But I liked having the option of moving plywood, drywall or queen sized beds in the back and those damn pillars where in the way...)
Here's what I did:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=289117&

I don't really want to purchase and install that monster again... is it possible to use one of the smaller cabinet mounted units from a Westy instead?
_________________
87 Syncro Tintop
~Rocky J Motor
~Steedle Trans


Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been.

[VisPacem]

[Orbitald]

Its not the Arizona heat that kills me, although it does get extremely hot, its driving behind someone on a dusty road, to hot to roll up the windows and to dusty to keep them down. That particular situation is almost unbearable to me and the main reason that I plan on rejuvenating my AC for the summer.
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'87 Syncro Westfakia, 1.9TD ADE (AAZish), 068 Injection Pump, K03 turbo, 2.5" exhaust, Mercedes nozzles, SAAB Blackstone charge-cooler w/ 800cfm fan, Micro-1000 EGT sensor pre-turbo, boost at about 13psi, 235/70/16 with stock gearing

[hdenter]

If you ripped out all the old stuff, you might want to think about an aftermarket dash unit. I have a Behr unit waiting for my weekender. That way you can still keep the cargo space!

Cheers!
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'79 triple white convertible bug
'84 sunroof vanagon
'85 weekender

[buildyourown]

In a vacation/play vehicle? No. I can live without.

In a commuter? Yes. Especially in an area where every building has A/C.

[Luckypabst]

I'm a Neanderthal ...
Adapting to the environment makes more sense to me than forcing the environment to adapt to us.

Good point about the air-conditioned buildings though. You'll be miserable if you have to constantly go from 70 degrees to 110 degrees. I spent most of my time outside when I was in Death Valley, and only in swamp-cooled buildings when I was inside.

Chris
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'82 TD Westy
'81 NA Caddy

[GeorgeL]

I lived in Tucson for five years without AC in my car. My commute was only a few miles and even if I had had AC it would have just about cooled the car off by the time I reached my destination. I never really liked the extreme temperature changes that air conditioned cars and buildings create.

I also had a motorcycle and found it much more pleasant for summer transportation. Not having to get into a sun-heated car makes a big difference.

I have a bus with the stock VW white paint on the roof and a piece of 1/4 plywood on the roof rack that keeps the interior quite a bit cooler than having the sun beat down on a dark roof.

[mcsyncro]

YES!

[thummmper]

phoenix/tucson is called the frying pan for a reason. better get it operational now before the rush. wont be long before the oven door falls open...

[Mathew Zelezen]

All right you yeah sayers, you all have me sufficiently sweaty.

I'll start a new post on how to install an A/C

Thanks all!
_________________
87 Syncro Tintop
~Rocky J Motor
~Steedle Trans


Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been.

[Hairybroness]

I'm a Phx native and the heat here sucks. My husband and I just got a Westy camper with no A/C and it's beautiful and I drool over it anyway. But, the next things I insist on are an awning (I hate the sun and covet shade), window tinting to try to battle the sun's heat, a dash mat to protect the dash from the sun and I will save my money to buy that after market AC unit.

That guy up above who said he hates being behind a car that kicks up dust has a good point. Aside from dust, how about getting stuck behind a diesel or some other piece o crap car that puffs out grey smoke at you when the light turns green? Phoenix has plenty of drivers who seem to have the money to lower their cars/obtain limo tint/buy extremely loud speakers but not fix their emissions problems.

Generally it's true that it's not so humid here, but that somewhat changes in July and August. I don't want to do bike rides anymore when July hits, even at night. And we have really huge dust storms sometimes with the monsoons - routinely the local news shows video footage of giant walls of dust moving across the land. It makes drivers on the road blind sometimes, and everyone on the highway from Phoenix to Tucson has to pull off the road due to dust storm blindness. That doesn't happen much in the city center, though.

It's possible to "just be hot and deal with it," but I'd just say to consider where you're going. If you're trying to go somewhere that requires you look all business-casual or better, forget about going there with no air conditioning in your car. You'll arrive sweaty and red-faced and feel out of sorts. But if you're just going to be driving on weekends and it doesn't matter how you dress, wear some Keens shoes and dress like you're going to a car wash, and walk through some sprinklers during the day to cool off.

Also, consider if your van will be in covered parking situations or are you going to be getting in and out of it after it was sitting in full sun? Shade makes a big difference. Car interior temperatures climb to way above the outdoor ambient temps. Those steering wheel wraps can help prevent you from burning your hand off when you get in the car, too.

From what I've heard, the air conditioning when fixed up in the Westy is nothing to get too excited about. But I think it's better than nothing.

Also from what I've heard, Bill at Affordable German is the guy to see, and you can order RedTek from a place in Philadelphia to get colder air to come out of the stock AC.

[Steelhead]

For me, its all about speed (or average speed). Sitting in traffic at 80 degrees can be uncomfortable, while flying down the open desert road at noon in august at 110 degrees is nice.
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'77 Bay Window / '89 Caratsburg (aka. the Stormtrooper)

[Terry Kay]

First Rule;
If there is pink pea gravel in the yards rather than grass--you need mobile AC.

My Grandmother lived in Phoenix.
A buddy of mine lived in Apache Junction.

Pink Flamingo's & pea gravel is a bad sign.

When you walk out of an AC equipt building, and you feel like you just ran into a brick wall of heat--you need AC to drive around.
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T.K.

[purplepeopleeater]

no a/c = swamp ass.


I won't drive my westy till I have all the a/c working, speaking of that ...I need coil/fan/compressor