Why DIDN'T I Insulate my Van?? Ventilation vs. Condensation + 4 Season Tips

all right that was an intense night it doesn't look like it's lightened up it's getting worse by the hour it's even I gotta go find some diesel that's gonna be a pain opening those back doors and filling up with diesel hopefully I can face the van away from the blizzard because I'm just gonna fill the entire back of the van so that's something to think about if you can have a separate Jerry can to fill if you need to fill inside which won't have the tank inside but here we are it's bad okay we are in frame we hit record we've got recording space I think we're good to go today's video is going to be all about insulation I got a question on my last video about why didn't I insulate and I've been mean to touch on that and it really deserves its own video I would say because it's one of those highly debated probably one of the more probably the most highly debated aspect of a van build is uh other than should you have a sink or not is should you insulate do you need insulation how much insulation what to use and the options are endless it's it's really one of those things that uh you can do endless research on it and still come up with no idea what it's gonna work best for you so I've got some talking points here I don't usually do that usually I just turn on the camera and start yapping but we'll see if this keeps me on track or not so first of all uh for my build I knew in the climate that I'm in negative 40 to positive 40 anywhere in between lots of humidity I was prioritizing ventilation over insulation first of all I should probably touch on what insulation is it doesn't make the space warmer or colder it just slows how fast that interior space becomes the temperature of the outside space really so I'll just say right away if you have an air conditioner if you're you know taxing a battery bank for an air conditioner and you're in Arizona or in the desert yes you definitely want insulation because that's going to directly correlate to how much power you're using with your AC unit that'd be a huge difference for me the only temperature regulation devices I have in here is the diesel heater which if I run that thing on low even if it's negative 20 negative 30. it still uses the same amount of fuel and it still stays warm enough in here to where it's comfortable insulation I don't think it's important as a lot of people make it out to be it's one of those most I'd say it's the most highly debated van build topic because you never see anyone oh don't go with that DC DC charger oh dude you know people are pretty steadfast in that you know diesel heaters the creme de La Creme of heat you know vinyl floor it's nice and thin waterproof stuff like that most people do agree insulation you'll never find two people that agree and I watched a lot of videos on it and I didn't like how anyone did it I hate styrofoam I just inherently hate that I hate the sound of squeaking styrofoam I couldn't imagine if I put that under my floor and then while I drove I got like a squeaky sound from you know styrofoam on styrofoam or styrofoam on metal and it was a squeak that I couldn't get to and it just I had to live with it my floor is insulated I'll touch on that real quick it's got the factory carpet underneath half inch of plywood and then my vinyl floor that alone keeps a lot of the noise road noise down for when you're driving down the road and it insulates the heat from the exhaust right here in this area is where the exhaust is and you can really feel in the summer after a long drive you can feel the heat coming up through the floor so I've got the factory carpet a half inch sheet of plywood and then my vinyl flooring on top of that and I didn't use any screws or anything to go through the floor so it's all technically a floating floor but in most people's opinion that still does count as installation now why did I do that I wouldn't I didn't want to build a wood slat furring strip frame or whatever people do and then put foam in between I don't think it matters what you do to your floor just because it's plastic it's essentially plastic when I wake up in the morning even with the diesel heater running all night the floor is like an ice cube if I don't put my feet on these mats right away it's bone chilling to put your feet just on the bare floor so I Now understand why people put heated floors and vans when I first saw that I thought are you kidding me heated floor in a van but it's pretty cold doesn't really matter what you do the floor in my opinion I think I think it's cold either way unless you put down a carpet or you know wear fuzzy slippers the roof I do agree with insulating the roof heat rises as we all know and that's the only place I've ever seen condensation was on the single layer portions of the roof when I didn't have the rear headliner in that's the only place I've ever seen moisture which people always ask do you get moisture do you get moisture if you're sleeping in the van and you've got and you're cooking it all you have moisture in the van it's just a matter of how good is your ventilation how are you going to expel that moisture and if you've seen my other videos you know that I prioritized ventilation I've got a max air fan I've got the wind guards that go on the window here so that you can have it cracked and here I've got the screens that can go on the window so that you can crack them in the summer or have them right down because this goes over the frame of the window and then you don't get bugs in and you can have a cross ventilation going on you know air comes in through here and then out the max air fan out the roof vent because then if you don't know what is reversible you can have it uh either pulling air in or pushing air in or pulling air out pushing air out so these windows open like this but then in order to put a screen or some sort of seal in here and keep bugs out I just didn't want to mess around with that and those windows when you go by the van if you're doing the stealth in the city thing those are a dead giveaway that you're inside the van and also leaves you open to burglaries and whatnot these these windows are actually really easy to pop open and then someone can just slide their hand in unlock the door and let themselves in I think you've got an Astro van that's definitely something to keep in mind um why didn't I insulate my walls because that I definitely didn't add insulation to them uh because of these guys the windows you're already fighting a losing battle in a passenger van the R value of Windows is pretty much non-existent so all your heat is pretty much dumping out there now I've got window coverings that you've seen in other videos that are a blackout curtain that I've doubled up here so it's doubled up polyester blackout curtain and it actually does add a bit of insulation value to the van with these up you can really tell that it takes a lot longer for the heat to dissipate they pretty much run them all the time I just don't have them up now because I wanted to get some more light in the van by not having it insulated I can easily check for moisture and mold that's that's one thing you know you should do a deep clean on your van every now and again it's as easy as popping off a panel or on the sides that I've just got plywood I can take out my my nuts and bolts out of the nut Sterns and then just you know tip the plywood forward have a look in behind cleaning behind not a big fan of most insulating materials really that fiberglass that pink fiberglass you know Pink Panther insulation I can't stand that stuff I can't stand how it makes you itchy really that stuff is meant to be in a static house sealed in the wall like it's not supposed to be in a moving breathing thing like a van wear you're disturbing that fiberglass insulation all the time and then say if you need to run wires or make it repair and then you're opening that panel up and then all that fiberglass Falls all over your house or your living space I don't know I'm just not a big fan of it um I don't think that stuff has any place in the van to be honest I think the the wool like you want the natural like a sheep's wool everyone's situation is different but I didn't insulate because I wanted to maximize interior space the only reason you would really need it is for making the diesel heater more efficient which like I say I run that on low at negative 20 negative 30 and it's completely fine you should have your roof vent crack no matter what if you're sleeping in an enclosed space even with a GM an older GM with the door seals that are basically for show on this you should still really have a little bit of ventilation just in the event that you've got anything pulling you don't know if someone's going to pull it beside you and they've got a diesel heater let's say and they've got their exhaust pointed right at your van and maybe the wind's going that way and their exhaust goes under your vehicle or even someone just pulls up you know in the middle of the night let's say you're in the Walmart parking lot or wherever someone pulls up they've got one of those side exit pipes at the back and that's shooting right under your vehicle they don't know that they're doing it to you you don't know because you're asleep it's just something to think about if you're putting insulation in I think you should seal it you should put like a plastic vapor barrier in between so that you know you can be pretty confident that you're not getting moisture in behind there that you can't get access to yeah people underestimate how good the insulation the factory insulation is installation over insulation used to see any potential mold it's a small van so you're trying to maximize your your Headroom and your living space we've got leaky seals doesn't matter how well you insulate this fan one of these old GM Vans air is going to find its way in and out you're just trying to slow it down the diesel heater is being overpowered for the small space I hate squeaks and styrofoam can't stand it floor is technically insulated so is the roof would I add more probably more on the roof for sure I'd like to thank all my new subscribers I didn't expect the last build video to get as many views as it did and I don't know if they were warranted either but uh I do appreciate it I appreciate the likes I appreciate anyone who subscribes if you've got any video requests just put them down in the comments I'll get to them I've got a ton of footage of the build that I still haven't been able to edit and put up but in due time in due time I do apologize for that I'd like to get a little bit more consistent with the videos and that'll come in time once I get better at editing it's it really does take hours and hours to edit a video and the more you start messing around with music and stuff like that it exponentially makes it take longer and longer so it's it's one of those things but I do appreciate your time I appreciate you watching and we'll see you next time have a good one

Channel: Always Good In The Woods

Views: 8,953

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Id: Es0ILpu5ASc

Length: 11min 46sec (706 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 11 2023