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Compared to houses, the square footage of tents doesn’t vary all that much; a two-person backpacking tent might have 30 square feet of living space while an eight-person multi-room car camper might have 120 square feet. We’ll err on the side of caution by assuming you have six feet of headspace, but if it’s less than 100 square feet, a 5000 BTU system should be more than enough. With 100 square feet or more, you’re likely sleeping in a 4+ person tent and those extra warm bodies require a bit more cooling capacity. Once you find a unit that’s in the right range for your camping setup, you’ll need to examine other factors like portability, ease of maintenance, running costs etc - all of which can be just as important as cooling capacity.

Maintaining the unit isn’t all that hard either, and knowing how to do it will keep your unit working efficiently and your tent cool. Fortunately, cleaning a tent air conditioner isn’t all that different from cleaning the AC unit that cools your house. When air runs over the cooling coils it releases more than just heat; cold air can’t hold as much moisture as warm air, which is why all air conditioners need a way to drain off the water that precipitates out of the cold air. If you don’t feel like taking the unit’s cover off for a deep clean, you can just spray hydrogen peroxide onto the intake vent, then turn the unit on to circulate it.

This is doubly true since most units run continuously for several hours at a time, while other power hogs like electric ovens or dryers get used for only a couple hours (and perhaps not every day). Uses other than camping Most people buying a portable air conditioner for their tent don’t just use it while they’re camping. This is where the costs of running one are likely to add up; using a portable air conditioner for eight to ten hours a day for a month could add $30 or more to your power bill. Even though portable air conditioners use a lot of power compared to other electronic devices like phones, sound systems, and lights, using one still doesn’t cost that much in the long run.

This won’t actually lower the temperature of the air inside your tent, but through the evaporative cooling properties of sweat, will make you feel like it’s less hot. However, hanging fans have an advantage too, they’re better at circulating the air inside the tent. However, hanging fans have an advantage too, they’re better at circulating the air inside the tent. If you’re going to get a heavier fan, make sure your tent can support it first (look for the max load on your tent’s gear canopy).