Tent air conditioners are more powerful than any fan or other cooling device you could bring to a campsite. That said, they aren’t made for trips where you need to travel light. While technically capable of operating off-grid, most tent air conditioners are large, heavy, and require a lot of electricity. They may make more sense for trips where you plan to post up at a full-service campground with electrical hookups, or at least plan to set up your tent near your car.
Given the complexities around tent A/Cs, especially if you’re planning to bring one off-grid, it pays to know a thing or two about how they work so you can make a plan before lugging one out around on your next camping trip.
Cooling
Tent air conditioning units come in a range of sizes designed to cool different spaces. Some are small, built for shelters suited for one or two campers. Others are designed to blast cold air into large family tents. The largest options can cool a pop-up or even an RV. The right tent air conditioner depends on your camping style, your setup, and the level of chill you’re searching for when sleeping outdoors.
Air conditioner manufacturers measure cooling power in British Thermal Units (BTU), which indicates the amount of thermal energy an A/C uses when cooling the air on its highest setting. The larger your tent, the more air inside to cool and, by extension, the more cooling power you need.
A small A/C generating 2,000 to 4,000 BTU should be able to cool a one- to two-person tent. If you’re a family camping in a tent that’s designed for four or more, you’ll need a large unit–look for A/Cs that can put out 5,000 BTU or more. Keep in mind, though—more cooling power requires more electricity, so make sure that your power supply can meet your air conditioner’s demand.
Power
Most tent air conditioners require a relatively large amount of electricity to cool down your tent. Many units have a standard 120V AC household plug, which allows you to plug them directly into the electrical hookups at an RV park, private campground, state park, or national park campground. Some smaller, more portable tent A/C options also feature DC power, like a 12V car cigarette lighter plug, or even USB-C. (Pro tip: Make sure to pack an extension cord to run from your electricity input to your tent.)
Otherwise, you will need to bring power with you using a portable power station: If you already use one, bear in mind that adding a tent A/C to the mix will increase your power draw considerably, so you may need to upgrade to a larger model.
Portability
While marketed as portable, most tent A/C units are bulky and heavy—weighing upwards of 20 to 40 pounds. You can absolutely carry them around, but you wouldn’t want to lug one of these into the backcountry.
Even if you only need to move it from the trunk of your car to the tent, size and weight are important aspects of any tent air conditioner. Look for lightweight, compact designs that are designed for easy transport and storage–elements like a built-in handle can make all the difference when you’re packing up.
Ultimately, if you only want to take what you can carry on your back, I recommend opting for a portable camping fan. They’ve come a long way in the last few years, with strong and efficient models on the market that pack up easily and cost substantially less than a tent A/C.
Noise Level
The soft hum of an air conditioner may lull you to sleep at night, but a loud fan risks keeping you awake. (And ruining your campground neighbors’ sleep). Especially in a shared campground setting, the excess noise from a loud tent A/C might bother nearby campers.
Luckily, there are tent air conditioners designed to keep the decibel (dB) count down. Low-noise models often have features like insulated compressor housings, variable-speed fans, and vibration-dampening components like rubber feet or foam padding to cut down their sound. High-end units may also feature more sophisticated airflow engineering to reduce rattling and radiating noises you’d typically hear with cheaper models.
I also recommend looking for tent air conditioners with a “sleep” or “eco” setting, so you have a low-volume option at night.
Exhaust and Drain Hoses
Like all portable air conditioners, tent A/C units feature an exhaust hose to blow hot air out of your space. Many also feature a drain hose to dispense water that’s condensed inside. I recommend coming up with a tentative routing plan for these before buying a tent A/C and bringing it along on your next trip. These units pair best with tents that have vents or zippered access panels on the sides so you can open an easy exit path without creating a big gap for bugs or pests to sneak in.
Price
Tent air conditioners do not come cheap. There are some affordable models available: If you only need a little bit of cooling, I found a strong personal cooler that you can get for less than $100. That said, most full-size tent A/Cs cost several hundred dollars, and the best of the best average around $1,000.
A cheap unit may work out for occasional trips, but frequent or hot-weather campers will benefit from investing in something more efficient and durable. That price will also fluctuate depending on the size of the tent you’re looking to cool and the temperatures you expect to face. You should expect to pay between $300 and $600 for an effective, mid-range unit that can cool a family-sized tent and manage high humidity, without draining your power station in less than a night.
Since they require a large amount of power, especially compressor-based models, you may find that adding a tent air conditioner to your camping setup may force you to upgrade your portable generator or power station to accommodate it. If you’re bringing a tent A/C along, I recommend using a portable power station with a capacity of at least 1,000 Watt-hours (Wh) for short cooling sessions, or upwards of 1,500 Wh for extended use.
Given that , I think it would be wise for most campers to factor the price of a power station upgrade into the cost of buying a tent A/C. It makes the upgrade a much more expensive proposition, but I’d rather pay the price and be ready than bring my new tent A/C on a trip, only to realize I can’t run it for more than a couple of hours.
