Going on a loner, couple's, or family vacation in your RV can be one of the freest experiences imaginable. Because you have everything you need inside, there's no need to worry about hotels, schedules, or even arrival times. You can always pull over and take a very comfortable nap, keep yourself clean, avoid questionable gas station bathrooms, and cook from real groceries instead of relying on unhealthy travel food. Whether you're going on an extended camping trip, want to work remotely in the woods for a while, or will be using the RV to visit family without needing a guest bedroom, RV life is a luxury. But it can get hot.
Anyone who's gone RV camping before already understands the unique challenges involved in keeping your RV at the perfect comfortable temperatures. Even if your RV is well-insulated against the weather outside, they tend to build up heat inside the cabin. Cooking is a particularly serious challenge, as heat from the stove and oven can become intense in the small cabin even if you open the door and windows. So what's the answer to cooking comfortably in your RV? A
misting fan!
What Misting Fans Do
Misting is one of those luxury features you almost never see outside of
resorts, theme parks, and very fancy
restaurants, but the technology is so simple that it's a surprise how few people use it at home. Misting simply transforms a flow or reservoir of water into thousands of tiny droplets, then blown by the fan to cover a certain area indoors or outside. They are often used to cool down theme park guests, keep outdoor dining cool and comfy, or make hot resort poolsides more inviting and they are just as useful inside your RV.
As each tiny droplet of water is blown into the air, it captures heat which is then dragged to the ground and dispersed, literally bringing down the heat in the misted area. Each droplet of mist that lands on your skin do a similar trick, acting much like very clean sweat by absorbing some of your body heat, then evaporating away to cool you down.
Mounting Your Misting Fan
To turn your RV stove from a sweltering experience to a cool and comfortable task, you'll want to mount your misting fan above and slightly to the right or left of where you'll be cooking. Attached to the side of a kitchen cabinet is a great place to start. Depending on the model you get, this can be a clamp, hang from a sturdy hook, or screw into the side of your cabinet. You can even hang one from the ceiling if space is tight. Make sure your misting fan is thoroughly secured, then hook up the water supply. You can either attach the misting fan to your RV fresh water tank via the sink or use a small reservoir that will need to be refilled.
How to Mist and Cook Safely
Once your misting fan is mounted, position the head so that it points at you, but not the stove itself. While a few clean droplets of water are harmless on the stove, it's best to control what you allow to become damp. You may also want to put down a rubber-backed rug if you don't have a carpet-free tiled or linoleum floor area to cook on. The more of you the fan can mist, the cooler you'll be while the more air is misted, the cooler your cabin will become. It's best if the misting fan points slightly away from the stove and countertops to keep the water out of your kitchen appliances and off of your food being prepped.
Misting fans are a fantastic addition to any RV all year long because of how RV cooking tends to work. However, once you've got one installed, you may be surprised how popular it becomes with during summertime camping trips when you, your companions, and even hot pets come in from a long sweaty hike or simply need to beat a particularly hot day. With the power of misting, you can stay cool in your RV on every single trip.
