Putting ventilation in small horsebox

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Billabongchick

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I am looking in to getting some sort of additional ventilation or a cooling fan for my 3.5 ton lorry (Ifor style box bolted on to a flat bed chassis). She got very hot the last time we went out (she does always sweat up slightly but this was a very hot day and she was soaked) and didn't want to load to come home which I think is due to the lack of ventilation (either that or she really enjoyed the party..). Currently there are only 3 small sliding windows level with her rump.

I am thinking of a spinning propeller vent or pop up vent that can be mounted into the ceiling or perhaps a fan that can be run through from the luton into the cab. She is relatively sensible but might freak out at something very noisy. Any ideas of what might be suitable and the best place to mount it? I found an old thread on here and someone had had one fitted by a horsebox builder and he had mounted it midway along the roof; am not sure something blowing directly by her face will be appreciated but open to suggestions. I need to bear in mind the weight of it too and don't want to spend a fortune (I am in the rainy UK after all) and have an electrically/engineer minded partner who can fit it. Thanks in advance!
 
Assuming she will only be in box when it is moving forward I would go for natural ventilation, using flaps that can be held open in summer, closed in winter, I'd rather there was a through draught needing a sweat rug to stop chills than not enough ventilation. This fails though if stuck on a motorway, but am not sure about a fan, technically, or from her point of view. Forced [and natural] ventilation needs both inlets and outlets.
 
Yes I was worried about being stuck in traffic (our journey was very slow because of traffic last week which probably contributed to the lack of flow). She runs hot anyway for a TB; even in winter I've never rugged for travel. Maybe it's worth looking at another sliding window towards the front then?
 
I will be following this with interest. I have a van conversion with 2 sliding windows and a pop open roof vent, even with all of these wide open and a short 30 minute journey with no traffic problems my pony was dripping yesterday. It was very hot outside but I would like to be able to keep him a bit cooler when needed.
 
It would be possible to put bars across the jockey door, I have driven with that door open in an emergency, [ not safe without bars].
If you need ventilation, make it big, using the jockey door is not a solution to the problem, you need more fixed inlets.
 
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Thanks for the replies; I'm not sure I'd be happy with jockey door open even with bars in place as I guess it would still weaken the structure in the event of an impact and my only ramp is next to the jockey door. I am starting to veer towards the idea of a fan (which would work even if in standstill traffic and I guess can be plugged and unplugged depending on time of year) but would like to hear more ideas of what others have done to upgrade theirs to improve airflow or how their ready built/conversion ones are set up for ventilation. (You can guarantee that as soon as I order the parts to do this it will turn into winter weather..)
 
Billabongchick said:
Thanks for the replies; I'm not sure I'd be happy with jockey door open even with bars in place as I guess it would still weaken the structure in the event of an impact and my only ramp is next to the jockey door. I am starting to veer towards the idea of a fan (which would work even if in standstill traffic and I guess can be plugged and unplugged depending on time of year) but would like to hear more ideas of what others have done to upgrade theirs to improve airflow or how their ready built/conversion ones are set up for ventilation. (You can guarantee that as soon as I order the parts to do this it will turn into winter weather..)
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try the manufacturers. Metal bars would be needed and designed to be part of strengthening of the box, not just a barrier
 
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Fans are fitted as part as DEFRA T2 certificates for lorries

All my friends lorries have them and they are pretty silent running and none of our horses are worried about them

They have to run for 4 hours off the lorry battery without the lorry being switched on so your small lorry will be easy to fit

Gazeleys in newmarket will able to advise you
 
I have two roof vents, two windows AND a roof fan in my 3.5 (still van shaped, not coachbuilt) - and in crawling traffic in Summer I need them all. As a guide to cost for the pros to do it, my van's roof fan was fitted by the converters and *checks file* cost £130 + vat to put in five years ago. I see that equitrek want £165 + VAT to add one at build stage to a Sonic. Mine is really quite quiet.

By the way, I've recently researched this and it seems that in hot weather you really want the fan to suck not blow as then it gets all the humid air out at the same time.

I've also just fitted a wireless temperature sensor (a tenner off ebay) that has a sensor you stick in the horse bit and a readout the can go in the cab to keep an eye on the temperature in case I need to switch on the fan or open the vents more in Spring & Autumn.

And to add to the no-gadget-over-looked fest, I also have one of those little whirly round black fans you see on the roof of police dog vans (£90 inc vat fitted), which makes no difference to the temperature when on the move, but was put in to keep the air moving when its parked up between trips just enough to stop condensation problems.

If you decide to add an extra window, do watch out for putting them at horse head height as the ponies can end up with a face full of wind/rain on the m-way at speed (mine has his haybag strategically hung to deflect this).
 
Thanks; this is all really helpful. Sideways; when you say roof fan what exactly do you mean? I was imagining the police dog van rotary vents but then you say you also have this later on in your post. That is the sort of thing I was looking at on eBay but do you mean that it doesn't ventilate well when moving?

I think putting something in the roof would be simplest that would create a flow through to the side windows or a fan that can be operated via the cab rather than trying to match the existing windows. Please all tell me more about fans...!
 
Ah I see! Thanks for the link; yes that looks good- I assume they are sealed in some way to prevent water ingress? Or that they pop up and down so you can close it when raining/parked up?
 
Billabongchick said:
Ah I see! Thanks for the link; yes that looks good- I assume they are sealed in some way to prevent water ingress? Or that they pop up and down so you can close it when raining/parked up?
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Yep, they pop up open for traveling, either as a straight pop up or on an angle (both designed not to rip off in the breeze!) and you close them tight when parked up - mine has a twist knob in the roof that even I at 5'4 can just reach to turn.
 
...and make sure your partner fuses it properly/safely - it appears whoever did mine didn't bother with a fuse or breaker and my auto electrician had a fit when I took it in for repair as it was a fire hazard, eeeek.
 
Ah thank you! I had a look at my YO's lorry today (v posh with lots of windows!) and she mentioned that the roof vents/fans are easy to rip off with overhanging branches but if you can angle them up from front to back then that could work well as the lorry has slightly proud metal struts over the roof too every few feet which would provide some protection if I mounted the fan directly behind a strut. Will definitely investigate this option and forget the smaller spinning van vents. May need to get more small sliding windows put in too but the large fan would be a good start. Many thanks for the info!
 
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