Forum Discussion

rayford118's avatar
rayford118
Explorer
Jul 31, 2013

Full Body Paint Heat Issues?

For anyone out there that has full body paint on their TH, is it pretty tough to keep them cool in the summer time? Had the guy at Holman's tell me that down south a lot of the guys dont want the full body paint since its so hard to keep cool. Wasn't sure if that was a little exageration since he didnt have any full body paints on the lot or more truth.
  • It surprises me that makers of black/dark rigs don't see to it that the offside of the wall panel is white or some other reflective color.

    I was struck by how well white reflects heat when I touched the white surface on a plastic "film" that's black on one side/white on the other. The sun-exposed black side was very hot to the touch, but its white offside was cool. The color stopped the heat transfer in those few millimeters of thickness!

    Another obvious benefit would be that warmth generated inside the rig in winter would be reflected back to the interior...
  • I was in Denver a couple of weekends ago at the NHRA Mile high nationals and the temperature was just under 100* and set the A/C at 75* and had no problem maintaining that temperature. I usually am more concerned with cold up here in northern Canada. I also think that the way the unit is insulated makes a big difference on how well it stays warm or cold inside.
  • Our rig is mostly white and in very hot weather (100F+) you can feel the heat radiating off the inside wall. It's hard to keep it cool.

    I imagine a dark exterior would be much worse.

    Fortunately we use our rig mostly in the winter so excessive heat isn't usually a problem.
  • downtheroad wrote:
    White trailers and white trucks for me....maybe boring, maybe not as showy, but practical.

    X2
  • I'm in the HVAC business and run cooling loads often for commercial buildings. The solar heat gain factor for black/dark colors compared to white is VERY large.