Full-time in the Arizona heat

smarty wrote:
we live in New Mexico and have just gotten used to the heat. We live in a 38' fifth wheel that is under an RV carport. We just leave the windows open. When we get home from work the rig will be 95 on the inside. As soon as the sun sets it cools off in the the low 80's. We put a fan on and go to bed. At times we may run our AC for an hour or so to cool the rig down a bit quicker. We never run the AC during the day.

But it's a day heat:

we live in New Mexico and have just gotten used to the heat. We live in a 38' fifth wheel that is under an RV carport. We just leave the windows open. When we get home from work the rig will be 95 on the inside. As soon as the sun sets it cools off in the the low 80's. We put a fan on and go to bed. At times we may run our AC for an hour or so to cool the rig down a bit quicker. We never run the AC during the day.

well my brother inlaw lives down the road in tempe during the summer he doesn,t go out in the day time. but like any place cold or hot you get use to it.

Do you have a mobile home or an RV? Why not move?

Do you have a mobile home or an RV? Why not move?

pnichols wrote:
A lot of these hot weather recommendations include putting something in the roof vents.

Why is this necessary if you have vent covers over the vents? Vent covers prevent the sun from heating the vents themselves and also provide a layer of air insulation between the vent cover and the vent.

Our vents do not introduce heat into the interior of the coach in hot weather, but they do have vent covers permanently mounted on the roof over them to keep the sun, rain, snow, sleet, and hail off the vents. I wouldn't have an RV without vent covers over it's vents. Our vent covers allow the vents themselves to be completely open for ventilation in any kind of weather conditions.

You need to define "hot weather". In AJ this year, On June 9th it hit over 100 degrees and stayed that way until almost September 15th. I belive there was only about 5 days when the daytime temperatures fell to under 100 (98 to be precise). You also had stretches of 110 weather. Nighttime lows hit about 80 degrees. Heat transfer from vents will happen under those extreme conditions unless additional insulting measures are taken.

An occasional 95 degree warm day isn't going to matter much but when it starts hitting 105 and stays there, vent covers will start transferring heat and no roof mounted plastic cover is going to keep it out. We adapt by insulating the opening or paying for electricity.

We spent a summer in NM at 4,000 feet with temps of 95 - 108 most days of the summer. It was hot! We have a motorhome and put one of the foil insulated panels inside in the windshield - helped a lot. Also pillows in vents so heat from the sun didn't get thru, shades down. A/C running continuously with 2nd one running later afternoon when the sun hit us full force for a couple hours. The main problem we had was the refrigerator and morning sun on that side. Helped a lot when we could have the awning down, but sometimes too windy. We added another fan in the outside compartment at the bottom pushing air up. If it's in a slide, better shade that slide somehow. Of course parking in the shade helps, if you can find any. We won't do it again if by choice.

I live in the hottest part of AZ. Several RV parks in the area have many full time residents. All you need is AC and enough money in the wallet to pay for the cost of electricity during the summer.

Roof top MaxxAir vent covers...and vent pillows...and reflective bubble for the shower dome...and dual pane windows...and dual sun screen/blackout roller shades...and window awnings...and an Adco windshield cover...and a surge protector.
All of the above works well for us.

Yes, I have spent several summers full-time in an RV in Arizona, a number of years ago. It can be done, with a bit of caution and common sense. If at all possible, you want the windshield facing east, so it only gets the morning sun.
And any other type of shade or trees will provide significant benefit.

No longer full-time, but we do use our motorhome in the summer for trips here and there around Arizona.

Move north to a higher elevation is the only real answer.
That is the beauty of owning an RV, you can move.