Cool coach while driving
Any suggestions on keeping the coach cool for passengers during the summer other than keeping the engine A/C fan on high and running the generator to use the roof unit?
Forum Discussion
I'm not sure that dark window tint really helps very much. It certainly feels cooler when the sun shines onto you, because the tint blocks the infra-red in the sunlight from passing through the window and heating the skin on your face and arms. But, still, it just converts all the blocked IR into heat right at the glass, which causes the glass itself to become too hot to touch. So, now the air inside the coach is being heated by the very hot glass.
Back in the 'Good Old Days' in south Florida I drove a VW Microbus. Even though the roof was snow white, the infra-red coming in through the windows would turn it into a solar baking oven.
At that time, silver reflective window film was just getting popular for home windows, so I put it all over the side windows of my little bus. Instead of just blocking the IR at the glass, it actually reflected it.
It was miraculous stuff! From inside, the windows just appeared darkened, like sunglasses. But from outside, they were perfect mirrors. I could leave the bus parked in the blazing noonday sun for hours and it stayed cool as a cucumber inside -- it was truly amazing. Of course, you couldn't see out very well at night, so you had to leave the front windows at least partially open while driving in-town.
Soon, cops approaching stopped cars found themselves on the wrong side of this one-way glass, so the the mirror-reflective window film was outlawed for cars. But I can't help wondering if it would be legal for the side windows of a motorhome, as long as the front-most windows, by the driver & passenger, are left clear (or just dark-tinted.)
Back in the 'Good Old Days' in south Florida I drove a VW Microbus. Even though the roof was snow white, the infra-red coming in through the windows would turn it into a solar baking oven.
At that time, silver reflective window film was just getting popular for home windows, so I put it all over the side windows of my little bus. Instead of just blocking the IR at the glass, it actually reflected it.
It was miraculous stuff! From inside, the windows just appeared darkened, like sunglasses. But from outside, they were perfect mirrors. I could leave the bus parked in the blazing noonday sun for hours and it stayed cool as a cucumber inside -- it was truly amazing. Of course, you couldn't see out very well at night, so you had to leave the front windows at least partially open while driving in-town.
Soon, cops approaching stopped cars found themselves on the wrong side of this one-way glass, so the the mirror-reflective window film was outlawed for cars. But I can't help wondering if it would be legal for the side windows of a motorhome, as long as the front-most windows, by the driver & passenger, are left clear (or just dark-tinted.)
