How many of you use the house air conditioner while traveling. I'm taking the motor home back to Missouri and Illinois (from California) I'm not sure the dash air is going to work that great if at all. I do know it will be more expensive but what's money.:B Going shouldn't be too bad but it may be a little warm by the middle of June. How many miles per day do you usally drive on a long trip?

We haven't ever driven in hot enough weather to need anything other than our dash air as we usually move more in spring and fall as we workamp so we sit for several months. When we do travel, we try to travel at an easy pace as we don't have time constrains like you do if you are on vacation. We usually drive 150-200 miles per day. Once in a while more, but not usually. We are not morning people, so if we get on the road by 11am we try to stop by 4pm for the night. We take as many breaks along the way as we want, or if something catches our interest we stop.

We are trading our 5th wheel for a DP next week and I am thinking about a trip from CA to IL also.The last few years (9yrs to be exact) we have drove our truck or suv (not towing anything) back and forth. We would drive straight through going there and then make one overnight stop coming back. Really makes for some long traveling but we are on time constraints and we are traveling to be there not for seeing sights along the way.I figure if we drive the DP back we will be traveling slower and just stop when we get tired and not try to push it. Figure we will just spend nights at rest stops. Some of the rest stops also have rv dumps._

I always use my house air while driving in warm weather. I run my genset and run my fridge and whatever else needs AC.JKaz

While I can't back this up with posts, I bet you will find more who run the roof air rather than the dash air. At just under a gallon an hour max for a gasser, I don't think it's really that much more expensive either, if it is more expensive at all (NO engine load). There are also two very big benefits to running the roof air rather than the dash air... 1) you already have the whole coach cooled down when you arrive, and 2) you are getting your generator exercise in. Just my opinion, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

We run the generator and Ac in the summer while on the road. It is the only way that you can stay comfortable in the south

Driving with air conditioner | Good Sam Community

Jarlaxle
Explorer II
May 02, 2013
Supercharged wrote:
Klueck wrote:
We usually run the house air. I don't think it costs that much more and it's worth it.
The cost comes on the other end when the gen gives up with to many hrs and one might pay $4000 for a new one.

Has anyone here actually WORN OUT a generator? Even my ancient backup genset for my house (8.5kW Tecumsah) is still going...hour meter stopped years ago showing ~2000, and it's probably doubled that since then!
rockhillmanor
Explorer II
Apr 29, 2013
I travel with pets. Dash and genset air both on.

When the gen broke en route to Florida during 90+ degree weather I had to get creative really fast.

I got out all my cold weather gear.
I put the vent pillows up in all the vents and put my van sunshades up in all the windows. Covered the skylights. It is amazing how much heat you can keep 'out' doing just this. The temps dropped 20 degrees inside the MH.

My dash air now could keep everyone comfortable.

Have to tell you after our little emergency and 'having' to insulate the windows, etc., I now do not even use my gen any more. I put up my heat repelling items and use just the dash air now. Actually if you put up the insulation and run the coach air you will find it can then keep your coach even 'cooler' than before.

I travel between the hours of 6 am until 1 pm, and put up the insulating stuff when traveling during the hot months. If I have to. Which I try hard NOT to travel during these months unless absolutely necessary.
ddndoug
Explorer
Apr 29, 2013
Big difference if you have passengers in the back. House air is almost always running if it's above 80* outside, the sun beating down on our MH certainly heats it up.

Doug
TEO
Explorer
Apr 29, 2013
Driving 120 miles in Florida with out the generator, air,or dash air running takes about 2 hours of actual driving time, takes about 12 gallons and costs about $47.00. Driving with the air and generator on will use about 14 gallons and cost about $54.00, but this is without dash air. In real life, I drive with dash air and run the generator and central air as needed intermittently. I have the coach as comfortable as I want(actually my wife wants, and use a minimum of extra diesel. Actually, my wife wants to make sure that the three Labs are comfortable.

Paul
J-Rooster
Explorer
Apr 29, 2013
I do when driving in a hot afternoon (90+) in the Southwest!
Supercharged
Explorer
Apr 29, 2013
DeWat wrote:
Supercharged wrote:
Klueck wrote:
We usually run the house air. I don't think it costs that much more and it's worth it.
The cost comes on the other end when the gen gives up with to many hrs and one might pay $4000 for a new one.

Are there really too many hours for a generator? It's designed for a single thing, and should go into the thousands if not tens of thousands of hours before it's time for replacing. In fact, I would think that not enough hours are more detrimental to a genny than too many hours. Like anything else built by human hands, there are going to be defects in some that shorten their lifespan, but that can equally apply to the dash air or engine as well.
Was that a limited warranty you just offered?
Jim_Nina
Explorer
Apr 29, 2013
This is our second coach, never use dash air.
Generator on, coach air keeps us comfortable.
Thanks
enjoy all comments
DeWat
Explorer
Apr 29, 2013
Supercharged wrote:
Klueck wrote:
We usually run the house air. I don't think it costs that much more and it's worth it.
The cost comes on the other end when the gen gives up with to many hrs and one might pay $4000 for a new one.

Are there really too many hours for a generator? It's designed for a single thing, and should go into the thousands if not tens of thousands of hours before it's time for replacing. In fact, I would think that not enough hours are more detrimental to a genny than too many hours. Like anything else built by human hands, there are going to be defects in some that shorten their lifespan, but that can equally apply to the dash air or engine as well.
olfarmer
Explorer II
Apr 29, 2013
I prefer the dash air because I like the cool air blowing on me but if it will not keep up I run both the dash and the roof.
Supercharged
Explorer
Apr 29, 2013
Klueck wrote:
We usually run the house air. I don't think it costs that much more and it's worth it.
The cost comes on the other end when the gen gives up with to many hrs and one might pay $4000 for a new one.