How is your van Insulated?

One thing that would help immensely is if European RV window companies (Dometic/Seitz comes to mind) would sell their products here. Virtually all their windows are double-paned, and have an inert gas between them, so there is no window fogging unless there is physical damage to the window. Even skylights have two layers.

Considering it is built in Canada, the company has done a poor job. Neither our 1996 RT Dodge was nor our current Chevvy Versatile is properly insulated. None behind the Microwave, Hot water heater, and none behind the panel covering the TV antenna wires in the wardrobe and the wardrobe itself. This is demonstrated on cold mornings by the heat loss patches showing on the outside of the vehicle's body. This has been confirmed visually inside.

I have had occasion to remove the microwave in my 2001 Roadtrek 190 P and noticed that there is no insulation behind it. It is just bare fiberglass wall. This section is about 2 square feet. I have also had to remove the vent hood over the stove and there is no insulation there either. All of the insulation around these area is paper backed fiberglass.

The past two nights, my wife and I camped on the Washington coast. This morning we got up to ice on the windows behind the foil-backed bubble wrap type insulation. To say the least, it was a bit chilly. I am thinking about using some of the foil backed styrafoam to insulate behind the microwave and vent hood.

The single pane windows is an issue both in summer and winter. We have cut foil backed bubble wrap for all the windows and it seems to help a little.

My Roadtrek is well insulated from noise - something has to be very loud outside to hear it inside. We stay at a campground next to an amusement park and we can only hear the roller coaster when we go outside. As far as temperature inside, if my Roadtrek sits in the sun on an August day the temperature can go up inside - no windows open, no vent open, no fan or A/C running - up to 110 dF. A lot of that heat is coming though the windows and if we covered the front windows, particularly the skylights in the roof, with Reflectix when we left it parked we would cut that heat considerably. We have been in the Roadtrek in the cold months and it is comfortable inside, but I noticed on our last trip when the temp outside at night was in the lower 40s that when I opened the bath door I could feel cold coming from the wall. At the time we had the heat pump on and the temperature inside overall was around 70 dF. The seals on the van doors are stock from Chevy or Sprinter and they seal well.



If you concerned about when you are inside, with the A/C in the summer and the heat pump or furnace in the cold months, it is comfortable inside. You also have the ceiling fan in the summer that just open when leaving the van will take the heat out and if on, will draw the heat out quickly. (When that fan is on a window has to be open for air to move.)

When I was looking at an Airstream, they also did a lot of window treatment, making fairly small rectangles. It makes sense why they did that -- the single pane rear windows do radiate a lot of heat.

As for the crack between the two doors, I've wondered about some piece of thick curtain fabric on one side, Reflectix on the other, and Velcro to hold it in place. For the bottom, one could do similar, but even a beanbag filled tube would work to keep drafts at bay.

As for insulation, my favorite is Reflectix or just the humble closed cell Styrofoam sheets, perhaps with a foil backing. It is decently mold and water resistant, and seems to work well enough. Aerogel insulation comes in sheets, but I've not read anyone using it, so I'm guessing it may be too expensive for general use. I dislike fiberglass insulation immensely just because every property of it is icky... be it itching if it gets on your skin, the fact that rodents love nesting in it, and the fact that water will compromise it. I am also not a fan of open cell spray insulation for exactly the reasons mentioned above.

mlts22 wrote:
I do know Advanced RV uses reflective insulation which does add some R-factor. However, in general, at most, it might be a few inches, just because there isn't that much room in a van. Even with insulation, the single-pane windows on the windshield and driver/passenger doors are an issue. The windshield can be helped by a cover on the outside and inside, but the cab doors are difficult to insulate. The back doors are also an issue, not just with windows, but with warm air getting out.

I have wondered about aerogel insulation types, like Thermablok. Of course, these would be more expensive, but for a "B", more bang for the buck is required.

As for heaters, I wish the furnace makers here in the US would take a clue from Espar or Truma, and go gas/electric. Bigger rigs like "A"s have Cheap Heat as an option. This way, regardless of energy consumed, it would help things. On really cold days, both could be used in tandem.

mlts22,

You are partially right. Advanced RV uses a thin cellular synthetic rubber like material with a foil covering 100% over the entire van floor, walls, ceiling and cab area. It has claimed insulation properties at about 1/8" thick but its main purpose is for sound dampening. The principle insulation is a blue denim processed matting treated with borate fire proofing the full thickness of the wall and ceiling ribs. It is also stuffed into all the nooks and crannies. Then a vapor retarder is applied and wall board with finish covering. I don't recall any bare metal inside the van after all finishes are installed.

Advanced RV uses a diesel powered Espar glycol heat exchanger to provide heat. When the van is plugged into shore power an electric element takes the place of diesel fuel.

Spray insulation may have problems. There are some on the market that are not closed cell and to me nothing more than cotton candy that eventually breaks down. They are not as good as structured insulations like fiber glass and the blue denim that can recover from moisture intrusion. Better insulation would be your closed cell polyurethanes that can be sprayed. Their problem is when you spray they expand with the closed cell gasses and can distort the exterior metal skin of the van. This can be especially true in the rib areas where the expansion meets resistance. A skilled applier might know how to overcome that problem. However, and I cannot find any information on this, if the cell integrity traps the air then changing altitude I think could cause after installation and expansion. Think about that bag of Doritos you took up in the mountains. A static building would not have that problem thus not an issue.

woodhog wrote:
Regarding heating, that would seem very easy as mentioned due to the small size, in a cooler climate when the furnace is heating the van
anything bare metal or glass will become extremely wet. On our camper there is only one small strip of metal around the door combing, in the morning it is dripping with water, even with good venting at night.

I see most of the Class B's are all glass on the sides, windshield, doors etc.

Also anyplace unseen where they missed putting some kind of vapour barrier etc. would also be dripping?

Is this a problem for B owners, if so how do you prevent it?

Roadtrek uses these sofa side armrests which can also be used as pillow bolsters at the end of the bed or close off the gap under your pillow if you leave them in place there. The Great West Van had similar armrests a little longer and quarter round in shape that could fill the gap in a similar manner. In our Great West Van they were effective for us.

Also note on this Roadtrek Agile photo the back doors are entirely covered with a padded board vinyl or plastic which should impede condensation especially if there is insulation behind. This Agile also trims out the normally irregular shaped windows into smaller rectangular windows. I don't know if the Roadtrek rear doors are insulated behind but I know the similar clad Great West Van Legend doors were filled with the pink fiber glass batting.

We picked our Sportsmobile in Austin in December. The first night we did not run the heater and the temperature dropped below 50 and the cold coming through the windows made the night miserable. Sportsmobile comes with front window covers made from reflectex and the work great. As soon as we got home we made inserts for all the other windows. Now it is comfortable sleeping down to about 35 without the heater. With the heater it will run you out of there. Also works well in the summer to keep the heat out and the AC in.

Regarding heating, that would seem very easy as mentioned due to the small size, in a cooler climate when the furnace is heating the van
anything bare metal or glass will become extremely wet. On our camper there is only one small strip of metal around the door combing, in the morning it is dripping with water, even with good venting at night.

I see most of the Class B's are all glass on the sides, windshield, doors etc.

Also anyplace unseen where they missed putting some kind of vapour barrier etc. would also be dripping?

Is this a problem for B owners, if so how do you prevent it?

mkguitar wrote:

I had a sleeping bag up against the rear doors and windows as could feel the cold coming through, and a spare blanket against the wall by the single pane window
I was pretty comfy all night wearing longjohns.
Dog helped.
Mike

The Sprinter's rear doors are where I notice cold temps, too. Cold metal! I put a triangle-shaped pillow/bolster between door and pillow those really cold nights.

The good news with vans is how fast they warm up on a cold morning. We also plug in a little space heater with thermostat if we have hookups.