Very cold weather camping & covering the a/c shroud?

[profdant139]

We are continuing to fine-tune our cold weather camping routines -- and we noticed during our last very cold trip that water would sometimes drip from the air conditioner vent. Very refreshing to have a drop of 33 degree water on one's neck in a 34 degree trailer!

I am pretty sure that this is condensation from humidity in the air inside the trailer that froze to the a/c machinery during the night and then melted when we ran the heater in the morning.

So that is my question -- would covering the air conditioner shroud, up on the roof, prevent this from happening? Once in a while, we see an RV with a tarp wrapped around the a/c during the winter -- what, exactly, is the reason for wrapping the shroud? (Frankly, I would rather not wrap the shroud -- it is not easy to climb up onto the roof of my trailer at home, and the tarp could flap around and damage things. I would secure it well, but there is always a chance that it could get loose.)

A related question -- does air flow through the a/c when it is not on? On one hand, that would not be a good thing, since it would just make the trailer colder. On the other hand, fresh air circulation is a good thing. On the third hand, I can get all the fresh air we need by simply opening the hatch in the bathroom a little wider.

(Finally, a note to the moderator -- I posted this on the boondocking forum, on the theory that boondockers have a lot of experience in dealing with very cold weather camping. This is not exactly a DIY issue, nor tech, nor exclusively a trailer issue. If it is in the wrong place, please feel free to move it.)

[SteveAE]

I think if you solve the cold air intrusion, you'll solve the condensation.

Now you have an excuse to go camping again soon to test it out:)

[profdant139]

Great --thanks! If nothing else, I can stuff towels in that area to absorb condensation. And I think I will attach a reminder to the a/c switch to make sure that I remove the insulation and the towels in warmer weather. 😉

[SteveAE]

All done from the interior of the trailer and no tools needed (at least on my AC).

Look at your AC (inside the trailer), and you should (hopefully) see an access panel (perhaps with two little tabs that you push in to open). Open that up and you will quickly see what I am referring to.

[profdant139]

Steve, great idea! Do you access the interior of the a/c and install the reflectix from the inside of the RV or from the roof?

[SteveAE]

You trailer ceiling may be insulated (a little bit), but your AC isn't. Open the access cover to your AC, look up, and you will see no insulation. Only thin sheet metal between you and the inside of the shroud (which has lots of holes in it).

Every fall, I insulate the inside of the AC with a foam/reflectix sandwich (foam in the center and reflectix on both sides of the foam). Completely eliminates the cold air dropping down out of the AC. Cold surfaces + moisture (respiration) equals condensation. In the spring, I simply remove the insulation. I seldom use the AC, so if I forget it's no big deal (I unplug the AC to insert the insulation so it won't run anyway).

Hope this helps.

[pnichols]

Dan ... please ignore my cold sleeping concerns for you and the DW. You two will be fine.

Our beloved little pooch (Havanese) will have been around for 15 calendar years this summer. She likes our RV at 62 degrees while she gets her beauty sleep ... so we figure that at 105 years old she deserves it. 😉

[profdant139]

Nope, Phil -- I figure if the Eskimos can sleep in igloos with sealskin blankets, we can sleep in an insulated trailer with a down comforter. Paradoxically, we sleep better in the trailer than anywhere else -- 8 or 9 hours a night, which is unheard-of for us. It is dark, cold, silent -- totally comfortable.

Until we have to get out of bed.

So in the morning, I crank up our noisy OEM heater, we wipe up the condensation, dress warmly (again imitating the Eskimos) and turn off the heater. The heater does not go on again till shower time in the late afternoon, after hiking but just before cocktail hour. (This is where we part company with the Eskimos.)

[pnichols]

Dan, you're an avid cold weather camper ... but IMHO letting the inside be in the low 30's is over the top (or under the bottom)!

Please do something to relieve my pain when reading of your cold weather RV camping sagas. Perhaps you should change your heater to a quiet one ... like for instance this one:

http://www.propexheatsource.com/heaters/hs2800-furnace/

OR

My BIL has a wonderful new 21 foot Escape TT with some kind of furnace in it that makes practically no noise at all - and his DW is extremely sensitive to her sleeping environment. It's probably one of these models, which I believe are used in Escape trailers:

http://www.ducktec.com/itmidx14.htm

[profdant139]

Green, I bet you are right about the underside of the roof -- that makes sense. Tiger, we fastened a towel under the a/c vent to catch the occasional drip -- it did the job, but it was not pretty. The trailer is not really enclosed -- we have the hatch open in the bathroom at night, and the vent hood is open (we took off the flap).

But when it is ten degrees outside, and since we never run the heat at night (because it is noisy and because we have a down comforter!), it is often 34 or lower when we wake up. The lowest has been 28. There is often ice on the window frames. We then run the heat for a minute, and we then run around wiping up melting ice.

It's part of the price we pay for cold weather camping -- there will be condensation, and there will be ice, and it will be a bit of a mess. But I was hoping that there was a magic way to avoid the drip from the a/c, and I bet that it can't be avoided. Oh, well.

And one more thing -- 2oldman, this is not about being tough at all. We are not tough, I am sad to say. We dress like Eskimos and do our best to cope with the cold temps.

[greenrvgreen]

I am skeptical that the condensation is coming FROM the A/C unit. Rather, I suspect that the condensation is forming on the underside of your roof (above the insulation) and travelling to the first available opening, which is the vent leading to your A/C.

The condensation is forming on your roof (and walls) because you're heating and breathing in an enclosed space with little or no ventillation. Why on earth is it enclosed when it's only 34 degrees?

I've had this happen to me, and seen water come in through the roof dome light. Spooky! When I removed the light I could see severe condensation, apparently from having tried to dry out wet clothes using space heaters. I now make sure I do this only in the shower stall with the vent open. Never had the problem since.

[Tiger4x4RV]

Maybe you need some sort of device to catch the drip on the inside of the trailer. Or not. If it is indoor condensation, then it would just drip off the device instead of off the AC as now.

34 degrees inside. Yup. Me, too, sometimes. Good thing I don't have any AC up there to drip onto me.

[2oldman]

profdant139 wrote:
I am pretty sure that this is condensation from humidity in the air inside the trailer that froze to the a/c machinery during the night

I agree.

34F inside? You're tougher than I am.