Full time 5th Wheel living in Phoenix in the summer

[sparky60]

It seems as though all of the so-called Four-Seasons 5th Wheel manufacturers focus on the cold weather. I would like to know how any of them would fare in an extremely hot environment, like Phoenix, AZ during the summer (120 degrees)
If you've got some experience with living full time in your Fifth Wheel in the Phoenix and Mesa, AZ area, I would sure like to hear from you about what rig you have and how you coped with the extreme heat.
Thanks very much!

[sparky60]

Me Again wrote:
Buy a park model with a real AC unit! Chris

Park model space rent is over $1100/month. An RV site is about $230/month. And if I want to go to another park at some point, I don't have to sell a tiny home. I just hitch and drive. I really need to hear from those that have "been there, done that", and what rig they had.

[sparky60]

ford-willy wrote:
I have experience in a very hot climate. We own a RV lot at a Resort in Lake Havasu City Az. We normally just winter in our big Grand Junction 5ver there. But on occasion have been there in 115 degree temps.

It is a huge strain on a normal 50 amp RV service. Last September, 115 degrees outside our transfer switch melted down requiring a 3 day fix and a motel room. Very lucky. could have burned the whole darn rig down. We now run a smoke detector in the sub floor area. Running 2 airs almost 24/7 along with other appliances is a huge strain. You need to minimize use of other appliances when running 2 airs constantly. Any little weak spot in your electric system (loose wire connection etc) can cause a huge failure.

This summer we rented the lot to a full time couple. We have an electric usage deal with them. The monthly electric bill is running just under $300 per month for them if that helps you any.

If you leave the rig for any time at all, and don't leave the 2 airs running, when you get back the rig will be so hot inside (maybe well into the 110 degree mark" that it will be midnight before it even cools down enough to sleep.

WOW! That's a big electric bill! Great info - Thanx!

[sparky60]

GoPackGo wrote:
First off - insulation works the same in cold weather and hot weather - just like your house. More is better.

I stayed one winter in Phoenix. It was touching 100 degrees during the day as I was heading out on 1 May.

One observation I have is that I saw many folks with an open air car-port type of covering over their trailers and mobile homes. Just 4 poles and a hard covering. The idea is to just keep the sun off the rig and from directly heating up that big tin can. That is the first thing I would do.

I talked to a couple folks who stayed year round in the RV park I stayed at. They put insulation in the windows and bought a couple of household window AC units. They told me the household ones are much more efficient then the dedicated RV units.

The car-port type of cover is a great idea! I'm thinking the shade that will create would help a great deal. THANX!!

[sparky60]

Mandalay Parr wrote:
I would add a third AC unit.

Have you done that? What rig do you have? Does it work in the summer months?

[sparky60]

ol Bombero-JC wrote:
Re-post - (new subject title - no "double posts" permitted)
in the *Full Time RVing* forum here -

and/or go to the Escapees forums for LOTS of full time folks who have experience with/for the info you desire (incl lots of 'em in AZ).

~

Good advice, ol Bombero. Thanks!

[larry_barnhart]

We have been in Casa Grande for 15 winters starting in early oct and a couple time in very late sept. Never had any reason to use the AC after maybe 9:30PM. One Ac only. Hope this doesn't change as we hit the road the 1st of Oct.
chevman

[azjeffh]

After living in the Phoenix area for 43 years, I would be wearing sweats if we had kept our home in the low 70's in the summer. 82 during the day and 80 at night worked well for us.

Now that we're moving around the midwest, I'm finding we need to keep the trailer in the mid 70's to accomplish the same feel.

When we left this year temps had already reached the low 100's. We had no issue keeping the trailer comfortable. Don't know how well it would have worked out at 120.

We left in May for a reason (escape summer heat), and it appears we have brought it with us where ever we have traveled this summer. 😞 I'm finding this 90 degree heat with the high humidity to be worse than the 110 degree days we were accustomed to.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

Re-post - (new subject title - no "double posts" permitted)
in the *Full Time RVing* forum here -

and/or go to the Escapees forums for LOTS of full time folks who have experience with/for the info you desire (incl lots of 'em in AZ).

~

[Cummins12V98]

Me Again wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:


I don't think there is a RV our there that's around 40' that can keep the temps down to the low 70's with two ac's.

Well hopefully the East Valley will have cooled a bit when we get their a month from now. 39' 4", single pain windows and just two AC's. Chris

Biggest thing is not to wait til it gets hot to turn them on. We are guilty of that!

[Me_Again]

Cummins12V98 wrote:


I don't think there is a RV our there that's around 40' that can keep the temps down to the low 70's with two ac's.

Well hopefully the East Valley will have cooled a bit when we get their a month from now. 39' 4", single pain windows and just two AC's. Chris

[Cummins12V98]

Me Again wrote:
But but but, you have really good insulation in your highly "Elited" MS!! Chris

I don't think there is a RV our there that's around 40' that can keep the temps down to the low 70's with two ac's.

Our 36' MS with two AC's could keep the high 70's at best with it 113 outside.

I thought Alicia was crazy when she offered 3 AC's. But she said when do the AC's go out? When it's HOT as happened to our 36 MS and it was miserable until I could get it fixed.

[n0arp]

Op, you should be fine if you pair your included dual ACs with a 12K mini-split. Or throw in a larger mini-split and you can turn one of your factory units off. I ran the calculations for our rig (in my sig) a while back and figured that we'd need around 42K BTU to keep it comfortable in the AZ summers. That means I'll be adding a 12K BTU mini-split at some point in our rig's life to the 2x 15K RV units we already have.

This is an example of one having been retrofitted.

Dometic doesn't advertise SEER ratings, but I read they're somewhere around 9. By comparison, home AC units might be around 13-16, and mini-split units can be 18 to OVER 30! Higher is better.

[Me_Again]

But but but, you have really good insulation in your highly "Elited" MS!! Chris

[Cummins12V98]

Recently spent two weeks in Desert Hot Springs, CA with temps up to 122. Had zero issues keeping the RV in the low 70's with 3 AC units. RV in sig.

[laknox]

sparky60 wrote:
It seems as though all of the so-called Four-Seasons 5th Wheel manufacturers focus on the cold weather. I would like to know how any of them would fare in an extremely hot environment, like Phoenix, AZ during the summer (120 degrees)
If you've got some experience with living full time in your Fifth Wheel in the Phoenix and Mesa, AZ area, I would sure like to hear from you about what rig you have and how you coped with the extreme heat.
Thanks very much!

Frankly, I wouldn't do it. If you're in a metered site, you could easily run $400/month power bills. My step-daughter lives in a mobile home park, 14 x 60, and her power bill the last 2 months has been > $200, and that's (more or less) built for this use. Much better off in a park model or a straight mobile home and in a place that's got as much shade as possible. Hell, you'd likely be better off buying a condo somewhere, and saving your money to buy the FW of your dreams when you =do= retire. 🙂

Lyle