Traveling in hot regions

[shark14]

We are travelling cross country and are heading into the hot, hot temperature states. Are there things to be more aware of in our Class C diesel motorhome? I would like to take preventive measures to ensure a safe trip.

[mfox20]

I close all vents, run the dash AC and usually crank up the generator and get 1 AC running when we leave in the morning. Crank on second AC as soon as the wife quits complaining about it being too cold. If you wait to late to use the house AC's you will never catch up.

Stay Cool......

[pianotuna]

Hi TyroneandGladys,

For low voltage and surge it is better to use one of these:

Autoformer, outlet testing and surge.

TyroneandGladys wrote:
We have experienced low voltage numerous times in campgrounds/RV Parks during hot weather so use one of these

[TyroneandGladys]

To stay cool when parked
Use a cover that covers the windshield and the door windows
Window tint on ALL windows.
Vent pillows or insulated covers
No showers during the hottest part of the day
Use the microwave not the stove during the hottest part of the day
Cut down the traffic in and out of the RV.
Close off the overhead bunk area and the cab area along with any other areas not occupied such as bathroom.
If you have a awning park with the awning facing west and put it out.
If you have window awnings use them if not some shade cloth with Velcro tabs and matching tabs on the rv around the windows will do wonders. We have a total of 6 1"X 1" tabs for a 40" inch long window three on top and three on the bottom.
When driving
Do not let it get hot before you turn on the AC. Run your generator starting in the morning with the AC on so that when you stop you are not trying to cool a HOT RV down. We do not use the dash AC only the roof AC It takes a huge load off of the engine and greatly reduces your chance of overheating.
Vent pillows or insulated covers
Close off the overhead bunk area and the cab area along with any other areas not occupied such as bathroom and or bedroom.
Keep your fresh water tank full in case of emergencies.
Check your tire pressure and if the tires are over 4 years old replace them.
We have experienced low voltage numerous times in campgrounds/RV Parks during hot weather so use one of these

[pnichols]

WILDEBILL308 wrote:
Allso when using the dash air have it on recirculate you are cooling the cooler air from inside and not the supper hot air from outside.

Right on with using the cab A/C ONLY in recirculate mode for travel in extreme heat. This reduces the load, and makes much efficient, the engine A/C as it is always pulling in only inside air (that it is constantly getting cooler and cooler) and cooling that further. Leaving the cab A/C on normal mode and a vent open somewhere in the RV means that the A/C has to constantly bring only the hot outside air in and try to cool it.

Leaving no vent open anywhere and the cab A/C in reciculate mode also provides the added bonus of keeping dust better under control inside the coach by preventing a constant flow through the coach of air from the outside.

[WILDEBILL308]

pianotuna wrote:
Snowdance,

I've had good luck running the roof air on fan only to circulate the air from the cab area of my class C.

Why would you just run the fan? You have to have the generator running to power the fan you might as well get some cool out of it.
Allso when using the dash air have it on recirculate you are cooling the cooler air from inside and not the supper hot air from outside.
Bill

[navegator]

One thing that you need to keep in mind is that the higher the speed that you are travellinng at the hotter the engine will run, stay arround 60 mph and when you come to hill country or grades do not use the over drive, when the transmition starts to shift up and down and up, that is when they start to overheat, turn the over drive off and go up the hill, if the incline gets steeper, do not try to maintain a high speed, slow down a little and if needed down shift again.

We sometimes place a bed sheet as a divider between the overhead and the front cabin, this gives us cooler cabin and when we get to the camp ground we turn the roof air to max as soon as possible, leaving the engine running until the engine temp has gone down a little, normally the time it takes me to hook the electric and water.

Drink a lot off water, alcohol is not to good and sugary carbonated drinks do not help at all, we mix some fruit drink with water to give the water some taste, more water than fruit drink, and try to stay in doors with the A/C on during the hottest part of the day.

If you are pulling a toad, cover the front window while driving and when parked, the steering wheel can get pretty hot and leave the windows with a very small crack to let the hot air out, when getting in open the doors before going in to let most of the hot air out, do not leave pets or kids in vehicles in the sun and take water and a drinking bowl for the pets, and carry plenty of water for drinking and belive it or not carry warm clothes in the car while out exploring specially in the desert it does get chilly at night.

NEVER EVER cross a road with running water, you do not know how deep the water is or if the road has been washed away, flash floods kill.

navegator

[RedRollingRoadb]

For me the first on my list is tires and cooling system, in no particular order.

Tires inflation and condition. Cuts, weather checking, bulges, valve stems, tread.

Cooling system for coolant, radiator clean in and out, hoses in good shape.

You can travel without the A/C but sitting along side road ain't fun.

[tpi]

2oldman wrote:
Drive at night.

Agree, or at least get an early start and quit early. Try to keep the accumulated hours of extreme heat lower.

[Bordercollie]

I have had tire failures driving on very hot days on rough highways. If your tires are of correct type, new, and inflated properly for your rig, there is less chance of tire trouble in beastly hot weather. Take frequent breaks at rest stops to relax from the pounding and stress of hot weather driving. Drink plenty of water. Use your brakes and transmission properly on grades to avoid brake fade. Avoid driving at peak temperature times. We don't RV in 90+ weather, prefer to stay home with good central air conditioning.

[Golden_HVAC]

I can check the radiator temps on the Freightliner Sprinter that I drive at work. As long as the engine temp is not extreme, running the A/C in my car requires the radiator fans run, so it keeps the engine temps under control. I would not shut off the dash A/C until there is a problem with the regular temp.

Running the rooftop A/C is what I do. Normally I would shut off the dash air on a mountain climb, such as a 6% grade, then turn it back on at the top to assist with engine braking.

Good luck,


Fred.

[2oldman]

Drive at night.

[pianotuna]

Snowdance,

I've had good luck running the roof air on fan only to circulate the air from the cab area of my class C.

[snowdance]

Your dash air is far bigger than you roof air and will cool about 3 times as much. Up to 117 degrees or so we open a vent a small amount in the rear of the rig and use the dash air full. As you go down the road the vent will pull the dash air thru the rig keeping it very cool. Just be sure there are no other vents open so all air into the rig has to come thru the dash AC and all air out goes thru the vent in the rear. You will have to play with it to see how much you need to open the vent on your rig. Our rear vent is in the bath room so we can leave the rear vent open a little when stopped at a rest area, leave the rig engine and dash air on and run the bath vent fan on low. All air that comes into the rig must come thru the dash air. It works great. The inside temp in our rig is usually in the mid 70's
Also when running in the heat or pulling long grades, (As we do all the time) never come to a stop and turn the engine off. Leave it run until the engine temp is down to normal. For a 10 or 20 min stop just let the engine and dash AC run. If you engine over heats using it this way you need to work on the cooling system. If your dash AC does not cool your rig its because you have closed all vents and the air has no place to go so you will cool only where its blowing.
After about 117 degrees we run both dash and roof AC if needed.

[gbopp]

Make sure your radiator is clean. Remove the bugs, dirt, etc..