Desert heat

[Tjuice]

Hello,
Will be heading out the SW portion of the US in a couple weeks. Some of the places we'll be staying will be 100+ degrees for the highs.
What do I need to take into consideration with my TT to avoid a total meltdown?
Thanks in advance for any tips.

[dkreuzen]

Something that is missing from the Desert heat discussion is nighttime temperatures. In the Desert area from Phoenix to Las Vegas the lows may be in the 90's... so don't expect a cool breeze just because it's dark. Here in Havasu it's not unusual to see 100 for the low.

[2gypsies1]

Well, Mesa and Vegas will be your hottest. You'll really enjoy Bryce's temps. Unless you're visiting someone, I'd really skip Mesa if I were you. Go up to Flagstaff instead. Best of luck!!! Give us a trip report...would love to know how you did!

[ncrowley]

Try and face the RV so the long side where the frig is is facing North. Keep out your awnings if you can. Keep as many slides in as you can. Cover any vents with the foam vent covers.

[LuckeyUs]

3 days in Georgia, over 100 degrees, & we couldn't have enough LARGE fans & even small individual fans. The heat was still so unbearable that I covered the windows with aluminum foil & closed the slides. I didn't have covers over the vents above, but I will be buying them for our next trip. On our drive home down to Orlando, the highways were littered with tire treads, & unfortunately we also blew out a 2 yr old tire on the tt. So make sure you have a good spare tire & an accessible jack.

[timmac]

juice0000 wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
What areas are you going to be?

Mesa for a couple days, and also Vegas will be the hottest.
Bryce, UT has a high forecast, but we are staying at a place that is at 7600 elevation.
Looks like in Mesa we will have a lot of sites to pick from, so I am hopeful for some shade.

There is lots of vacant RV spaces here in Vegas during the summer but finding one with shade is like hitting the Royal Flush twice in a row, good luck..

[pconroy328]

we just drove thru Vegas on Saturday. Even tho' I had lived in Texas for many years, I still wasn't prepared for the roastin', hot oven blast of air. It was so hot, I thought I saw a big red guy with horns and a pitch fork picking up a AC window unit. 🙂

[Tjuice]

2gypsies wrote:
What areas are you going to be?

Mesa for a couple days, and also Vegas will be the hottest.
Bryce, UT has a high forecast, but we are staying at a place that is at 7600 elevation.
Looks like in Mesa we will have a lot of sites to pick from, so I am hopeful for some shade.

[2gypsies1]

What areas are you going to be?

[BubbaChris]

On travel days, try to do it early so you can get hooked up and have your air conditioner running before the 4-6pm peak heat of the day.

If you're going to be away from the RV for a while and are at a FHU site, open your cabinets to keep them from trapping the heat (if your RV is already at a comfortable temperature inside).

Don't leave your awning out if you're going to be away from the TT, winds can come up without much warning when storm cells move through an area.

Having thermometers inside and outside the TT can help you determine if it is a good time to run a Fantastic Fan (if you have one). My rule of thumb is if the outside air is 3 or more degrees cooler than inside, I start with that rather than my air conditioning.

Use the pillow style overhead vent insulators.

When driving I feel better using a lower gear and higher RPMs rather than lugging the engine or let the automatic transmission hunt around too much.

Sit in your TV (with it's a/c running) and go over your pre-departure checklist after any stops. Even having a short list (door handle, steps up, slide-in) helps when you've been rushing to get out of the heat.

Have towels or some other fabric you can throw over the seats in your TV so they don't soak up solar heat. Also a cover over the steering wheel can be smart.

[C_Schomer]

We've had 115 already. Start drinking water well before you go into the heat. You can easily sweat 2 liters/hr but you can only rehydrate at 1.5L/hr. Electrolytes is a totally different issue. Drink one electrolyte drink to every 3-4 waters. Don't risk over heating cuz it has permanent affects. Thanks to my occupation, I now have to drink constantly from the moment I get out of bed and it sucks!
Make sure your AC is in top shape and the coils are clean. Shade, if possible, is paramount. Craig

[TechWriter]

If you'll be staying in Arizona, the monsoon season should be starting soon. This means heat and humidity. Really awful.

Only fools venture into the actual desert in summer because of the heat. A breakdown out there could kill you. The time to visit the desert is Winter.

Get an autoformer because everyone will be running their ACs and park voltage may drop.

[eichacsj]

juice0000 wrote:

eichacsj wrote:
Drink water a lot! If you wait until you get the headache you waited way to long. So like stated above know heat stroke. https://www.facebook.com/tim.fruitman?fref=hovercard

If you only have 1 13k AC it will run constantly and may get down to 80. Gaging on a 28 - 30 ft RV.

Wait until the monsoons when it is cool! not hardly that is when temps are still above 100 24 hours and now you have 80% or more humidity. We do not call it the dog days of summer for nothing. It is brutal until late Oct.

For the fridge we have 2 of these; http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/fridgecool-fan-with-on-off-switch/38134 It circulates the air over the coils and keeps your fridge quite cool. We have ours set at 6 (propane, elec. not as efficient) and things are cold. Be sure and put them both on same side. The batteries last all camping season for us.

Later fall, winter, spring is really the better time to come here.

Good luck

Thanks.
The TT is 32' and has a 15btu a/c. I think we'll put it to the test and bring fans.
I will look into the fridge fans.
We have a little one still in school, so summer is our only time for big trips unfortunately.

Ya mine does only have the 13k and cannot get it down below 80, Please send me private e-mail or answer here what yours gets down to and where you stayed. I will be interested.

One thing you may want to do if it runs constantly is when you are out sightseeing put the slides in. The AC won't have to work to hard and may make it cooler during the day, however you may work your slides to death. A balance but something to think about.

[Roy_Lynne]

We went to Lowe/Home Depot and purchased a roll of that silver reflecting stuff and cut it to fix the windows on the sun side. It helped a lot.

[Kenneth_Neal]

Keep your slideouts in as much as possible. There will be less volume for the AC to cool.

[gazingm42]

We spend a lot of time camping in the south west in the Desert camping in the RV such as Moab and Zion. The heat getting to 115 is often considered cool out there at times.

In regards to the TT we finding cooling it early and maintain a constant temp is easier than bring it down from very high temps to 72. When the inside reaches say 90 because of the heat trying to lower it quickly can be hard to do. So maintain a 85 during the day is easy.

Use awning to cool the trailer while you there. What the winds to come up out in the desert.

If you have selection of shade pick the west shade to help in late afternoon heat.

While doing outside activity, drink water, water, water and then more water. For thoose not use to the desert heat can get serious effects of the dry heat very quickly.

Enjoy this golden gem of the desert.