How to cope with the heat

[pigdoc]

We are camping at the Amana Colonies in Iowa this weekend in our Cameo, and it is hotter than Hades. We have one AC, and are parked with rear to the south. What is the best strategy to keep the RV and our dogs as cool as possible? Any little suggestions that more experienced campers can give would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Pigdoc

[C_Schomer]

"Has anyone tried a 'portable' air conditioner?" I used to sell an awesome portable AC in the 70s. It was Cold Wave or maybe Cool Wave. They were water cooled so only very small water tubes were required - one to supply water and the other to a drain. A 1T unit only needed 3/8 lines and the unit was the size of a portable drum type humidifier and looked like one too. The good thing... water cooling yields more subcooling and more NRE out of a smaller compressor. The bad thing... If the CG owner knew you were using one-pass water and putting it into their septic, they'd probably have you drawn and quartered and burn all the evidence! Craig

Here's the site. http://koldwave.com/ They got ugly and industrial looking since I sold them 40 yrs ago but they sure work!

[B_O__Plenty]

pigdoc wrote:
Thanks to all for the helpful info. It was 102F on Friday, but only 90F today, so the AC was able to cope better. I do have a new 13k AC in the bedroom, but it will not turn on for some reason. Our trailer is a new 2012 Cameo, and the front AC worked at the PDI, but will not turn on now. Our dealer is a $200 drive away, so I'll visit a more local RV dealer to check the AC out. The reflectant cover for the windows in the direct sun make sense, we'll check this out too. Overall the Cameo has been great, super quality and nice to camp in. Thanks again.

See if you can get someone from Keteleson RV to come and look at it. Not very far away in Hiawatha IA. Nicest people you will ever deal with..

B.O.

[Arizona_Kid]

broark01 wrote:
For the most part, you are correct about dogs sweating but MUCH of their heat is dissipated through their skin and air blowing over them dissipates the heat quicker. Also their tongues dissipate more heat than their noses. Warm blooded creatures in general dissipate heat through their skin and DO NOT have to sweat.

I agree, a fan will help some to disapate heat from the fur, and keeping the dog wet will help even more.

To the op, if you use a fan have it close to the pet, an overhead fan won't do much.
Cooling jackets are another item that works.

By blowing air around, the fan makes it easier for the air to evaporate sweat from our skin, which is how we eliminate body heat. The more evaporation, the cooler you feel.
This is commonly known as "wind chill"

[pigdoc]

Thanks to all for the helpful info. It was 102F on Friday, but only 90F today, so the AC was able to cope better. I do have a new 13k AC in the bedroom, but it will not turn on for some reason. Our trailer is a new 2012 Cameo, and the front AC worked at the PDI, but will not turn on now. Our dealer is a $200 drive away, so I'll visit a more local RV dealer to check the AC out. The reflectant cover for the windows in the direct sun make sense, we'll check this out too. Overall the Cameo has been great, super quality and nice to camp in. Thanks again.

[down_home]

The answer: more cooling capacity. Second air conditioner 15000 btu with the high speed fan. If the present one is 13,000 btu change it to 15,000. This assumes you have 50 amp.
Our coach needs more insulation in the front cap and the entire roof . Looking now for someone who can tackle it.
If you have access to enough water set a sprinkler or two on top. Won't do much for paint etc though. Like one poster said soak the grund under the RV and awning in dry areas.

[Roy_Lynne]

I went to Home Depot and bought that silver paper that they use for the front windows. It comes in rolls. I cut it to fix the windows that get the evening sun. I put a fan in the front to keep the air circulating and of course the AC was on.

[broark01]

For the most part, you are correct about dogs sweating but MUCH of their heat is dissipated through their skin and air blowing over them dissipates the heat quicker. Also their tongues dissipate more heat than their noses. Warm blooded creatures in general dissipate heat through their skin and DO NOT have to sweat.

[Arizona_Kid]

Quote:
"And guess what? Fans don’t cool dogs!
Why? Well because we don’t have sweat glands, except for our nose and paws of our feet. Fans cool by evaporating sweat, and since we dogs don’t sweat, fans don’t work…. except for our noses. See where my nose is? I’m cooling my nose!"

You can place a frozen gallon of water in front of them, and use the fan to direct the air across it towards the pet.
Cooling mats also work well.
Same applys for cats.

As stated in my previous post, fans do not cool the air, it only evaporates the bodies sweat, which makes us feel more comfortable, so leaving a fan on in an empty RV, is just a waste of energy, as it will not lower the temp, but actually raise it slightly.

[brookside]

We always made inserts with Reflectix which can be cut with scissors, you can do sticky velcro with it to make a cover instead of stuffing it in the window. Reflectix comes rolls and you can sometimes get it at a Wal-Mart if you are lucky. Otherwise a hardware may have it and a home store usually does. We made liners for windows, roof vents and lined the cabinets and storage areas.

[hitchup]

We almost bought a portable AC at Lowe's/HD this week. In fact, they were on sale by Thursday.

Last Sunday, our main 15k AC froze up and wouldn't pump out cool air, only warm. The Mobile Tech couldn't get to us until late Monday. To sleep at night and when I couldn't stand it anymore in the afternoon, we closed the upstairs door and just ran 13.5k AC in bedroom.

When tech arrived, the inside temp was 91 deg in the LR with the AC off. But he couldn't find anything wrong. He did tell us to remove the filters and run the fan on High instead of AUTO. Since then, it's been working okay. Am looking at the temps in full sun in St Louis, 100 deg outside and is a balmy 80 deg inside. Fans definitely help move the air.

[okhmbldr]

I'm for the portable vented A/C unit. You only need it a few times during the year, but when you need it, it is really handy. Very easy to vent and you can run the drain into the shower area. New they are pretty pricey, I got mine on Craigslist, one year old, for $175.00. 12,000 btu and it works great.

[RoyB]

We do alot of camping in the Smoky Mtns Natl park and almost everyone there throws a large tarp over their trailers mainly for water dripping from the heavy tree foliage after it rains. Water will drip for days after a rain storm. Its almost like a rain forest haha...

I do the same with my off-road POPUP setup where my 20x30 TARP has holes cutout in to allow the air conditioner and fantastic fan to be opened up. The back side goes to the ground anchors at a long angle the front comes out even with the end of the awning but covers the whole front of the trailer including the the tent bed areas. I have two additional tent poles (WALMART) installed on this end and all of this is anchored to the ground in front and side of the awning. Makes a great shade area for the entire trailer and a great place to sit out font under the awning and the extended tarp... The 20x30 foot tarp also shades the trailer roof as well...

Roy Ken

[Cyborgie]

It's the high humidity we are going through here in Iowa. My husband came for the weekend from his job in Montana at 4 am Friday morning and thought he was breathing water. Well, sorta.

[ddschuman]

Turning your AC down at least as low as 68 and leaving the fan on "ON" vs "Auto" will help tremendously. We were in the full sun at the coast (Port Aransas, TX) on a recent trip and this is what we had to do. It would get very cold at night but an extra blanket on the bed made for awesome sleeping conditions as well the cold trailer in the morning made it easier for the AC to keep things cooler in the afternoon. Our inside temps during the day still rose to 74 even though set at 68 but we were pleased with that. I'd rather be cold at night than miserable hot so this works for us and helps our dog when we go out somewhere that she can't go with us. We also do this when staying at one of the lakes nearby. Seems TX weather is always hot in the summer. This is why our longer trips are usually to Colorado...our escape from the heat!