Is it hot enough for you??

[mowingman]

We are in north central Texas and it is HOT. Been around 110 here for the last several days.
Anyone camping around here in this heat? We are not, thank goodness. Even with 2 A/C units, I don't think our 5er would stay cool.
If I did not have to work right now, we would be somewhere in the mountains. Of course, I am not sure how far we would have to go to find a cool spot. If you are camping in this heat, be extra careful.
Jeff

[drsteve]

rockhillmanor wrote:
I still like this guys homemade swampy to cool things off.
A bucket of ice with a fan over it, only he takes it up a notch by adding three pvc vents! :C


These really do work. Just an ordinary dish pan filled with ice and a fan blowing over it produces some really cold air. I've done it to cool the dogs down in the cab over on some really steamy days.

These work well in dry climates, but when it's humid, not so much.

[drsteve]

rockhillmanor wrote:
I still like this guys homemade swampy to cool things off.
A bucket of ice with a fan over it, only he takes it up a notch by adding three pvc vents! :C


These really do work. Just an ordinary dish pan filled with ice and a fan blowing over it produces some really cold air. I've done it to cool the dogs down in the cab over on some really steamy days.

These work well in dry climates, but when it's humid, not so much.

[frankdamp]

At 07:00 this morning, it's foggy and 55F. Yesterday's high was 75 and today is expected to about the same. Clear blue skies after the fog burned off about 08:30.

Temps are kept low in this area (Anacortes, WA) because of the proximity of cold sea-water. It's just across the street from our house in a salt-water marina which connects to Burrows Bay. Water temp rarely tops 55F in summer and doesn't drop to less than 40 degrees in winter.

It's a great climate to live in, but it can get grey and gloomy in the winter - for days (even weeks).

Ths morning is foggy (visiblity about 1/4 mile) at 07:15 but it will probably burn off in the next hour and the high is expected around 16:00 hrs.

[tuna_fisher]

Whole house opened up this morning, 1st time in 3 weeks. Not long though, excessive heat warning starting tomorrow. for now enjoying mid 70's at least for the next couple of hours.

[C_Schomer]

This might be a record summer in Pueblo but I'm not complaining after 13 year in the Phx area. Craig

[rockhillmanor]

I still like this guys homemade swampy to cool things off.
A bucket of ice with a fan over it, only he takes it up a notch by adding three pvc vents! :C


These really do work. Just an ordinary dish pan filled with ice and a fan blowing over it produces some really cold air. I've done it to cool the dogs down in the cab over on some really steamy days.

[free_radical]

mowingman wrote:
We are in north central Texas and it is HOT. Been around 110 here for the last several days.
Anyone camping around here in this heat? We are not, thank goodness. Even with 2 A/C units, I don't think our 5er would stay cool.
If I did not have to work right now, we would be somewhere in the mountains. Of course, I am not sure how far we would have to go to find a cool spot. If you are camping in this heat, be extra careful.
Jeff

Heres a nice solution,,air cooled jacket 🙂

https://youtu.be/QPsSvruD_5I

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B073R9SPDB

[frankdamp]

Not a problem here in Anacortes. The high was 75 degrees yesterday, blue sky and sunshine. The same is expected the next few days. It might cool down a few degrees next week.

[vjstangelo]

Temps in Central VA have been mild, very few days in the 90’s so far this year. Great camping weather.

[pnichols]

rockhillmanor wrote:
** Just covering my three roof vents 'dropped the temps in my RV substantially'. If you only do just that and put the removable tint in the skylights....you will once again be a happy camper when it is real hot out!

Find the pillow inserts at any RV store or Walmart. They have material on one side and silver reflective material on the other side. That slip right into the roof vent opening. Do not buy the rubber ones.

There is one probably more important thing to do to your vents for a combination of reasons:

Install, or have installed, external vent covers up on the roof over the vent lids. These external covers 1) Stop the sun's UV rays from rapidly destroying the plastic vent lids, 2) Allow the vent lids to be open when it's raining and/or windy so as to still maintain good internal ventilation, and 3) Reduce heat into the interior from the vents by creating an insulating layer of air between the vent lids and the vent covers.

It's a win all the way around to have external vent covers installed. Here's an example of what I'm referring to (you install them with the grilled opening facing to the rear of the RV so air doesn't get rammed into them when traveling):
https://www.campingworld.com/camco-vent-cover-white

[rockhillmanor]

What you learn real quick the first "Summer" you spend in "Florida" in an RV sitting in the sun! What WAS I thinking!! :C

1. Cover all windows with van windshield sunshades. They fit perfectly under day/night shades easy to slip under and remove and no velcro, brackets, etc needed.

2. On MH's covering the opening from the front windshield area from the living area of the coach is a must. As is putting sunshades on the windshield and side windows.

3. **Cover ALL roof vent openings with RV pillow inserts.

4. Cover skylights including the one in the shower with 'removable' window tinting. These 2 items ARE where ALL the heat comes in making it hard for your AC to keep up.

5. Try to park east to west so the sun is going over the shortest distance across the RV and not coming in thru the big windows on the sides.

6. If parked north to south put the awning side facing west so you can drop your awning to the lowest point to shade the side of your RV during the hottest time of the day.

** Just covering my three roof vents 'dropped the temps in my RV substantially'. If you only do just that and put the removable tint in the skylights....you will once again be a happy camper when it is real hot out!

Find the pillow inserts at any RV store or Walmart. They have material on one side and silver reflective material on the other side. That slip right into the roof vent opening. Do not buy the rubber ones.

[down_home]

Our vents all have shutters to control flow or distribution.
Some one with a bit of engineering,here could devise, as, all the components are available maybe with some modification, to thermostatically control the shutters, in each room or more compactly at the output from the heat pumps.
I am not aware, of any mfg doing that. Perhaps the Prevosts and some Newmars do.
No rocket science involved, just some get up and go, and very little money.
Another thing to look at, as has been discussed before, is to check your duct work, from and to the heat pumps and at the vents,, for leaks.
Last year Coleman at an RV rally came to our aid when fan on main heat pump slid down shaft and seized in the pan.
Prior to that, it was a challenge to keep cool when very warm or warm when very cool, without using the furnaces.
At the exit vents pieces, of aluminum backed fiberglass board, which the duct was made of, were just inserted with large gaps allowing over half to go into the ceiling, at everyone of the vents and cooling the coach
At the intakes of the heat pumps, same situation with already cooled air being drawn back in and cooled again instead into duct work and out the vents During low and sometimes auto, settings, particularily during damp weather. This encouraged freezing and locking up the heat pump and the coach was not being cooled.Since that time it is like a meat locker at 100 degrees outside, if the thermostat sticks.
So the cheap fix if you already don't have sliding shutters on your vents find some and change. More importantly perhaps or equally is get a large roll of aluminum duct tape and fix any leaks.
Third if you have the time or have some friends at a get together and develop a shutter system controlled by thermostats, or controlled at output of heat pumps.
That will take a bit more including measuring, power to small shutter servos and wires to thermostats in different zones. Integrating zone thermostats to kick the units on so that zone or all zones are heated or cooled, is not hard either.
I wish there was a one stop for all this including insulating caps the factory didn't think necessary.

[myredracer]

I wish there was a way of easily shutting off or reducing the flow into the bedroom during the day so it gets a bit cooler in the living/kitchen area and then turning flow back on in the bedroom at night while shutting off everything else. Doesn't help either that we open a bedroom window at night and run the roof fan in the bedroom on low to get some fresh air. Or maybe a misting system to get a little evaporative cooling on the skin? Time for another mod, lol...

We have those really dark tinted frameless windows. They look pretty sexy but have to be causing some significant heat gain. Could try covering them up as mentioned above to see if that helps. I did notice that keeping our elec. awning out and using the sun screen helps noticeably but had to roll it back up a few times when it got windy. This is when I wish we had a manual awning that could be tilted and anchored to the ground.

[pnichols]

I've read many posts on "what length RV should I buy", and they always include all kinds of arguments for a small/short RV and all kinds of arguments for large/long RV.

Folks who prefer a small/short RV list several advantages - but this one is rarely talked about: A small/short RV is easier to keep cool (...and warm) using common RV appliances.

We have a 24 foot Class C motorhome with a 13.5K rooftop A/C unit and a full ducting system running the length of the RV (even including one ceiling duct in the bathroom and one ceiling duct above the cabover bed). Each duct can be rotated 360 degrees to aim it, and opened any amount to control it's air flow.

For extreme daytime heat we have a curtain to block off the cab area, a curtain to block off the cabover bed area, and a curtain to block off the rear bed area ... such that the 13.5K A/C only has to cool an area a little larger than a truck camper. With a 13.5K A/C and that kind of interior volume control, the resulting downsized living area can indeed be kept cool.

We have made an extensive RV trip in the Southern U.S. in July/August and had no problems at all keeping cool - including looking for rocks in remote areas of the scorching Texas Panhandle. Throughout the Southern U.S. at that time of the year in those temperatures and humidities we of course had most campgrounds and tourist attractions to ourselves!

If Mother Earth is indeed going to get hotter ... opting for a small/short RV may make more and more comfort-in-all-conditions sense.