A/C couldn't keep up. Help?

[helenozee]

Last weekend I spent four days living in my RV, parked in front of my daughter's house in Phoenix, AZ. It was approximately 115 degrees outside. I live in Las Vegas, NV, and it was similar weather here. Driving to Phoenix with my generator going the whole time, it was 99 degrees inside when we arrived (my dogs and I). The first couple days I ran either the front A/C or the back. Running my generator 24/7, the temperature inside in the front or back only cooled to mid to low 90s. I called on the 3rd day and talked to a repair person who told me I had to run both because they're ducted. I also went to Home Depot and purchased a Toshiba room A/C. With that helping, I was able to get to the mid to high 80s. I could not plug in to their house because they only have 15 amp. It kept tripping the breaker.

I don't usually travel in my RV in temps like this. It's a 2005 Fleetwood Discovery diesel pusher, model 35H. In the years up till now, I would only use the A/C a few times a year, just to cool down when it was maybe high 80s outside, and only for a few hours. I do dog agility and don't go anywhere that's really hot. When I visited Phoenix I wouldn't take the RV. Now I need to take my dogs and need to take the RV.

Last summer I let my ex-husband use the RV to live in while his house was completed in Pahrump, NV. The weather was in the 100s, and he used the A/C 24/7, hooked to electricity. Near the end of the time he lived in it, he said the motor was going out on the A/C, and he replaced it. (I had to buy it! :M)

Here are my questions: Do I need new air conditioner(s)? Do any of them work if it gets that hot? Is something else worn out from using it so much last summer?

Someone just suggested I get a roll of foam foil insulation for my windows. I'm going back to Phoenix in a few weeks and dreading the thought of living in that boiling hot tin can for another few days.

Comments or suggestions? Thanks in advance!

[MEXICOWANDERER]

http://e3tnw.org/ItemDetail.aspx?id=531

R-35

$10 - $12 per square foot

One inch thick

[Bert_the_Welder]

I'm just throwing this out there as a spitball, but how wide does that foil bubble wrap stuff come? For an extreme situation, one could use it as a tarp to drape over the roof and down the sides. The best defense is not to let the sun hit your RV surface or through the glass in the first place. Reflective bubble wrap on the inside of a window does work, but it would be more effective to stop the heat before it gets on the inside of the glass. Sure, gonna take some doing to roll up a sheet that big and to store it. And it's gonna look pretty odd. And certainly would draw the ire or the uppity blue haired Nazis at some of the private campgrounds. But if it's that hellish hot out.....

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I haven't had the luxury of living in a million-dollar home :), The temperature last night was 83F at 0315 alongside my bed. Foot thick concrete walls and a threat of a 700 dollar electrical bill if I kept this place at 75F and knocked out a chunk of wall for a 16K A/C unit.

Insulation is key and it cannot be effective for RVs with just two inches of space available. Not with today's insulation. House attics can hold eighteen inches to two feet of insulation, walls can contain four inches, and triple windows reduce thermal transfer by magnitudes. Quicksilver was shot with the most expensive foam at the time. Yet it stands no chance when the skin attains temperatures above 150 degreea in direct sunlight. In Quintana Roo, I had three Coleman roof air units functioning to keep the humidity under 60% and temps less than 80 degrees.

[jaycocreek]

When it got really hot in our 30ft TT,I added a small 5K btu window unit in the bedroom..It made all the difference in the world and only draws 338 watts on high cool when I recently tested it..

[pianotuna]

dedmiston wrote:


One of the neighbors on the west was a shiny new large Class C. I was grateful for his shade at first, but then when they packed up and left our rig actually cooled down. I didn't see it at the time, but the morning sun from the east was reflecting off their rig and heating us up. We were actually cooler after they left and a smaller rig replaced them. I never imagined that the glare from their clean rig would heat us up so much.

What happens is the wave length changes, just as in a radiant heater.

The light hits the object--and then reradiates as infrared (heat). Then it strikes an object--and warms it up.

[dedmiston]

Y-Guy wrote:
Living in the desert myself, I will say that is oppressive heat. I think your system is doing pretty good in that heat. Camping at Zion 10 years ago temps were around 105° we moved down to Coral Pink Sand Dunes temps were 118° our dual AC ran 24/7 but we had 30 amp to power them, do you have 30 or 50amp? While at the Dunes we were having trouble, the advice I was given was to shade the hot side of the RV as best we could and bring the slides in. We did have a tarp and a sunshade that we put about a 45° angle that really did make a difference in helping our AC, but moving the slide in helped too as it removed that much volume in the RV that the AC had to keep cool.

Best advice I'll give, move. Get out of the heat or try to find shade, but moving is the easiest right now.

We were at Zion last week and it was crazy hot (85 when we finally left at 04:00 on our last day).

We were there for a week and had one neighbor on our east side the entire time to give us some shade and then revolving neighbors on the west side to give us afternoon shade.

One of the neighbors on the west was a shiny new large Class C. I was grateful for his shade at first, but then when they packed up and left our rig actually cooled down. I didn't see it at the time, but the morning sun from the east was reflecting off their rig and heating us up. We were actually cooler after they left and a smaller rig replaced them. I never imagined that the glare from their clean rig would heat us up so much.

[Y-Guy]

helenozee wrote:
Comments or suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Living in the desert myself, I will say that is oppressive heat. I think your system is doing pretty good in that heat. Camping at Zion 10 years ago temps were around 105° we moved down to Coral Pink Sand Dunes temps were 118° our dual AC ran 24/7 but we had 30 amp to power them, do you have 30 or 50amp? While at the Dunes we were having trouble, the advice I was given was to shade the hot side of the RV as best we could and bring the slides in. We did have a tarp and a sunshade that we put about a 45° angle that really did make a difference in helping our AC, but moving the slide in helped too as it removed that much volume in the RV that the AC had to keep cool.

Best advice I'll give, move. Get out of the heat or try to find shade, but moving is the easiest right now.

[wapiticountry]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
People that live in dry heat ditch compressors and freon, period.


.

Maybe in Mexico. I have a home in Palm Springs, CA. It's easy to keep the interior at 74 degrees when it is 115 outside with a normal air conditioner. And it takes my car and SUV only a couple of minutes to go from blister your hands hot to cold enough to hang meat.
The key on the home is to not let the temperature rise significantly. I have low E windows and keep the shades partially drawn. I keep the thermostat constant so the system only has to hold the current temperature, not cool the house down during the heat of the day.
The only evaporative cooling you see anywhere is on golf carts, patios and other outdoor areas. Misting systems are common in these uses. As for swamp coolers, you only see them in warehouses, auto garages and other poorly insulated structures that are need to be open to the outside as a course of business.

[time2roll]

wa8yxm wrote:
The advanced system will use condensate (Water distilled by the A/C itself) when I get it built But I'm not there yet. other things first. (I am parked in the campground attached to a body shop)

Once this job is paid for I will look for a 'run dry' Pump to suck up the condensate and put it where I want it

The method I have seen is the condensate is directed to the condenser fan and the shroud had a channel that directed the condensate into the blades to throw the water and help cool the condenser. This was a through the wall home unit so the air was pushed through the condenser. Best of luck with your project.

[wa8yxm]

wildtoad wrote:
You’re going to spray water inside?

Not on mine but basicaly yes.
The advanced system will use condensate (Water distilled by the A/C itself) when I get it built But I'm not there yet. other things first. (I am parked in the campground attached to a body shop)

Once this job is paid for I will look for a 'run dry' Pump to suck up the condensate and put it where I want it

[midnightsadie]

I live in ohio ,and my brother inlaw say move to tempe. it is nice there in feb.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

In a small car with a superb A/c when I came through Lukeville AZ in 2010, the interior of the car was 107F. The outside temp was 122F+ unless of course a person doubts my Ashcroft lab mechamical thermometer. In your wildest dreams you cannot imagine the brutal effects of such a temp. Roll down the window and yell with pain. It's like holding your hand in front of a hair dryer. Under a shed roof pass through the Border Patrol had six of the largest swamp coolers I have ever seen.

A dial type thermometer read 117F.

Unless you have experienced temps like that my advice is to remain humble. It is frightening. When I passed by the hotel parking lot thermometer it read 101F one minute past midnight.

[schlep1967]

With an old unit my suggestion would be to hire a local to get up on the roof and clean the coils. If the air can't flow through the coils it can't get cool. Depending on your unit you should be able to see one of the coils from inside the unit, Pull out the filters and shine a light up into the unit. If you still can't see you might need to remove a few screws and take the inside cover off. My guess is the coil above the filters looks just like the filters do when they need cleaned.

[ksg5000]

I compare the exit temp of my air conditioner with the overall interior temp -- if it's close to 20 then I know it's about as good as it gets. Keep the rig in the shade and use window covers etc.

As others have said - Phoenix in the summer isn't RV friendly. Drove through Phoenix during the summer in the 70's with my old VW bug - thought the tires would melt. Never returned.