Black vs White

[Calicajun]

Just went camping at Calico Ghost Town in Barstow, CA with temps up to 105 degrees. The A/C ran all day and only brought the trailer temp down to 81 degrees.
While outside I looked up and noticed the A/C cover is black and not white like our last two trailers. I'm wondering it a white cover would help the A/C unit cool better and not work as hard?

[Calicajun]

We were parked broadside to the morning sun but did have a nice shade tree blocking the evening sun. You could sure tell a difference from no shade to when the sun hit the shade tree.
I did go through the trailer and tapped off all the places cold air could leak out. Don't know if it will make a difference but I feel a bit better about it anyway. 🙂 Still thinking about painting or insulating the AC cover. I really need to get a job again before I end up making the TT to heavy to tow. 🙂

[carringb]

Calicajun wrote:

My first thought was this trailer (2775RB) is three feet longer with two slide outs than our last trailer with no slide outs. The extra size would make a difference in cooling which I'm sure it does but the wife said the old trailer had a 15,000 btu unit. Forgot about the larger unit we had installed.??

Thanks for the tips,
Craig ??

Most trailers have very poor insulation on the slides. Many don't even insulate the underside. Slide toppers will keep the direct sun off the tops of the slideouts, which probably only have 1" of foam.

[TomG2]

Shade is the biggest factor, that is why I put up a RV carport in South Texas. My bare roof temperature went from 131 degrees Fahrenheit to 95 degrees simply by parking in the shade. The inside cooled accordingly. The other thing that I like is having a non-ducted unit. I can take my small trailer down to 65 degrees on a 95 degree day if I like.

[HappyTrails2U2]

Having spent the last 5 years in the hot sun in Mississippi and Georgia in our travel trailer the direction that you park your trailer will have a big impact on how well your A/C cools. We spent a year parked broadside to the evening sun without shade near Jackson, MS where that summer the temperature reached over 100 degrees for something like 35 days in a row and the 15K A/C unit struggled to get the temperature in the low 80s.

After that we tried to make sure we were parked with one end or the other of the trailer aimed toward the afternoon sun not broadside. It was the difference between night and day. In 100 degree days parked with the end toward the afternoon sun the unit didn't struggle at all to keep it cool inside and would actually cut off time to time.

Of course parking in the shade will keep you cool but I'd rather fight the heat as tree sap on my trailer anyday. We tried that once and once was enough. Pine tar is nearly impossible to get off.

[Slate_CM]

rbpru wrote:
I believe my manual indicates that AC will cool about 15 degrees below the outside temp.

I think I read something similar. I was in the Seattle area last week with a record streak of temps well into the 90s.

My AC unit is also black. With the thermostat set to 80, it would get somewhat cooler inside. But after a while it seemed to just run but not provide any more cooling.

There were 4 RVs in back of my BIL's house. He had test outlets so we would all be on separate breakers since everyone wanted AC.

Yes, I blurred the plates. There were some new friends so not sure if they would want them shown.

IMG_20150703_134135956

[hohenwald48]

hawkeye-08 wrote:
In the video mentioned above, the narrator talks about putting some inserts in to fix some oversize bolt holes (previously stripped out). It appears to me that those inserts would just pull out when the screws are tightened to hold the cover up. I think they need to be on the other side to work as designed..

Sealing up ducts is good practice. So far, our 13.5 unit keeps up fine, but have not been in the direct sun with temps above 100 this year. Last year it was in the mid to high 90s and cooled fine.

Look to me like the standard plastic inserts made for screws in sheetrock. If so they will expand as the screws are threaded in. I never use them for sheetrock but they actually might do a pretty good job in plywood if it's not too thick.

[hawkeye-08]

In the video mentioned above, the narrator talks about putting some inserts in to fix some oversize bolt holes (previously stripped out). It appears to me that those inserts would just pull out when the screws are tightened to hold the cover up. I think they need to be on the other side to work as designed..

Sealing up ducts is good practice. So far, our 13.5 unit keeps up fine, but have not been in the direct sun with temps above 100 this year. Last year it was in the mid to high 90s and cooled fine.

[dspencer]

Something you might try is reflectix, I just came back from 9 days in south Texas with temps in the upper 90's and my 13,500 btu AC done a great job. I had it in all the windows. I realize your higher yet in temps but it sure couldn't hurt. I think it would be well worth the small investment.

[hohenwald48]

I made silver "bubble wrap" (Refletex) custom covers to fit all of my windows. They really help. You can get the wrap in the insulation department of any of the big box home improvement stores. Of course it's always better if you can stop the sun before it gets inside the RV so keeping all your awnings out and anything else you can do to create shade on the side of the RV will help too.

[rbpru]

I believe my manual indicates that AC will cool about 15 degrees below the outside temp.

[RedRocket204]

WayneAt63044 wrote:
Good video and I'm gonna check mine. But I'm thinking a silicon caulk where the air leaks between the cold output and hot return will hold up better than tape with adhesive on it. It seems that adhesive glues always let go with heat and any stick on material will suffer the same fate as the adhesive liquifies. One man's opinion.

Aluminum ducting tape is quite sticky stuff and seems to stay put. I have had my roll of aluminum duct tape (this is not standard fabric duct tape) for some time now and all applications of it has held extremely well. Granted, it has not always been exposed to high temps other than central heating during the winter, stick and brick house. We'll see how well it holds on my TT but aluminum duct tape is significantly better than fabric duct tape. Just make sure there are multiple overlapping layers applied as you are sealing off different areas.


Other... it is surprising how bad the seals can be on RV AC ducting can be. I was shocked but also realize that because of multiple years of movement, the bad seals will only get worse. Seems our AC used to work sufficiently but progressively got worse over the years. Had I maintained keeping the seals sealed up good, my AC would probably not have had to work as hard over the years. Also of note, just because a RV is new, doesn't mean the seals are sealed correctly. As the AC unit ages, the fins will accumulate dirt and bends further stressing the unit. Everything will help to get the AC unit functioning its best.

Well, at least I am in the know now.

[dahkota]

My last tt had white covers. We were in Phoenix, AZ last June in 110 degree temps. My white shrouded A/Cs couldn't get the temps below 80 either. It is the direct sunlight that is a problem, more than the color of the A/C covers. RVs are tin boxes. Park them in the sun, they get hot fast. We used this to our advantage during the winter.

[Calicajun]

Like the idea from the video. Will look into taping the A/C unit and maybe a white insulated cover for the top of the trailer.

My first thought was this trailer (2775RB) is three feet longer with two slide outs than our last trailer with no slide outs. The extra size would make a difference in cooling which I'm sure it does but the wife said the old trailer had a 15,000 btu unit. Forgot about the larger unit we had installed.??

Thanks for the tips,
Craig ??

[93Cobra2771]

RedRocket204 wrote:
Watch this video, it is only 2:24 long and WILL have an impact on your trailer's cooling if you attempt to correct the problems. When I did mine, the air distribution increased by a lot. Hard to tell how much better the return is, but the cooling is substantially better now. Very easy for anyone to do, just a little time consuming to do it right.

youtube - All Seasons Mobile RV Repair. RV AC not cooling properly

Beat me to it. I actually inspected mine (before I had even seen the video) and was surprised at the poor sealing between the hot side and cold side. Used half a roll of duct tape sealing things up like they should be. This was over a year ago.

Inspected again this weekend while the unit was running (do not stick your hands way up in the return!). Just felt around for areas that had unusual cold air movement. Found several places where cold air was simply shooting into the return. Pulled out my trusty tape once again. Wish I had a wind speed anemometer so I could have checked the vent air flow to see the difference (if any) in vented air.

I also inspected the last duct on each end of the system. What I found was even though the duct was last, the ductwork extended to the end of the trailer on each side. In other words, dead headed the duct. So, I blocked off the end of the duct just past the vent. That made a significant difference in airflow on those last ducts, IMO. Granted, no official before and after measurements, but I definitely felt a difference.

Finally, somewhere on here is a post where a guy insulated his cover on the inside and did report a slight decrease in output air temps. IMO, insulation around the metal box would be more effective than the cover but who knows? It certainly can't hurt to keep the unit as cool as possible.