Black vs White

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. :)

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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