Poor insulation? A/C can't keep up.

[Foothiller]

We have many experiences in the West where our two A/C's can't maintain a 78 degree temperature. The solar heat load is generally very high out here, that combined with high air temps our rig is often challenged. Twenty years ago our Carriage rig did fine with one A/C, but we may have avoided the hotter areas. Here's what we've done to get things under control with outside air temps in the high 90's:
* Reflectix between the BLACK shades and the windows (black may look cool, but is a terrible choice as it absorbs heat and transfers it to the interior).
* Insulation pads in both ceiling vent openings.
* Run both A/Cs with the bedroom set to 72. The main A/C came with airflow installed, air dump is closed.
* Both A/Cs (Coleman 15 and a 13.5)have a decent in-to-out temperature differential based on the Coleman specs.
* 12" fan blowing air from the bedroom towards the great room.
* If the trailer has gotten hot during travel, we leave one popout in, both if possible.
Over 100 degrees, the rig just gets hot. We've left the rig and stayed in a motel at times.

The specs on our rig claim decent insulation (R30 main floor, R40 roof, R9 walls). Some wall portions are not insulated: the back of the front and rear high cabinets get very hot. There are lots of windows which are at best R1 and I'm guessing the the popout roof/floor are at best R9.

I think that I'd need a lot of propane to sit out a blizzard in this rig.

Any ideas?

[jkwilson]

If it’s not windy, your awning can be a big help to keep the sun from heating the side of the trailer.

Tops of the slides are particularly bad about heating things up as they aren’t insulated. Slide toppers will shade them, or just a piece of foil backed foam insulation sitting on top can be a big help.

Your furnace air return is a direct path to the basement and can be a source of heat. Block it off when using AC. I don’t know specifically where yours is, but it’s in the toe kick for the hutch in other rigs with similar floor plans.

Air conditioner assembly can leave something to be desired. Take the faceplate off and make sure nothing is restricting air from flowing where it is supposed to go and nothing is open to let it go where it shouldn’t.

[Foothiller]

Thanks JK.

We do use the awnings whenever we can - the shade makes a difference. The furnace return is a good pointer - toe kick under the "coffee bar." I looked at putting toppers on, but there didn't seem to be enough room to mount them on the sidewall before the roof starts - there's a gutter there. When we're back in our semi-permanent spot I'll try to insulate the tops of the slides.

[geotex1]

At peak performance, campers only cool to about 20 deg below ambient temp. Put the RV Airflow in the forward unit too and keep its thermostat a few degrees cooler. Make sure all interior room doors are open, closet closed, and all basement storage closed. When it's going to be a roaster, bring the inside temperature down, way down overnight. Break out the blankets if you need so that you have that "reserve." All ingress and egress needs to be quick and efficient.

[el Rojo]

Install the RV Airflow system. These will keep cool air from escaping to the outside. If you have a dump option (for air) on your AC you don't have them.

Red

[OurNewEra]

Thanks JK.

We do use the awnings whenever we can - the shade makes a difference. The furnace return is a good pointer - toe kick under the "coffee bar." I looked at putting toppers on, but there didn't seem to be enough room to mount them on the sidewall before the roof starts - there's a gutter there. When we're back in our semi-permanent spot I'll try to insulate the tops of the slides.

As for toppers . . . if you installed them the rain gutter could be replaced with the track for the topper connection to the side wall. If you have a topper you don't need a gutter above the slide. Or if you wanted a bit more slope the topper track could be installed above the gutter. I can attest that you do get a good bit of heat through the top of the slide. Our pantry gets hot enough that we have to be careful what we store on the top shelf, paper products only.

I'm sure there are other Reflection owners that have had slide toppers installed.

[Foothiller]

As for toppers . . . if you installed them the rain gutter could be replaced with the track for the topper connection to the side wall. If you have a topper you don't need a gutter above the slide. Or if you wanted a bit more slope the topper track could be installed above the gutter. I can attest that you do get a good bit of heat through the top of the slide. Our pantry gets hot enough that we have to be careful what we store on the top shelf, paper products only.

I'm sure there are other Reflection owners that have had slide toppers installed.

There's not enough room above the gutter, but maybe replacing the gutter is an option that wouldn't look trashy. That's more installation work than I would take on. If I could find somebody willing and competent to do it, I'd probably sign up. Of course we're on a five month journey so any work is complicated. It'd be nice to hear from a 295RL owner who has done it.

I figure that, at best, the slide roof is R9. I'll have to use my IR thermometer to map temperatures in various spots when I get back to the heat. We're on the cool Pacific coast for a while.

[Foothiller]

At peak performance, campers only cool to about 20 deg below ambient temp. Put the RV Airflow in the forward unit too and keep its thermostat a few degrees cooler. Make sure all interior room doors are open, closet closed, and all basement storage closed. When it's going to be a roaster, bring the inside temperature down, way down overnight. Break out the blankets if you need so that you have that "reserve." All ingress and egress needs to be quick and efficient.

20 degrees is really problematic. The A/C does get a 20 degree drop between return and supply but if the rig is going to "leak" 15k+13.5k BTUs, then we're stuck. Areas all around the west are getting heat spells with high temps 105 and above. We do most of what you said. The bedroom unit cools really well because of the small space even though some of its air goes to the great room through the ducts; dump is closed, the unit just feeds the ducts and I don't see a cavity where airflow would go.

The major problem occurs when we move: hours in the heat warms up the trailer and on a hot day it cannot recover. Traveling early is a fine idea, but many parks have a 1pm check-in. A generator would help, but we couldn't handle the extra weight. Oh well.

[OurNewEra]

There's not enough room above the gutter, but maybe replacing the gutter is an option that wouldn't look trashy. That's more installation work than I would take on. If I could find somebody willing and competent to do it, I'd probably sign up. Of course we're on a five month journey so any work is complicated. It'd be nice to hear from a 295RL owner who has done it.

I figure that, at best, the slide roof is R9. I'll have to use my IR thermometer to map temperatures in various spots when I get back to the heat. We're on the cool Pacific coast for a while.

Use your 5 month journey to head east, east, east. We left Calif in 1997 and have never looked back! At least in Florida a real feel over 100 is NORMAL and expected. Good luck with the cooling. As others have said 20 degree differential is optimum and a comfortable indoor temperature may not be attainable with the current outdoor weather.

[jkwilson]

20 degrees is really problematic. The A/C does get a 20 degree drop between return and supply but if the rig is going to "leak" 15k+13.5k BTUs, then we're stuck. Areas all around the west are getting heat spells with high temps 105 and above. We do most of what you said. The bedroom unit cools really well because of the small space even though some of its air goes to the great room through the ducts; dump is closed, the unit just feeds the ducts and I don't see a cavity where airflow would go.

The major problem occurs when we move: hours in the heat warms up the trailer and on a hot day it cannot recover. Traveling early is a fine idea, but many parks have a 1pm check-in. A generator would help, but we couldn't handle the extra weight. Oh well.

Do you have vent covers to let you travel with vents open? Might help some.