Can A/C Handle Living in Las Vegas/Desert Climate

[crayner]

We are considering relocating to the Las Vegas area and are wondering if the A/C in our 2019 Grand Design Solitude will be able to handle the brutal summer temperatures of 105 and above? We also are concerned about the Norcold refrigerator being able to cool efficiently in this climate. Currently we are on a 30 amp circuit where we live in California and both the A/C and refrigerator struggle even at temperatures around 85 or above so I am not sure if when we switch to 50 amp this will improve?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[A.Texas.Yankee]

30amp vs 50amp will not change efficiency of your A/C or Refrigerator capability. If they struggled before they will struggle even more.



Newly full timing in our 2021 Momentum 395MS-R with our tow pig being a 2021 F-450 KR

[livinthelife]

We are considering relocating to the Las Vegas area and are wondering if the A/C in our 2019 Grand Design Solitude will be able to handle the brutal summer temperatures of 105 and above? We also are concerned about the Norcold refrigerator being able to cool efficiently in this climate. Currently we are on a 30 amp circuit where we live in California and both the A/C and refrigerator struggle even at temperatures around 85 or above so I am not sure if when we switch to 50 amp this will improve?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

We were just in Las Vegas and the fridge didn't do well in the extreme hot weather. Tried, as much as possible, to keep awning out over the fridge slide, but the windy conditions there meant that it wasn't covered much of the afternoon (that's when it was the windiest).

The AC (2 of them) just managed to keep up, but I'd hate to have them both running all day and night as they did for just the overnight we did there.

[CaptPicardo]

We are considering relocating to the Las Vegas area and are wondering if the A/C in our 2019 Grand Design Solitude will be able to handle the brutal summer temperatures of 105 and above? We also are concerned about the Norcold refrigerator being able to cool efficiently in this climate. Currently we are on a 30 amp circuit where we live in California and both the A/C and refrigerator struggle even at temperatures around 85 or above so I am not sure if when we switch to 50 amp this will improve?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hi Crayner, here's a video from 7 days ago that may help to answer your question: https://changinglanesrv.com/rving-in-extreme-heat/.

This is a momentum vs. solitude but same setup except they have 3 ACs and Chad installed those RV high efficiency ducts early this year. That video is on their site as well.

We haven't got that hot in Wyoming or Montana yet...only 104. Our Norcold did break and I had to replace the thermostat on our outdoor coil and the Thermistor in the inside of the fridge. I also installed much bigger fan in the lower access panel of the fridge. She's doing well since.

[crayner]

Great information! Thank you so much for sharing it! It is interesting to see that so many people are living full time in their RV's in the brutal heat in Las Vegas so I'm just wondering how they survive it....the video you shared gave some great tips....thanks again!

[crayner]

Thank you for your reply.....we will continue to look for a good solution to surviving the desert heat!

[crayner]

Thank you for sharing your experience! We were in Las Vegas during the 4th of July weekend and during the intense heat wave they were having where the temps were 112 and above. During our visit we went to several RV parks that we are considering living in once we relocate and it is amazing to see how many people are making it work somehow with the brutal heat! Thanks again for your reply!

[traveldawg]

We spent 10 days there this summer with temps up to 108 degrees. I didn't think 2 ACs, which only stopped running in the evening, could keep up with a temp much cooler than 78 degrees.

I have the air "deflector" installed in the main unit.

Lots of folks in the park we were in had sunshade fabric dropped or "tented" over the sunny side of the RV, lots more had the foil in their windows (seemed to defeat the purpose of windows), lots more RVs were empty, I assumed those folks choose to leave that heat.

Maybe you can find a full time park that allows some sort of port or cover over the RV pad.

Finally - be sure the park you choose has really good power in that brutal summer heat (like 115v at least) on BOTH legs of their power. Ours didn't.

[openrangeowners]

We were in Big Bend National Park in July (103 degree days) and we did fine. The 50 amp service at our campsite tripped immediately so I hooked to 30 amp. We ran both ACs and cooled off everything (fridge on gas). During our second day we went hiking and left one AC on (afraid if the breaker at the site tripped it would then cause our inverter to overload if 2 ACs were left on). The camper was 79 degrees when we returned at 2pm (the bedroom was 95 degrees but we shut the door to it and the bathroom). We turned on the 2nd AC and it cooled the camper down to the upper 70's during the day and then down to low 70's (setpoint) as soon as the sun set.

The fridge did get above 40 degrees that day. I have since added a Titan fan kit to the upper outside vent area. Now the fridge stays at 34 degrees and the freezer stays at -2 to +10 degrees. I also added a piece of 2" rigid foam to the area above the fridge vent and below the inside shelf above the fridge. This prevents hot air from collecting in this area and forces more air out the vents. Also keeps the shelf from heating up inside.

We have a single RV Airflow installed on our living room AC. We did not install one in the bedroom. Our camper came with 2 15K AC units although most S-class models have a 13.5K in the bedroom.

[Markb777]

We are considering relocating to the Las Vegas area and are wondering if the A/C in our 2019 Grand Design Solitude will be able to handle the brutal summer temperatures of 105 and above? We also are concerned about the Norcold refrigerator being able to cool efficiently in this climate. Currently we are on a 30 amp circuit where we live in California and both the A/C and refrigerator struggle even at temperatures around 85 or above so I am not sure if when we switch to 50 amp this will improve?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

You will quickly find that 105 is not really "brutal" to those of us who live in this wonderful Mojave Desert, aka Las Vegas. The reason many of us live here is actually BECAUSE it's so sunny and warm.

Not sure how many AC unit's you have but I'm assuming at least 2. They will not have a problem keeping up with our heat and you will be very comfortable inside your Solitude. As far as the Norcold, it's not going to work. I got rid of mine and put in a residential fridge, 3 BattleBorn batteries, inverter, etc. I found that the Norcold (even with 10 fans running inside and out) would not keep anything cool if the ambient temps were above 85 on a consistent basis.

Bottom line, you will be cool but your fridge will not! Oh, and after a summer or two here you may even find that "brutal" temps only occur a few days a year on average. 105 and 1% humidity is delightful. Yes, you read that correctly, I have an expensive calibrated weather station at home and see 1% several days a year.