Extreme Measures for Extreme Heat

Taking a clue from the Wynns, I used painters tape and reflective bubble insulation to help keep the RV cooler from the west sun. The outside surface of the RV was reaching 160 degrees. It's much more comfortable in the afternoon and early evening--well worth the effort and expense. One roll of 25' x 48" and one roll of 25' x 24" insulation and one 66-yard roll of tape.

rxbristol said:

Taking a clue from the Wynns, I used painters tape and reflective bubble insulation to help keep the RV cooler from the west sun. The outside surface of the RV was reaching 160 degrees. It's much more comfortable in the afternoon and early evening--well worth the effort and expense. One roll of 25' x 48" and one roll of 25' x 24" insulation and one 66-yard roll of tape.

View attachment 39119

Click to expand...

My experience with painters tape is that it will start to stick too much if left on too long. Sorry don't know the timing. Automotive paint should be better than Interior latex paint.

Thanks...will keep an eye on it.

Ya that tape is going to leave a mess for sure, especially if it's baking in the sun :/

jesstalkn said:

Ya that tape is going to leave a mess for sure, especially if it's baking in the sun :/

Click to expand...

I'm keeping an eye on the tape...we'll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.

I really don't know my tapes, but it looks like a good idea to me. I doubt the residue will be to hard to get off.

Last summer my mom and I made curtains for the windows. I used pre-made thermal-backed curtains, cut down to lengths I needed, and used tension rods to hold them in the box valence at the top of the window. They really help cut the heat, and if you want to see out, easy to push aside and open the shade.

We made ones for the bedroom with true black-out material and a nice heavy curtain fabric. It's so dark, you can't tell it's daylight! Works even better than the others.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

TravelTiger said:

Last summer my mom and I made curtains for the windows. I used pre-made thermal-backed curtains, cut down to lengths I needed, and used tension rods to hold them in the box valence at the top of the window. They really help cut the heat, and if you want to see out, easy to push aside and open the shade.View attachment 39120

We made ones for the bedroom with true black-out material and a nice heavy curtain fabric. It's so dark, you can't tell it's daylight! Works even better than the others. View attachment 39121


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Very nice.

We used thermal window tint on the inside with the MCD shades. The tint helps keep the heat out as does the MCD shades. Also does not detract from the appearance from the coach. Many parks will not allow you to attach aluminum panels to the outside.

Great idea. Looks good too. Do you have day/night shades under curtains?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

phix said:

Great idea. Looks good too. Do you have day/night shades under curtains?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

We have the MCD shades/solar blinds. We just had our last 100 degree plus day for at least a week. I've seen 100+ degrees here in October. One more summer after this one before this job ends and we start traveling for cooler summer weather.

phix said:

Great idea. Looks good too. Do you have day/night shades under curtains?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

If this question was for me, In our ElkRidge we have what I would call combo shades. You can get light through them, but can't see out of them.

They do not block the heat hardly at all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

3 15k ac units on full blast....bout all I've found that makes family happy...shades down, inside of ac hoods lined with reflective foil (they are black)...the garage ain't insulated for nada....but it stays pretty cool even in patio door mode.....haven't tried cold weather yet...so we will see!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

TravelTiger said:

If this question was for me, In our ElkRidge we have what I would call combo shades. You can get light through them, but can't see out of them. View attachment 39158View attachment 39159

They do not block the heat hardly at all.

Click to expand...

We have those same shades in our Prowler.

I like them much better than the aluminum blinds we had in our Trail Runner, however, the big one on our back window only goes up about a foot . . . waiting for a new one from our dealership!

Our cats don't mess with these new ones, either . . . they were always pawing open the aluminum ones!

We do the same thing with the foil bubble insulation, except we cut the insulation slightly larger than our interior windows and fit them on the inside. Much faster, less work to put up and take down, no tape, and no complaints from neighbors.

We are in the same situation here right now with temps at 102* to 105* with higher heat index. My wife used Reflextix on the inside of the three dual pane windows we have on the West side that the sun hits full in the afternoons. We have full shade until about 1:00. With both AC units on high we could do no better than about 82* during full sun. Now after we had our bedroom AC unit replaced a little over a week ago and I saw how poorly the cold air side of the duct work was connected to the air box I knew how much cold air we were losing into the ceiling area. I was able to make repairs and seal it all up before we installed the new AC unit and now have much more cold air coming out in the bedroom.

After seeing how poorly the bedroom duct work was connected at the bedroom AC it was bothering me that the living room AC was the same way. So I ordered a new gasket and Saturday I removed the living room AC and to my surprise the connection at the outlet side was worse than the bedroom AC unit. The gap across the top of the vent connection had a 3/4" gap where cold air was blowing into the ceiling area. I was able to get all the tabs bent over and sealed everything with aluminum AC tape and after getting everything back in place we have much more cold air flow out of the living room AC. With the temp at 104* yesterday afternoon we were able to keep the inside at 78* so that shows me how much cold air was being lost into the ceiling cavity.

Another area we had issues with heat was the bedroom closet. My wife noticed how hot the area around the built in shoe rack was so I pulled it out and there was zero insulation behind it. We have the Yeti package so there was just the Reflectix wrap behind it and that was it. The rest of the area behind the front cap was insulated as you can see back there with the shoe rack out. I was able to add 3" of batt insulation to it and glued 3" to the back and sides of the shoe rack and re-installed. No more heat from that area and I know it has to help in the Winter as well. Just a couple of things we have done to increase the comfort in our unit. As hot as it is here right now every little bit helps.

Hunter11 said:

We are in the same situation here right now with temps at 102* to 105* with higher heat index. My wife used Reflextix on the inside of the three dual pane windows we have on the West side that the sun hits full in the afternoons. We have full shade until about 1:00. With both AC units on high we could do no better than about 82* during full sun. Now after we had our bedroom AC unit replaced a little over a week ago and I saw how poorly the cold air side of the duct work was connected to the air box I knew how much cold air we were losing into the ceiling area. I was able to make repairs and seal it all up before we installed the new AC unit and now have much more cold air coming out in the bedroom.

After seeing how poorly the bedroom duct work was connected at the bedroom AC it was bothering me that the living room AC was the same way. So I ordered a new gasket and Saturday I removed the living room AC and to my surprise the connection at the outlet side was worse than the bedroom AC unit. The gap across the top of the vent connection had a 3/4" gap where cold air was blowing into the ceiling area. I was able to get all the tabs bent over and sealed everything with aluminum AC tape and after getting everything back in place we have much more cold air flow out of the living room AC. With the temp at 104* yesterday afternoon we were able to keep the inside at 78* so that shows me how much cold air was being lost into the ceiling cavity.

Another area we had issues with heat was the bedroom closet. My wife noticed how hot the area around the built in shoe rack was so I pulled it out and there was zero insulation behind it. We have the Yeti package so there was just the Reflectix wrap and that was it. I was able to add 3" of batt insulation to it and glued 3" to the back of the shoe rack and re-installed. No more heat from that area and I know it has to help in the Winter as well. Just a couple of things we have done to increase the comfort in our unit. As hot as it is here right now every little bit helps.

Click to expand...

Great information...thanks for the post.