What have you done to remove engine heat?

[C&H from NorCal]

Our coach has always had a problem with excessive engine heat in the bedroom..(I know guys that's an opening for a LOT of jokes, and I have heard enough of them).

WRV originally positioned the underbed insulation too far forward leaving about 3" of the aft edge of the bedsupport platform uninsulated.

The bed mattress would get so hot you couldn't sleep on it. The pillows would feel like they had been in an oven. It even turned the carpet material on the bed platform black and melted the glue holding the carpet to the sides of the platform.

When you walk past the refrigerator into the bathroom area you can feel the temperature go up.

I have resorted to driving with the engine compartment door open and the two bedroom windows open to draw out the engine heat.

I have considered installing a louvered vent grill on the back of the coach either in the engine door itself or near the top of the rear cap.

When I brought this to the attention of WRV on a couple of occassions they would act like I was the only person who had ever mentioned the subject up and once told me that Cummins said the heat wouldn't affect the engine. I laughed and asked what Cummins had to do with the human comfort level INSIDE the coach?

I know of one other couple that has been looking into installing a louvered vent.

Has anyone come up with any other solutions or ideas?

Thanks

Harold

[C&H from NorCal]

Our coach has always had a problem with excessive engine heat in the bedroom..(I know guys that's an opening for a LOT of jokes, and I have heard enough of them).

WRV originally positioned the underbed insulation too far forward leaving about 3" of the aft edge of the bedsupport platform uninsulated.

The bed mattress would get so hot you couldn't sleep on it. The pillows would feel like they had been in an oven. It even turned the carpet material on the bed platform black and melted the glue holding the carpet to the sides of the platform.

When you walk past the refrigerator into the bathroom area you can feel the temperature go up.

I have resorted to driving with the engine compartment door open and the two bedroom windows open to draw out the engine heat.

I have considered installing a louvered vent grill on the back of the coach either in the engine door itself or near the top of the rear cap.

When I brought this to the attention of WRV on a couple of occassions they would act like I was the only person who had ever mentioned the subject up and once told me that Cummins said the heat wouldn't affect the engine. I laughed and asked what Cummins had to do with the human comfort level INSIDE the coach?

I know of one other couple that has been looking into installing a louvered vent.

Has anyone come up with any other solutions or ideas?

Thanks

Harold

[OldForester]

In our 2006 36 MD we wait till we stop for the evening, then open the engine access door in the rear and the side doors in the rear passenger side that access the air filter and oil dipstick, and the battery comparment, and leave them open for a couple hours before we go to bed. We find this helps a lot.

On a hot day, we also run the roof air conditioners on the generator the last 45 minutes or hour before we stop. It exercises the generator and gets the bedroom and coach cool. We shut off the generator just before we hooke up external AC so we only have a very short (no more than 3 minutes) delay getting air in the rear bedroom.

Finally we changed out our bed for a Temperpedic bed like we have at home. This high density foam/lower density foam combo provides a lot of insulation between the engine compartment and the bed.

All of this does the job for us, even in 100 degree+ days.

[dgerstel]

Harold,

I would look for damage or problems in the insulation over the motor. I had few complaints of engine heat in our 2002 34fdds, while I have done extensive work to out present coach to cure the heat problem.

[EngineerMike]

That's only a problem for us in the summer. The heat in the bed is great in the winter. For summer we make sure to arrive 3 hrs min. prior to bed time, pull down the bed covers on arrival & open the rear hatch. Then Beefeater's shaken vigorously, in a chilled glass, with a twist. Works sweet.

[Cardsfan]

We found the bed in our '98 Alpine extremely warm when we bought it four years ago on times when we drove late into the evening, and went to bed soon after parking. We easily solved the problem by having a 3/4" plywood board cut to the size of the bed, and screwed to the top of the bed frame support panels. It's covered with the same type of cloth material that's found as a liner in some of the shelves. It has rigid insulation on the underside in the engine compartment. We can stop the coach and go to bed without any heat transfer as we previously had.