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Old 11-14-2013, 07:59 AM   #1
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Prevent Heat Loss

I suspect this has been discussed before but my searches aren't turning up much...

I do not expect that my 1994 Pace Arrow is a model of efficiency. With that understood, I'm curious about easy mods I can make to retain some of the warm air for cold weather camping. Cold weather, in my case, is 25-50 degrees.

Some of the items that I wonder about (that fall into the easy category) are:
1. Roof mounted air conditioners. Are these leaking heat? Should they be "winterized" by plugging the air flow somehow?
2. Roof air vents. Obviously a leak. The "pillow" type solutions won't work for me. I may come up with some sort of removable "cover" (from the inside).

What else have people done to retain heat??
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Old 11-14-2013, 08:20 AM   #2
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JFNM....I took some of the blue foam insulation board you can buy at LOWES and cut it to size for my roof vent area and use velcro to place the foam up there. I can remove it as needed and place it behind my couch.
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Old 11-14-2013, 08:41 AM   #3
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I will tack on and ask how folks block the microwave/stove vent? I'm not seeing something obvious between the outer wall vent and the cold air it lets in. LOL
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Old 11-14-2013, 07:51 PM   #4
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Lowes and HD sell aluminum insulation in rolls that can be cut to size to put in the windows. We use it in florida to keep the heat out and it works great
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Old 11-14-2013, 08:20 PM   #5
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Quote:
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Lowes and HD sell aluminum insulation in rolls that can be cut to size to put in the windows. We use it in florida to keep the heat out and it works great
2x On this, but I mainly did it to block the light. We have "camp" at Walmart while traveling, and this really helped block the parking lot, and car lights. I labeled them with a sharpie, store the along the wall in the dinette when not in use.

When I upgraded the front TV, I found the front cap did not have any insulation, so I added some fiberglass insulation.
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Old 11-14-2013, 09:54 PM   #6
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The AC doesn't leak air in or out, it cools the inside air by sucking it in and blowing it back out. The walls for the most part aren't thick enough to get enough R-Value insulation to keep heat loss to a minimum.
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Old 11-15-2013, 06:16 AM   #7
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The AC doesn't leak air in or out, it cools the inside air by sucking it in and blowing it back out. The walls for the most part aren't thick enough to get enough R-Value insulation to keep heat loss to a minimum.
If I understand correctly, there is no chance that warm air from inside the MH is rising into the AC unit where it is exposed to the very cold metal components (basically at outside air temp) where the air is cooled and then descends back into the MH. Correct??
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Old 11-15-2013, 06:26 AM   #8
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JFNM: I have a serious suspicion that heat does leak from our AC systems out ...The metal chassis up on the roof that the blower housing is fashioned is a great heat sink. If I had a thermal IR tool I could sit outside my RV on these chilly evenings (24F) and see what the release up around the AC units look like on my older rig. I do not....but I do not make an effort to shield that area of my MH either....it would be a tack on shrink wrap type of job if I decided to do that. Like that which is sold for windows....
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Old 11-15-2013, 07:08 AM   #9
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Quote:
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JFNM....I took some of the blue foam insulation board you can buy at LOWES and cut it to size for my roof vent area and use velcro to place the foam up there. I can remove it as needed and place it behind my couch.
Thanks Craig. I'm imagining something similar. Some sort of insulated cover that can be easily removed. Call me Martha Stewart but would like something that looks like it belongs (or at least doesn't stand out). Probably over-engineering but was thinking of using T-nuts in the ceiling (new/additional holes) to hold the insulated cover in place.
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Old 11-15-2013, 07:12 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by djbmsu View Post
Lowes and HD sell aluminum insulation in rolls that can be cut to size to put in the windows. We use it in florida to keep the heat out and it works great
Thanks for the tip Don, I will check it out.
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Old 11-15-2013, 07:21 AM   #11
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When I upgraded the front TV, I found the front cap did not have any insulation, so I added some fiberglass insulation.
I have the same issue Charlie. My cap seems to have an inner liner. Did you place the insulation between the cap and the liner or is it (the insulation) exposed to the inside?
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Old 11-15-2013, 07:24 AM   #12
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when parked in really hot weather, while AC is running, I crack open a roof vent and have that fan on low. Heat rises, and this helps pull that rising heat out. Seems to work for me!
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Old 11-15-2013, 08:28 AM   #13
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Here are a few things we did to our 04 Coachman class A gasser.
1) drooped sleeping bags over the dash board to the floor. Unbelievable the amount of cold air that was under the sleeping bags that would come through the dash area. We would store 12 packs under there & they were just about as cold as if in the frig.

2) laid our inflatable sleeping pads up against the walls to help with the R factor.

3) My DW made a curtian that would fit across the skylight. She held the curtian up with 2 small curtian rods that would hook & hold the curtian up. She would place a pillow between the curtian & the skylight. You could do this with the insulation & the a/c unit also.

4) Don't for get the basement. We used a incandescent light in a caged drop light in the water bay.

We try to use things we already have that are not currently in use.
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Old 11-15-2013, 09:20 AM   #14
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If you have day/night shades. I cut the insulation tubing ( usually grey in color and different sizes) and placed them on the window ledge between the ledge and where the day/night shades come down. There is a small gap there and this insulation tubing blocks a ton of cold air from the window frame. I did this to all our LR windows. What a difference it made. I also bought padding, like a lightweight mat and cut it to size and attached it to our bedroom window (at the head of the bed) in front of the day/night shade. Blocked tons of cold air that came in on our shoulders at night. I take it down when it warms up after the coldest part of the winter has passed. It of course blocks the light, but I prefer dark when I sleep.
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