Community Forums

Guernsey · 06-20-2017, 05:51 PM

I have my Anthem parked inside an enclosed steel building. We have full hookups and 50 amp service. The weather is quite hot >100F and also the building. I walked in this afternoon and the AC's were all running. Zone 3 seemed to be blowing warm or cool air, but not cold air. Also I only have one slide extended. Does the enclosed building or closed slides create any problems?

Tall Tex · 06-20-2017, 06:20 PM

I keep mine in a metal building also. It is uninsulated and the roof is about 2 feet from the ac units. I do not try running the ac units because of the heat radiated from the roof of the building. I tried on my previous coach and had the same results you are having. The condenser coils need to have cooler air to be able to condense the Freon, if not the system will shut the compressor off due to high pressure and/or high temperature. During the summer here in San Antonio I have to move the coach outside if I want to stay in it.

Because of our hot summers we have become "heat birds" and head for cooler ambient temperatures every summer.

I hope this helps!

Matt D · 06-20-2017, 06:35 PM

Closed slides helps in terms of square feet to be cooled but may interfere with airflow.

Metal building with minimal fresh air is what hurts. Your A/C is trying to reject heat and is likely warming the garage which hurts cooling.

I experienced this while working on the roof, while the A/Cs were running. The temp inside the garage soared and the coach didn't cool well.

We don't run our A/C in storage.

Move outside and things will improve.

-Matt

mackpeteno · 06-20-2017, 06:48 PM

I keep mine in a large,17,000 ft old laundry building with no insulation.
My last motorhome,a Bounder got so hot it wrinkeled the guage numbers.This building has 4 large fan openings on the ends and it still gets very hot.It was 110 here 3 days ago,so I need a solutation too.
Doyle and Peggy
1999 Country Coach,2013 Silverado 4x4.

Matt D · 06-20-2017, 06:54 PM

I would suggest opening a roof vent at one end of the coach and another window as far away and as low as possible. This way you will have a natural ventilation system for zero electricity.

Of course you need to bug and critter proof these openings. You might try supplementing a typical window screen with a high density foam to control dust intrusion.

-Matt

fla tom · 06-20-2017, 07:10 PM

You need air flow either install ventilation fans or like we did install AC/heat on your building

Isaac-1 · 06-20-2017, 07:58 PM

I am in much the same situation in Louisiana with my motorhome stored in half of a divided 40x60 ft metal building and only 2 3x3 ft louvered openings about 10 ft off the ground for ventilation. The issue is that an air conditioner moves heat from one place to another, but also generates waste heat, in the case of an RV unit about 1,500 watts of waste heat go into whatever building the RV is stored in while the air conditioner is running, that is of course in addition to any heat that would be in there already due to solar heating, etc. In my case I try to minimize the amount of additional heat going into the building by setting the thermostat in the motorhome at 88 degrees, as the summer gets hotter, I may set the programmable thermostat to run only at night when it is cooler out, so it can still act to remove moisture from the air inside the motorhome at night. If things start getting too hot I may have to add a powered fan to one of those vents in the building.

brobox · 06-20-2017, 08:15 PM

The metal hanger I store in has thermally controlled roof air vents that do a decent job of exhausting the FL heat. I have been there 15 years and have yet to suffer any heat damage. I have a dehumidifier inside the MH for air movement and humidity control.

LETMGROW · 06-20-2017, 08:22 PM

I have a 40X60' pole barn with a 12X12' door on each end. I seldom keep my MH in the barn but when I do I leave the doors open. I also have full length ridge vent as well as soffit vents the full length of the building. There are three windows which open on each side of the barn as well as one in each end. I open the barn so it is like a carport and have never had a moisture issue in the barn or inside my MH. Ventilation is the key here.
Lynn

Guernsey · 06-22-2017, 08:36 PM

Installing exhaust fans on end walls as we speak. Thanks to all for terrific advice!

RickWhite · 06-23-2017, 09:49 AM

Air circulation will make a huge difference.

I just built a new office a few years back and it includes a shop (i.e. man cave) for RV and toy storage. A few of the things we did that really help with temperature control in the shop are
* Insulated the entire building, not just the office space. We went R30 as that is the same depth of the red iron. When installing the insulation it was in the upper 80s that day. Using a I/R temperature gun I could see a 8* surface difference between where the insulation was and was not installed.
* Additional roll up door on opposite side of the building. The building faces north and that is how me move stuff in/out of shop. The additional door is on the South side of building. Winds are predominately from the south here. When all doors are open makes a huge difference inside the shop. When originally built we did not have any neighbors so leaving the doors open in summer (in Dallas area) was not a issue. Now they are building sub-divisions on 3 sides of me. So we will install 8' tall seizor gates at each roll up door. This will allow us to keep the doors open for ventilation and still be secure even if not in the shop.
* Build tall. In our case the wall material came in 22' lengths. We were not originally planning on going that tall, only 18'. 4' from the ceiling vs being at ground level makes a huge, noticeable difference in the summer. Because they would have cut down the 22' sheets to 18' the only additional cost to going 22' was adding the 4' to vertical red iron. Very minimal difference in price in the end. Now the roof line of the RV is the same temp as the rest of the shop. Drop the roof 4' and the A/C - roof line would be in the trapped heat that the shop roof traps.

Just a few things to consider to help with temperature control if building a new building or modifying an existing one. Decisions we have been pleased with. Always knew I had the option to add A/C to entire building (one of the reasons why we insulated the entire building originally) but doubt we will.

TRebel · 06-23-2017, 10:15 AM

My shop building is insulated... that was $$$ well spent. When it is 100 degrees outside, the shop building will be 10 - 15 degrees cooler inside.
Our winter weather is not terrible, but I have never seen the temp in the shop below freezing.

I do not run the A/C in the MH, unless we are in it getting ready for a trip or cleaning.

I do run a dehumidifier in the wetter times of the year... usually spring and fall here in Oklahoma.