Dark Camper too hot!

[frankm]

My wife and I just purchased a new 2013 living lite 10, and are very happy with the quality of the camper, and spent 10 days in New Hampshire for our first long campout. We have a dark color exterior, like the color of a teflon frypan. Wow, the interior walls became very warm, with whatever direction the sun was shining on it. I never even thought of that as a factor, when we bought the unit. We had an awning facing south, which gave that wall needed shade, so was not as warm. The air conditioner was not able to keep up with the sun. I think that we are going to see about some light color vinyl wrap to cover the back of the camper in some artistic spots, and on the sides, to reflect direct sunlight. The day's temperature was in the upper 70's and low 80's. We have owned 2 other campers in the last 20+ years, both white or off-white, and never had any problems with the interior walls getting hot, with less effictive insulation. 

The bottom line for us, people buying new campers, and manufacturers, is that the fashion of dark siding and roof air conditioners may look striking, compared with past units, but since most of us camp in the warmer months, and can't always park in the shade, the interior comfort will continue to suffer.

[jeeps]

[font size="3"]Maybe it'll be an asset in the winter.  Ours is gray and a little on the dark side too.  I'm not a fan of most dark colors on vehicles because they're so hard to keep clean.  When we bought our Jeep, we had the choice of black, or variations of black.  (They also come in white, but none were available in our area.)  One dealer told us the lighter colors are mostly shipped to the warmer climates.  Annoying.[/font]

[spot1]

Welcome!

Our walls warm in direct sunlight, too. Have a 13,500BTU roof AC on our CampLite 11, so no problem cooling in the summer with a large AC. 

[frankm]

I have a feeling that our air conditioner is not the 13k. But, I just priced out our local Yikes dealer putting on about 30-40 sq. feet of vinyl "patches" in the color of some of our metallic color swirls. Probably about $250, depending on how much time it takes. We are going to put on the back door Carefree awning, for when we are parked. I will also paint the refrigerator access a tan color, instead of the flat black. I think that the combination will help. I would like to decrease the work the fridge needs to do, and make the comfort level of the interior better on sunny days. I will let people know how that all works out, next time we are in the sun, during warm weather.

[gnies]

Post picture when done I am curious to see that

[swbc150]

You may want to check your Roof, mine was bare metal and the heat it produced was so hot you could not put your bare hand on it with the sun shinning. It made the interior even hotter and the ceiling as well. I use the Kool-Seal white paint on the Roof (3-coats)it goes on easy with a paint roller. Walmart carries it. Now my ceiling is cool to touch during any sunny day.  My walls still get hot and my Bearcat has White on the outside, I believe that is because of no wood in the framing and so forth, instead we all have metal which doesn't cool at all during the sunny days and at night it is colder inside as it doesn't retain the heat.
Since I do have white sides I am thinking of painting the Black outer Frig covers White and being they are plastic the Krylon plastic spray paint in white should do it perfect.
I also have a Black Front and a Black Rear Door, the front section really gets hot and the inside interior on the front needs something to cool it down.

[frankm]

I got a pricey, but probably reasonable, quote for doing the vinyl covering. Tried to put on a 1' x 3' piece on the back door, to see if I could save $. It is much harder than it looks. The stuff stretches! I will leave it to the professionals. I just put on 2 coats of white acrylic silicone roof paint on the metal roof, which does get really hot. We are camping over labor day, and will be seeing how much cooler the roof feels, outside and inside. The stuff is StaKool, and comes in 1 gallon or 5 gallons. I will let you know......

[geo92128]

Hey Frank M; good evening. Any update on how the StaKool coating worked for you?

SWBC150, you mentioned your ceiling was cool to the touch after adding StaKool, do you think it was worth the time and effort?


I am looking at doing this modification as well.

Thanks for your comments!

[wvabeer]

[quote source="/post/13506/thread" timestamp="1437672200" author="@swbc150"]You may want to check your Roof, mine was bare metal and the heat it produced was so hot you could not put your bare hand on it with the sun shinning. It made the interior even hotter and the ceiling as well. I use the Kool-Seal white paint on the Roof (3-coats)it goes on easy with a paint roller. Walmart carries it. Now my ceiling is cool to touch during any sunny day.  My walls still get hot and my Bearcat has White on the outside, I believe that is because of no wood in the framing and so forth, instead we all have metal which doesn't cool at all during the sunny days and at night it is colder inside as it doesn't retain the heat.
Since I do have white sides I am thinking of painting the Black outer Frig covers White and being they are plastic the Krylon plastic spray paint in white should do it perfect.
I also have a Black Front and a Black Rear Door, the front section really gets hot and the inside interior on the front needs something to cool it down.[/quote]I have a dark charcoal 6.8 and I never had any issue with heat in the sun with a 9.2 btu. Any paint you put on that roof will only cause streaks down the side and make the roof harder to seal later down the road.

[lymanguy]

The Kool Seal white paint has made a big difference in the interior temperature. The other thing is adjusting the Coleman Mach thermostat. Check out the YouTube video about the adjustment. It is easier, and has the compressor on for a longer period. That has also made a big difference. The interior temp of the back closets and bathroom is still really hot, much hotter than the equivalent closets and bath in our old light colored camper.

[lymanguy]

Tomorrow, I am putting some silver vinyl on the back of the camper, probably covering about 3/4 of the surface area, and we are going on vacation, same place as our first encounter with the heat problem last year. Between the stay cool on the roof, adjusting the air conditioner thermostat to stay on longer, and having some light silver on the part of the camper that has no shade, we will see how things are with these changes. I will let you know.

[lymanguy]

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[lymanguy]

Sorry for the separate reply, I am kinda computer challenged. Bright sunny day today with afternoon sun on the back wall,  in my yard, and the wet bath back wall was at least 20 degrees cooler inside. 2 weeks in the sun start on Saturday. I am done adding stuff to this subject. Needless to say, the goal was to reflect the direct sun on the roof and back, and get the air conditioner to keep the compressor on longer. Did what I could, but remember, if you are in sunny conditions, you might want to start with a light colored outside wall. Color stylists vs. reflecting and transmitting heat to the interior. Hmmmmmm. But, then again, it has been a fun year, in a way, figuring out how to get things cooler inside, and getting used to the quirks of a new camper, new in finally having a 21st century unit. I may add a few more silver vinyl to a couple more places.....or not if things work better this next vacation. Ya know, I might silverize the vent covers on the refrigerator. It will never end!

[swbc150]

The Kool-seal has done well for my Bearcats roof, has helped to cool down the interior. I have No Issues with steaks running down the side of the outside of my Bearcat, I did end up with putting 3 coats on of the Kool-seal.

[lymanguy]

Ok, really, this is my last post on this. We have been 3 days in the heat, and the inside back wall and door are definitely cooler with the silver vinyl on the outside back wall, the ceiling is cooler with the stay cool, and the air conditioner condenser stays on much longer with the thermostat adjusted. The combination of the 3 did the trick.