Our experience with side A/C in HOT! Weather

[RogerR]

We just did a loop Denver to Rifle Falls state park, Moab/Arches, Cortez/Mesa Verde. We have the sidewall AC in a 195RB. It kept us very comfortable and we turned it down to about half of max on the knob and used half speed blower.

We do use the foil/bubble wrap to help insulate the windows and reflect light and heat out the single pane windows. High in Moab was 107 with lows in 80s.

I can review campgrounds in all three places if anyone wants the information.

[sturgissteele]

I've only heard a little about the foil/bubble wrap, is that what made it possible for the AC to do a good job even during a lot of heat?

[garyg23]

We are very satisfied with our side air conditioner in our 184BH also.

[RogerR]

I originally got the Reflectix brand duct wrap (bubble wrap coated with mylar on both sides) to keep sun out of my camper while stored to reduce fading and sun damage inside. But we left it in while traveling one time and found the inside was much cooler. The we were at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in late fall and it dropped to 30s at night and our heater ran much less. You could just feel the cold roll off the windows when we did not have it in place.
Light weight, takes up little space when not in use, durable and cheap. We won't travel without it! Our pieces are 4 years old and still going strong. Friction of the shades hold the wrap in place while traveling and come out instantly.

[sturgissteele]

Originally Posted by RogerR

I originally got the Reflectix brand duct wrap (bubble wrap coated with mylar on both sides) to keep sun out of my camper while stored to reduce fading and sun damage inside. But we left it in while traveling one time and found the inside was much cooler. The we were at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in late fall and it dropped to 30s at night and our heater ran much less. You could just feel the cold roll off the windows when we did not have it in place.
Light weight, takes up little space when not in use, durable and cheap. We won't travel without it! Our pieces are 4 years old and still going strong. Friction of the shades hold the wrap in place while traveling and come out instantly.

Nice I will check into this. Thanks for your info.

[crockettlarry]

Totally different rigs but a less efficient set up I'm about to describe. So I bet y'all have pretty good results.

Me and my ex-wife had a 1985 Palomino Colt. I rigged up basically a table that could fold for transport but attached to the frame at the bottom and sit on a board that ran between the Lift posts. I had a 110 volt air conditioner sitting on that table blowing in through the screen. We folded the plastic part of the screen cover so that most of what was exposed to the outside was just the face of the air conditioner. We had it set up to blow in the kitchen area so that it didn't freeze us at the other end of the camper in the bed. We ran this set up several Summers in humid hot Tennessee and were pretty happy with the performance although the setup was a bit clunky. But it work for what we could afford at the time. I couldn't wait to get a camper where I didn't have to set up the air conditioner. One of the last trip we went on in that camper, I tripped on a root carrying the air conditioner and nearly killed myself.

Larry