Camping in Arizona and Kansas

[cstlaurent]

Dear Friends,

My wife and I are considering a trip to Arizona, Nebraska and Kansas in our RV this summer. We are currently in Maryland and notice that the air conditioners run quite often, even though we are in a fairly well-shaded lot. We have a 43' RV with (3) 15,000-BTU air conditioning units.

Looking at the RV Campgrounds in Arizona and Kansas, it appears there are not many trees in these campgrounds. Any recommendations or insight you can provide is most appreciated.

Sincerely,

cstlaurent

[wolfe10]

Dear Friends,

My wife and I are considering a trip to Arizona, Nebraska and Kansas in our RV this summer. We are currently in Maryland and notice that the air conditioners run quite often, even though we are in a fairly well-shaded lot. We have a 43' RV with (3) 15,000-BTU air conditioning units.

Looking at the RV Campgrounds in Arizona and Kansas, it appears there are not many trees in these campgrounds. Any recommendations or insight you can provide is most appreciated.

Sincerely,

cstlaurent

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

You will find one advantage in the desert SW compared with where you are-- substantially less humidity. And condensing all that water takes a fair amount of your A/C's BTU's.

A windshield solar screen (outside windshield) helps reduce the "greeenhouse" heating.

Some have tinted their side windows as well.

Brett

[tbutler]

Welcome cstlaurent,

You are correct, trees are few and far between and both KS and AZ can be HOT in the summer. It sounds as if you have plenty of air conditioning available. You will have to make sure you have excellent current supply at any campground so that you can operate all air conditioners.

The first thing I would do is make sure that every window that can have an awning does have one. Awnings are most effective at preventing the sun from adding heat to your coach through the windows.

Second, I would recommend that you get sun screens for your windows. The basic set covers the windshield and the drivers side window and usually two passenger side windows. These windows take in a tremendous amount of heat if they aren't covered in some way. Because we are full time we have also invested in a complete set of sun screens for all remaining windows on the coach. If we're staying longer than a day or two or the temperatures are really hot, the full set goes on the coach. Louise tells me she can feel the coach getting cooler as I install the sun screens.

Now, I have all the above and there are days (or times of day) when the outside temperatures are really hot which will cause our two air conditioners to run nearly full time.

Some other things that will help.

1) You can raise the temperature at which you set the thermostat to a slightly warmer temperature if you can stand it. Anything that reduces the difference in the air temperature (outside minus inside) will help.

2) Choose a shaded site if possible (you are already doing this).

3) Choose a site that has the windshield facing north if possible. Putting the sun on the back side of the coach during the peak heat of the day will reduce the cooling load.

4) If you can't get a site with the windshield facing north, go for east (NE first, then E). The coach will heat in the morning but during the peak heat of the day the sun will be on the side or the rear of the coach.

5) Park the side of the coach that has the best shade cover to the south. Both KS and AZ have pretty good wind so you may not be able to use your patio awning. On our coach, having the drivers side (with two slides) to the south seems to work better. If we can use our patio awning, then having it to the south is best.

Yes, 4 and 5 may be at odds. Make note of how the sun affects you in various parking positions relative to the morning, noon and afternoon sun and you'll get a feel for what works best with your coach.