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How hot was it?
It was hot today.
How hot was it?
So hot the water from the cold tap was hotter than from the hot water side.

It was one the rare times that we were hooked up to city water. I had filled the tank to get ready to head out the next day and I did not want to have to fill it again. So I connected the 50-foot hose to the city water inlet. Later I was really confused when the water from the cold tap was hot. How could that happen? The hot water showed to be 90 degrees. I ponder this for awhile and finally realized that the sun was heating the water in the black hose.
Don & Dorothy
Sold our LD in June of 2023

Our boring always non-PC travel blog
Traveling Dorothy
Re: How hot was it?
Reply #1 –
Interested in the mfg. of a potable-water-rated black hose.  With a solar-powered recirculating pump, that could save some gas...
Chip
2000 Front Lounge
Re: How hot was it?
Reply #2 –
Hope you are not in Needles, CA where they have had six straight days of 120 plus temps!  :o
Greg & Victoria
2017 Mid-Bath  “Nocona” towing a manual 2015 Forester
Previously a 1985 TK
SKP #61264
Re: How hot was it?
Reply #3 –
111 yesterday, downright chilly 106 today at Jojoba Hills. So far our residential swamp cooler ducted thru a cab window is handling it as well as the AC did last year, and much quieter and cheaper too. We are seriously thinking of adding a hitch-mounted cargo holder so we can bring it with us on our travels and run it on solar power.

fu
2015TK
fu
2015TK
Re: How hot was it?
Reply #4 –
That makes me wonder- is anyone using their LD swamp cooler in this heat wave? Maybe I should keep mine in place, if they can supplement the A/C in these conditions.
Paul
'92 Mid Bath
Re: How hot was it?
Reply #5 –
Paul,
I am wondering if I should replace the placool unit.
Running both?  The swamp cooler adds water to the air to cool.  The AC removes water from air as byproduct of refrigeration cooling. Hence,The swap cooler will make more work for the AC.
Rodney
1988 Mid Bath
Re: How hot was it?
Reply #6 –
Swamp cooler in a Lazy Daze

We used the built-in swamp cooler in our 1985 TK in a heat wave in Arizona (before we lived here), and it was life saving.  We were in a relative's driveway, so had access to all the water we needed, but boondocking might have been a different matter.  We didn't have an air conditioner at all, so this seemed a glorious treat to us.

In this same Arizona town (elev. 4623), we used a 40-foot Teton fifth wheel as our homebase for ten years, and had an evaporative cooler installed in one of the slideout windows.  We were religious about keeping the filter clean and changed at proper intervals, but found that the "spray" from the cooler went all over the inside of the rig, mostly landing on the sofa that was in the slideout.  It was less than satisfactory, to say the least.

To boot, the air held all of that water for a long time, so the end result was that we were more uncomfortable with the swamp cooler because of the much higher humidity throughout the coach.  The upholstery was always damp, it seemed.  It was like being back in Florida during the summer !  GAH!

We tried the evaporative cooler not to save money, but because the air conditioner would not handle the size of the fifth wheel, even after having exhaustive tests done on it by a professional.  It was doing exactly what was expected of it, but it just wasn't forceful enough to keep the whole rig cool.  We eventually got a warehouse-type fan, which in this case was not a unit that came from a big box store, but instead was a huge, circular, powerful fan meant to cool a warehouse.  It created quite a lot of air movement, and helped some, but was VERY noisy.  Think "airplane taking off next to you".

As for using the evaporative cooler as a money-saving ploy, that was also a bust.  In retrospect, our electric bills over a six-year period were compared, and it was clear that the year(s) we used the swamp cooler, our bill was higher than for the periods where we used the air conditioner and warehouse fan to stay cool during those same months.  More money for more misery. 

Fortunately, this very hot period lasts only about three or four weeks each year, with less misery on either side for an additional two weeks.  Unfortunately, it is THAT time of year here, NOW!  Most days are pleasant enough until about noon, and then requiring some cooling assistance.  But the last week has had us running the central air day and night for nearly a week.  The last two days have brought some relief, and I am enjoying open windows again for at least part of the day and all night.

Interestingly, it is now twenty years later than the above scenario, and we live in the same town, in a 2000-square foot modular home  with central electric heat and cooling apparatus, and our electric bill is never as high as it was then.  And now we run a distiller about ten hours a day.

So - as the saying goes - YMMV !  ;->

Virtual hugs,

Judie  <-- Sierra Vista, Arizona
Adventures of Dorrie Anne | Photographing the West

Today:  Steak Stir Fry on Angel Hair
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Re: How hot was it?
Reply #7 –
Evaporative coolers must have ventilation to operate correctly. If your rooftop cooler is running, you need a window open on the other end of the coach, or all you'll be doing is adding moisture to the existing air. It's the opposite of what you'd do with air conditioning, which needs to be sealed up.

I'd post pictures of our setup if it didn't look so, uh, redneck. Basically it's a small window-sized swamp cooler sitting on bricks on the ground, with the front (vent part) sealed off and a hole cut in the top with some 10" flexible insulated ducting that leads to another hole in a double-thickness panel of 1/2 " reflective foam insulation that slides onto the partially opened cab window. The ducting is angled towards the interior of the coach and the end covered with a wire in-basket to prevent unauthorized feline egress.

The cooler is set to "low" and we turn it on/off via the extension cord plugged into the pedestal. If we took it with us, we'd plug it into the electrical outlet inside the fridge compartment, the lower plug of which is connected to the inverter.

We keep the two large windows in the rear of our Twin King open at least a foot so the cooler can push the cool air to the back. We have had some very hot temperatures over the past few days (111, 108), and this arrangement kept the interior up to 25 degrees cooler than the exterior according to the thermometers on the clock.

The other thing we did this year was to install "Magne Shade" window covers on the large side and back windows. These are dark brown and stick on with magnets and some kind of space age adhesive. These help keep more of the heat outside so the thermal windows don't get as hot -- the difference is noticeable. We ordered them at Escapade this spring in Tucson and can definitely recommend them.

We had a few days last year with the same kind of excessive heat. The air conditioner ran constantly and could barely keep up even set to 86 degrees. The noise was unbearable, and we were unable to run the air and the microwave at the same time or the AC would cut out. My home-made shade cloth window covers helped a little, but not nearly as much as the good ones from Magne Shade.

fu
2015TK
fu
2015TK