To generator or not? May 02, 2016, 10:32:48 pm Yahoo Message Number: 160248Question,I am a real whimp when it comes to summertime temperature. When I had a smaller van based trailer it had a secondary a/c unit for the body. Today I looked at a LD for purchase that had no generator but did have a swamp cooler. I have never owned a swamp cooler don't know what to expect. But during the summer I can travel through 100+ temps. Last summer spent nights well above 80 and for a PNW boy that's just too darn hot. I figure that the box of the coach will heat up too much and should have the AC running in the salon. How many of you run the genset to keep the interior temps down? Would you own a LD w/o a generator? What should someone expect to pay to retro one into a LD if it didn't have one?Bryrick
Re: To generator or not? Reply #1 – May 02, 2016, 11:16:45 pm Yahoo Message Number: 160250BryrickA generator is handy thing but using to keep cool 24/7 isn't a good option. It's noisy, it smells, it needs to be fueled (it will use about a 1/2 gallon an hour) and running it constantly will not make friends with the neighbors. Campgrounds all have limited hours of use.Adding generator is very expensive and the parts for older LDs are not commonly available anymore. IMO, If you want a generator, buy an RV with a generator. What to do? Get out of the heat in the summertime or stay in parks with electrical hookups. While a swamp cooler does provide a little relief, it will not perform miracles and produce the cooling of the rooftop A/C. Even with A/C, very high temps will be uncomfortable, LDs, and all RV in general, are not that well insulated compared to well insulated buildings. We love camping in the desert....in the winter. Summertime, you will find most of us at altitude or on the coast.Stay cool. Larry
Re: To generator or not? Reply #2 – May 03, 2016, 06:16:36 am Yahoo Message Number: 160251Bryrick, A swamp box, which is also called evaporative cooling is basically a fan blowing across a pan/container of water. I grew up with this - it was popular in hot dry areas before air conditioning became more affordable. If the air is dry, it will cool but it does not work well at high temperatures (e.g. 100 degrees) even with dry air. If the air is humid, it doesn't work. You can get an idea of how well it works by blowing a fan over a large pan of water - maybe try it outside on a hot day.Like Larry said, insulation matters and older coaches were not as well insulated as newer ones which are not as well insulated as newer houses. If you can find the r-rating of the coach(es) you can compare them to house insulation. But in the coach there are areas not insulated such as the cab, windows and skylights, places there was a cutout for something (electricity path, plumbing path, etc.).To give an example, a 2015 Lazy Daze has 1.5" of rigid foam insulation. Looking at Home Depot it shows this thickness of insulation having roughly between 6-10 R factor (depending on brand, etc.). Current suggestions for houses are R30-R60 for roofs (compared to an R10 max in an RV roof) and for walls R13 (R-19 for newer houses which are built with 6" walls instead of the old standard of 4" walls). So you can see how much less effective even a new insulated RV is compared to a house. Let alone an older insulated RV or non insulated RV.Many people put something between the cab and coach to add insulation as cabs have no insulation at all. I have seen people who add removable insulation to windows. But even with both of these there will be areas not as well insulated where the hot/cold area will sneak in (areas cut out to run electricity or plumbing or vents other items that need to be put in the walls/ceiling/floors). And you just are not the same as a house/building.
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Topic: To generator or not? (Read 39 times)
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