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Old 06-22-2017, 03:40 PM   #1
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Using the cab A/C effectively in hot weather

Yesterday I had an errand to run in Phoenix and I knew it was going to be hot: we have record breaking temperatures in the southwest at the moment, and even in Sedona at 4500 feet it’s been hovering around 106-108.
After being parked in The Valley (aka Phoenix) for an hour or so, the interior of the AI was totally unbearable. Outside it was around 115 but the interior was so much hotter.

I started the two hour return drive and was having issues getting cool again; the real problem appears to be that the A/C is only capable of cooling the front two seats; you still have that huge volume of hot air behind in the cabin, and every time I touched the brakes or turned a corner, this hot air moved forwards into the cab.

The AI is quite airtight; you can tell that’s the case when you try to close the side door: it has a hard time against the trapped air; if you open a door, it’s a lot easier.

Likewise, you need to get that hot air displaced by cool air from the A/C up front. I opened the rearmost windows and it made a huge difference. I could feel the cooled air flowing past me into the cabin.

The upside to the heat? Notice my improved fuel consumption!
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Old 06-22-2017, 06:03 PM   #2
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This memo should have landed on your desk but maybe didn't make it. It's the one about how American Airlines was cancelling 41 flights due to the extreme heat and their inability to operate aircraft outside their tolerances.

Some of the T1N owners with mid-baths report that they open the bath door and tie it across the aisle as a means of limiting rear air from mixing with cab air in extremely hot conditions. But with that kind of heat, my response is simply no. Nope, nada, not going to do it. We are in Houston where we don't fear a good sweat, but Phoenix recently has been just out of the question.
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Old 06-22-2017, 06:18 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by InterBlog View Post
This memo should have landed on your desk but maybe didn't make it. It's the one about how American Airlines was cancelling 41 flights due to the extreme heat and their inability to operate aircraft outside their tolerances.

Some of the T1N owners with mid-baths report that they open the bath door and tie it across the aisle as a means of limiting rear air from mixing with cab air in extremely hot conditions. But with that kind of heat, my response is simply no. Nope, nada, not going to do it. We are in Houston where we don't fear a good sweat, but Phoenix recently has been just out of the question.
Yes, I knew about the flight cancelations - it's been all over the news.
I took the AI to Phoenix instead of the Touareg partly out of curiosity to see how it would handle the heat, and partly with some trepidation in case something might break! I have my doubts that Sprinters have been tested in that heat, and I'm sure Airstream certainly haven't.
Nothing broke, and it was reassuring to be able to use the warm cold water for a refresh while there.
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Old 06-22-2017, 08:15 PM   #4
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In our old motor home we hang a blanket on a spring loaded shower curtain rod behind the front seats to hold the cold air where we sit. Not an elegant solution, but desperate times......

It leaves the rest of the coach to heat up, but the only alternative is to run the generator and roof ACs.



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Old 06-23-2017, 06:33 AM   #5
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I wonder how humidity impacts the Interstate cooling strategy. In the wake of TS Cindy, Houston's dewpoints today will remain in the range of 78 to 80 degrees (as of this moment, 7:30 a.m., we are at 94% humidity). We'll only hit mid-90s in absolute temperature, but today's heat index is forecast at 107. In contrast, the forecast for Phoenix today says a high of 112 degrees but a heat index of 107 degrees. So we have the same forecast heat indices under very different absolute conditions.

It would be momentarily interesting to experience what it feels like in two Interstates, one in each place. If I were capable of teleportation, I'd do it out of curiosity. Of course, if I were capable of teleportation, I'm not sure that I'd have an Interstate in the first place. I'd just have Scotty beam me from place to place.
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Old 06-23-2017, 06:56 AM   #6
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You can run the house gen to run the house air cond while you are driving. In extreme conditions this might be the way to go.
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Old 06-23-2017, 10:30 AM   #7
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I wonder how humidity impacts the Interstate cooling strategy. In the wake of TS Cindy, Houston's dewpoints today will remain in the range of 78 to 80 degrees (as of this moment, 7:30 a.m., we are at 94% humidity). We'll only hit mid-90s in absolute temperature, but today's heat index is forecast at 107. In contrast, the forecast for Phoenix today says a high of 112 degrees but a heat index of 107 degrees. So we have the same forecast heat indices under very different absolute conditions.

It would be momentarily interesting to experience what it feels like in two Interstates, one in each place. If I were capable of teleportation, I'd do it out of curiosity. Of course, if I were capable of teleportation, I'm not sure that I'd have an Interstate in the first place. I'd just have Scotty beam me from place to place.
I can't say I've experienced it, but I hear people talk of the cab A/C freezing up if you have it on too low a setting. Presumably that can only happen in a humid environment and not a dry one. Certainly I never see water dripping underneath after a drive with the A/C on.
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Old 06-23-2017, 10:31 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by avionstream View Post
You can run the house gen to run the house air cond while you are driving. In extreme conditions this might be the way to go.


There has been a lot of debate on whether you should or shouldn't run the genny while driving. AS recommends driving with the propane turned off, but I'm sure that's driven by their lawyers.

Depending on how "extreme" the conditions are and if you have people overly sensitive to temperature sitting in the back, I've found the OPs tactic of cracking the rear "wing" windows open an inch or two and blasting the dash air straight back through he coach to work just fine (and if it wasn't fine my daughter would certainly let me know!). So far we've only tested this into the 90's but given our recent heat wave (108 at my daughter's dance studio yesterday!) we might get to really test that theory on our upcoming trip......
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Old 06-23-2017, 01:20 PM   #9
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The cab freeze-up has happened to us many times, until I moved the temp setting up a bit. Still very comfortable at new setting. However, we weren't going through Texas in the summer.....it was Florida in the mid 90's. Has also happened in Michigan summer in the 80's. When it did freeze up, I just turned AC off and let fan blow and thaw out the coil.
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Old 06-23-2017, 07:28 PM   #10
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IIRC, a low freon charge can also cause evap. icing.
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Old 06-23-2017, 08:58 PM   #11
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Told service tech about it on last visit. They evacuated system, checked and refilled.....hasn't happened since, but haven't really pushed it either.
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Old 06-24-2017, 05:54 AM   #12
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Perhaps it's a good time to mention for people that, unlike modern-day passenger cars which are impressively tight, T1N Sprinters naturally lose freon over time, even if there is no damage or breakage or failure in the a/c system.

I don't know how much our freon was down when we bought our Interstate at age 8, because my MB receipt says "perform a/c refresh service" with no details as to how much they put in. But I made sure that they went over it thoroughly to look for a cause, and there was none, other than its design. I was informed that this was typical behavior for a T1N, and every X number of years, I'd have to have it recharged. It's been 2.5 years now, and we have noticed no loss in system performance.

The "refresh service" cost us about $200 and involved them keeping the rig for several days, so that they could evaluate the rate of loss of pressure.
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Old 07-01-2017, 05:16 PM   #13
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Newbie here entering our first Phoenix area summer with our AI... we have used just our cab AC to cool the entire Interstate "somewhat comfortably" up to about 100 degrees here in Phoenix with the help of 2 re-chargeable clip-on fans positioned just behind the driver (on a shower curtain rod) and the second (on a window curtain rod) placed just above where the couch starts. I also cracked the rear windows for a bit to move some air through until the inside was more comfortable.
Not having the unit starting out hot inside has been key. Once it has been left in the direct sun and hot, only the cab AC, both fans up front (one on bar and the other clipped to the front passenger headrest) AND the generator AC has been enough to cool the front half (this second experience there was no one riding in the back, so I moved second fan up front). Airing the unit out a bit with all of this running seemed to help a bit also. Then driving north to 8,000' elevation as quickly as I could get out of this heat helped the most!
While just driving by myself, I still LOVE these little fans hanging on the bar at different positions. We also have 2 black-out curtains hanging on that rod (that were open during these trips), but I haven't tried the combination of closing the curtain/fans yet. I'll likely have to find another place to clip my fans tho to get good air flow.
I ordered these on Amazon and have charged and re-charged several times. They work great and have 3 speeds. The higher the speed, the faster the battery runs out. They were recommended by another forum member on a different thread (thank you!). They come with a fairly short USB cord to re-charge, so I haven't tried to run them while charging.
I can't seem to upload photo, so I'll attach the link...
https://www.amazon.com/Square-Clip-B...ywords=TOPWELL
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Old 07-01-2017, 05:40 PM   #14
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We left Houston in 95 degree heat and drove to Lubbock with highway temps reaching 115 by the chassis thermometer. We were very comfortable in the cab all the time. We never parked for long and let the van heat up. I'm going to document more in the "3M" thread http://www.airforums.com/forums/f240...nt-167548.html
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Old 07-09-2017, 10:06 AM   #15
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Quote:
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Not having the unit starting out hot inside has been key.
Exactly!!!

Just got back from an 8 day, 3,000 mile trip that saw temps up to 110* and once the coach has been allowed to sit and "heat soak" in temps like that, it's difficult getting it cooled down. EVERYTHING just absorbs the heat and radiates it back into the interior. The metal skin, the insulation, the interior furnishings, cabinets, you name it, it becomes a little heat source.

Case in point, on our last night camping on some BLM land we had been driving all day in temps over 100* so the coach got good and toasty. Once we got to the camp site and the sun set, the outside air temp began to drop (we were at about 5500ft elevation), but the interior of the van was a good 15-20 degrees above ambient! All those heat sources were doing their evil. The solution was to open the "wing" windows, close the sliding door, and turn on the Fantastic fan for a while. This worked great!!! It pulled in the cooling outside air and got the inside comfortable in a very short time. I could have fired up the genny and the rear AC, but there was a family of foxes hanging out nearby and I didn't want to scare them off (the little ones were a hoot to watch!). After a couple hours the van finally shed enough heat that I could turn the fan off.
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Old 07-09-2017, 10:27 AM   #16
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Starting out cool, we drove all day in temps reaching 115F. Never stopped more than a few minutes during the drive. Never needed to turn cab A/C up more than 2nd lowest fan setting, and temps in rear never exceeded 89F.

We stopped to camp at sundown with air temp still at 105F, plugged in and turned on coach A/C and made it through the night with interior temps around 80F. Not the funnest trip leg, but survivable.
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Old 07-09-2017, 03:55 PM   #17
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I'm going to Kingman, AZ end of July for the World Moto Trial. So I'll 'get' to see how well the old beast works in the really hot weather.
I was born and great up with everyone whines if it gets over 70º or under 40º
So 100º is *really* hot for me.
At least where I"ll be staying is about 6500-7000 feet, so probably just hot (for me).

I'm paying attention to tips for this- probably keep driving and perhaps look for shore power at night.
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Old 07-09-2017, 05:23 PM   #18
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When I had the MH I always wanted to rig a bungee with hooks and a curtain behind the front seats. That way the cold dash air wasn't trying to cool the entire 40'. It was especially bad in the afternoon while driving west since the Sun then was shining in the large front windows.
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Old 07-12-2017, 06:31 AM   #19
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Last year had the freon recharged because the cab a/c stopped cooling. This spring, it again wasn't cooling. Mechanic looked for leaks and said there were none. He installed a radiator fan clutch behind the radiator saying the auxiliary fan doesn't do enough--it is normal car size, not Sprinter sized with huge windows. His hope is that it cools the air a bit for the condenser --something about high side a/c and get the pressure down. He thinks the high pressure does something to the freon. Maybe the newer models have better/bigger a/c system.
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Old 07-12-2017, 10:14 AM   #20
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Last year had the freon recharged because the cab a/c stopped cooling. This spring, it again wasn't cooling. Mechanic looked for leaks and said there were none. He installed a radiator fan clutch behind the radiator saying the auxiliary fan doesn't do enough--it is normal car size, not Sprinter sized with huge windows. His hope is that it cools the air a bit for the condenser --something about high side a/c and get the pressure down. He thinks the high pressure does something to the freon. Maybe the newer models have better/bigger a/c system.
The AC in the newer units is strong enough to freeze the coils. I had this happen multiple times on a recent trip in 100*+ temps with the AC on full blast. A few minutes turned off to thaw and then back on full blast again kept us very comfy!
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