Pets inside....

[jtmac]

We sold our Prevost and bought an airstream interstate mainly for the ride back and forth from Michigan to Florida since we bought a house. We also have a large newfie and liked the idea of having the generator and AC to fire up when we go to see family or do overnights.

I'm a bit concerned with all the talk of AC not being very good when the Genset is used. Today we are traveling about 3 hours down state with the dog for a family birthday party. The temps are going to be about 80 degrees and we are taking the interstate. I can park it in the shade and was planning on running the AC and generator while there. I was just curious why I couldn't let the van idle and keep the sprinter AC on as well for a few hours if it seems too hot. Truckers run their diesels all night at the rest areas so will a few hour of idle hurt? The Sprinter AC is more than enough when we are driving to keep the van cool without the roof AC so.......

Also, do most of you open the roof vent with the AC on and a rear side vent to let air move in and hot air move out?

Thanks

[Hein]

Originally Posted by jtmac

We sold our Prevost and bought an airstream interstate mainly for the ride back and forth from Michigan to Florida since we bought a house. We also have a large newfie and liked the idea of having the generator and AC to fire up when we go to see family or do overnights.

I'm a bit concerned with all the talk of AC not being very good when the Genset is used. Today we are traveling about 3 hours down state with the dog for a family birthday party. The temps are going to be about 80 degrees and we are taking the interstate. I can park it in the shade and was planning on running the AC and generator while there. I was just curious why I couldn't let the van idle and keep the sprinter AC on as well for a few hours if it seems too hot. Truckers run their diesels all night at the rest areas so will a few hour of idle hurt? The Sprinter AC is more than enough when we are driving to keep the van cool without the roof AC so.......

Also, do most of you open the roof vent with the AC on and a rear side vent to let air move in and hot air move out?

Thanks

Generally not good to let the MB engine idle due to soot build up in the Diesel Particulate Filter. There may be other reasons but that is probably the biggy.

[brick1]

Check with MB on extended idling. My F250 turns itself off after idling for about 15 minutes...
The generator should be able to run the A/C. Check with your AS dealer.
Consider getting an “RV Pet Safety” monitor system.
brick

RV Pey Safety

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Do you get the dog a hair cut in the summer? We do that with our Neuf's and it makes an enormous difference in their tolerance of the heat. No, that does not have anything at all to do with an RV

One alternative to the generator ( or even with the generator) is to drop an Easy Start kit on the AC. That should let you plug in to a fairly normal house circuit.

Best bet is still to take the slobber monster with you when you are out of the RV ...

Bob

[InterBlog]

+1 on shaving dogs in hot weather. Ours becomes restless and miserable when we don't shave her. We are in the subtropics and she's a long-haired mixed breed. Those kinds just aren't well-equipped for this area.

We shave our dog ourselves because it's danged expensive to have a large breed groomed - about $75 a pop in our area. And of course a full shave only lasts about 4 entire weeks. With a $200 dollar electric grooming kit, a comb, scissors and a hell of a lot of patience, I estimate that I've saved at least $4,000 in grooming costs over her lifespan to date.

Also consider getting an IP camera and using an air card to broadcast live feed to your phone. I do this with our dog, to make sure she's OK generally and also so that if the van is broken into, I know right away. I use a Canary for which we set up a dedicated DC outlet and mount right behind the cab pillar on the passenger side.

The Canary is useful in also broadcasting temperature and humidity to my phone. My iPhone image looks like this (red arrow pointing to dog in rear; the image is crisper closer to the camera because that particular product has been optimized to capture clear facial images of intruders).

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Since I got us off onto haircuts ... some breads are more tolerant of a close shave than others. We find that our Neuf's get really itchy if the cut is to close to the skin. Better to do a couple more per season than try to get maximum mileage out of each trim.

===

If you have a camera, try to set it up so you can see the water bowl. Dogs (with water) can take a lot of heat. Once they run out of water, their tolerance drops quickly. As they warm up (for whatever reason ... excitement ... heat ...), the bowl that should last a couple hours may be emptied in minutes ....puff ... puff ... pant ... pant ....

Bob

[Foiled Again]

Originally Posted by Hein

Generally not good to let the MB engine idle due to soot build up in the Diesel Particulate Filter. There may be other reasons but that is probably the biggy.

There are 2 kinds of ships in the navy, submarines and targets. (Old bubblehead proverb)

A running Airstream Sprinter? Definitely a tempting target.

[jtmac]

Well it was 84 degrees at 5:00 when we went in the restaurant for dinner. I had ran the airstream and the generator with air on the 30 minute ride from the lake to the restaurant. Set the thermostat at 72, parked under a tree, cracked the ceiling vent and all was fine. I checked on her after about a half hour and it was down right chilly in there and she was sprawled on the floor directly under the AC unit. 2 hours total and she could not have been more comfy.....

I am going to get a cam if we are going to be doing this so I can keep an eye on her....We used to leave our last newf in the prevo many times but that thing was so well insulated that one AC (of 3 units) could keep it cool.

With all the chatter about interstates having problems cooling down I was pleasantly surprised but being 5:00, under a shade tree was probably not a great test.

[rmkrum]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

There are 2 kinds of ships in the navy, submarines and targets. (Old bubblehead proverb)

A running Airstream Sprinter? Definitely a tempting target.

True on the bubblehead proverb...and they are a bunch of very clever folks, as well...

Had an incident where the fathometer (a simple underwater sonar that electronically and automatically measures water depth and displays it on what looks like a simple readout) on our ship appeared to be malfunctioning--indicating a relatively shallow constant depth in a part of the Pacific ocean that is known to be thousands of feet deep, and it did it for days and days on end.

The gang responsible tore it completely apart multiple times, troubleshot the heck out of it, and found absolutely nothing wrong with it. We got to the coast of Vietnam, and suddenly it started working normally...total mystery. Then the Captain got a message from the submarine folks, asking if he had been having trouble with his fathometer...

Yup. They were lurking under our keel at a fixed depth, tracking us by listening to the fathometer pings... Doctrine quickly changed to require turning the darn thing OFF whenever any ship was in really deep water!!!

Nothing like a big fat Aircraft Carrier 'target' that advertises its position constantly...

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by jtmac

Well it was 84 degrees at 5:00 when we went in the restaurant for dinner. ...With all the chatter about interstates having problems cooling down I was pleasantly surprised but being 5:00, under a shade tree was probably not a great test.

84 degrees is not an issue. 104 degrees is an issue.



Our dog has always been crate-trained. She is more OK with being left in our Interstate than we are about leaving her there.

She doesn't like people coming too close, however, and she will bark at them. Which worries me because we all have to be careful about strangers mis-reading a dog's message. They could think that a dog is barking because she is dying in a too-hot vehicle. In which case they would bash out a window and let themselves in to "save" her.

If you are able to run the generator without disturbing anyone, that should provide some sound cover. Usually I am in congested commercial areas and I can't run our generator without drawing the wrong kind of attention. I do, however, run our roof unit off our lithium battery when I'm making short trips such as to grab a Subway sandwich or a burrito.