How to keep your RV, Caravan and Bus cool
Living in your caravan, RV or bus can be a real issue in summer. They can get hot, real hot. To the point you can’t really be comfortable inside them. With very little insulation in the roof, the sun’s solar heat is easily transferred through into the living area with very little resistance. This forces you to endure uncomfortable living conditions, really turn up any air conditioning if you have some and you may also have the unseen problems of condensation between the roof and the paneling which can cause mould.
When it comes to other modes of transportation such as trucks and trailers there’s the same issue. However heat in cool and cold storage increases fuel consumption and increases stock damage. Again shipping containers also have the same problems.
Many owners of buses in Australia have turned to Super Therm® Ceramic Solar Heat Block Coating to solve their heat challenges. Here’s some overseas case studies showing the effectiveness of a quality cool roof solution.
Super Therm® compared with Thermoshield ALL4RVS blog
A blog ALL4RVS posted a comparison article of Thermoshield vs Super Therm®. Makes for interesting reading if you’re in the market to block the solar heat on your RV, Caravan or bus.
The Verdict
Based on these analyses, we can see that primarily their performances in heat reduction are neck in neck. But if we look at their other properties and benefits, I can say that Super Therm® is better in the account of the following:
- Less volume of coating required and less weight added on the RV
- Ability to reduce noise too
- Extensive case studies and strong partnerships with reliable organisations
- Well-trusted not only in its origin country but also to other countries worldwide – one of which is Australia of course
RV Super Therm Case Study
Super Therm® on a Florida Motorhome RV
- Average internal temperature improvement was 5.6°c – 12%
- 2 hours to pressure clean the roof the day before and fully dry
- 4 hours for two employees to apply the coating 87m2 by roller
- The exterior surface temperature was 73°c…after application dropped to 30°c (59% improvement)
- Roof surface temperature of a similar mobile home with a white elastomeric paint was 51.6°c
- The motor home owner reported that she had not turned on her air conditioning since the day the roof was coated
- SJHP’s assessment is that Super Therm® works well and meets their purpose and budget. It was relatively easy to apply and does not require significant application skills, other than normal diligence and care. They were very impressed with the immediate temperature changes after application.
Refreshing this 40′ RV with a cost effective onsite easy to apply Super Therm® flexible ceramic coating that eliminates 95% of the sun’s thermal radiant heat which keeps you cool, reduces your AC burden and your refreshed cool roof will look great. #supertherm #coolroof #ceramics pic.twitter.com/qw5bvzKkd4
— Superior Coatings (@SouthTXCeramic) September 17, 2021
Bus Super Therm Case Study
As an example, Super Therm was applied to a bus in Mexico and here’s the results. Before coating with Super Therm®, the roof’s temperature and the interior temperature were much higher.
- After application of Super Therm® the roof’s temperature was significantly lower than before application. Without Super Therm® the roof’s temperature rose to 90.1ºc, after Super Therm® the temperature only reached 46.2ºc. This proves Super Therm’s strength in reducing heat transfer (Refer to Graphic 2.4).
- As a direct result of application of Super Therm®, the temperature inside the bus decreased 8ºc, always tending to equalize itself with the outside temperature during the test (from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) (Refer to Graphic 2.5).
- The Super Therm coated roof absorbed 46.27% less heat than the non-coated roof (Refer to Graphic 2.4).
- With Super Therm®, the Thermo King unit only needed 33.4 minutes to reach 29ºc, 45% less running time than without using Super Therm®. (Refer to graphic 2.6).
- Given the need to put the bus back onto its route, the testing and temperature results taken from the Super Therm® bus were done within one day of application. Super Therm® typically takes 7-10 days to fully cure and thus even more favorable results might be seen after full cure.
- The Thermo King unit coated with Super Therm® became 30.5% more efficient.
Truck Super Therm Case Study
Super Therm® ceramic coating saves fuel for food-hauling fleet
- Super Therm® cool-down time was cut by 1.75 hours or 44%
- 20% less fuel on the outbound “hot” haul
- 29% less fuel on the return “cold” leg
- Long-term savings at 200 to 250 trips a year, the savings could total $2,500 times by 20 years $50,000 savings.
Pacific Shipping & Trucking of Denver moves truckloads of baked bread from Denver to Phoenix, then returns to Denver with ice cream, explains Keith Robertson, the fleet’s owner and president. Bread is maintained at (27°C) 80°F, but ice cream must stay frozen at (-28°C) -20°F – “extreme heat to extreme cold,” he says. It’s a drop-and-hook operation, with trailers full of bread left at docks in the usually hot southern Arizona city while empty reefer trailers wait nearby.
A driver backs his tractor onto an empty, then starts the reefer unit to begin cooling down the trailer’s interior or so it can take on ice cream. Temps inside the trailer can be (48°C) 120°F or more, and it’s got to be cooled to below zero. “It was taking us two and a half hours to get sitting out in the sun to get to minus 10 – from there they can start loading – then,” Robertson says. “Now it takes 45 minutes to an hour,” so the reefer runs less and burns less fuel.
More Transportation Case Studies | Cool Bus Heat Protection
What to do about a caravan, bus or RV?
In homes and buildings adding a light coloured roof helps reflect heat right where it’s beating down on you. This is the same for your caravan, bus or RV. Adding a Cool Roof to your transportation is like being under a shady tree. In fact a Super Therm® Cool Roof does more than block 95% of the solar heat from the sun, it also:
- Lasts well over 20 years – no cracking, flaking or peeling
- Dramatically reduces energy consumption and costs
- Improves human and animal comfort
- Single coat application (no priming)
- Easy to apply, safe and water based
- Works while dirty
- No priming needed
- Reduces CO2 consumption through energy reduction
- Fireproof class ‘A’ rating; won’t burn
- Blocks 50-68% sound
- Prevents thermal contraction and extends roof life
- Tested and blocks 99.5% infrared heat
- Proven globally for over 30+ years
- Only ceramic solar heat block coating developed with NASA
- Over 9.3 million square metres applied across Japan
Cool Roofs are the next generation of heat protection. Governments and companies around the globe are turning to cool roofs and the Tesla of Cool Roofs performance is Super Therm®.
Blocking the initial heat load is the “key” to controlling heat load and flow into or out of a building structure!
