insulation

[jkmac408]

We have a 2012 gas motorhome and the cabinets over the dash get very hot in the summer. I have thought about putting insulation board in them to try and alleviate the heat some. Was wondering if anyone else has done anything like this and if it worked. Have some concerns that it might sweat behind the boards.

Thanks for all help

Kenneth

[Solo]

There has been a recent discussion on a Facebook group of Itasca/Winnebago DP owners where several of us have insulated the area above and behind the front cap cabinets in an attempt to mitigate some of the heat transfer into the coach. Also, most of us are also using some form of windshield cover such as MagnaShade or in my case, I use Sunguard. I have not personally did temperature before and after tests but, there are others in the group who report a 20 degree difference in ambient temps in the cabinets now when in full sun. I can attest that these two additions in my particular situation have made a dramatic difference. Well worth the effort is how all that have made the modification report.

[carp65]

We lined all our inside cupboards with foil insulation from Home Depot Cut each
cupboard to fit and it makes a huge difference. Have made shields for all of
our side windows, too. We have sun and night shades on all side windows, too
Front has power sun and night shades and if it's really "hot" we have a foil
shade cut to fit the entire one-piece window. All insulation makes a big
difference.

[fred42]

I removed the old style large TV box over my dash and built a cabinet. I wanted to insulate that area behind there all the way over to both side walls. It had no insulation and was just empty space. I did not like the idea of fiberglass dust particles raining down on me as I drove.

I like the 100% polyester "no-Itch" insulation that used to be available in Lowes. It is no longer sold there and I think Home Depot only sold an entire pallet of it. As an alternative for small jobs, I use pillows.

You have to find the hypoallergenic, 100% polyester fill ones that just put the batting in without chopping it up. It is fire proof and mold resistant. I found the Sertapedic brand at Wal-Mart had this. I think the job took about 4 pillows.

I also just used it to insulate a large bare area over my fridge as accessed from the outside vent. I am ordering the ARP fans and wanted a limited top cavity. I formed a wall in front of the insulation with sheet aluminum.

I always remove the pillow cover as it is flammable.

[rgatijnet1]

With my coach, the fiberglass insulation had sagged which caused the front cap to get warm during the Summer months. It also meant that it was cold when we traveled during the Winter.
I finally took the cabinets down and used spray urethane foam to insulate the upper front cap which finally took care of the problem. I purchased the two part foam kit from a seller on eBay and it included everything I needed including the spray nozzle. Cost was about $250 total.

[pianotuna]

Add a grill. Insulation only slows heat penetration down. If you still want to try it use the type with the shiny foil with closed cell foam.

I added a grill to the pantry beside the fridge as the canned goods were warm to the touch.

[rk911]

we noticed the same thing on our '16 Suncruiser...the DISH receiver would shut itself down when its max temp was achieved. I ended having two things done to address this.

first, I had two 12v muffin fans installed that were powered by an adjustable 120VAC/12VAC converter. I control the speed of the fan and thereby the temperature by controlling the voltage. if I want to run the fans at 50% speed I set the controller to 6-volts and so on. there is no "thermostat" per se as the fans run whenever power is present but they are very, very quiet.

I set the fans to expel hot air into the interior of the coach. I facilitated that by replacing the solid center of the middle cabinet door with a decorative screen material. this allows the hot air pulled by the fan to be expelled. this kept the temperature in the cabinets roughly the same as the temperature in the coach's interior. we had no further shutdowns of the DISH receiver even in 90+ degree temps.

Photo 1

Photo 2

secondly, about a year later we decided to purchase a windshield sun screen to keep the coach interior even cooler when we were unable to park facing north or east. we chose the MagneShade but in order to install the magnets on the inside upper corners of the windshield we had to drop the cabinets (MagneShade now offers magnets for the exterior of the windshield...sigh). while those cabinets were down my shop added a layer of insulation to the backside of the cabinets...the side that faces the windshield. I still run the muffin fans but at an even lower speed.

good luck to you.

[imgoin4it]

A friend put whisper fans in his overhead