[Dan]

Here in humid South Carolina my bus barn is 48 x 32 with 16 ft to the joist. The roof is 6/12 so the apex is 24 high. I have an uninsulated metal roof and uninsulated 2×6 inch stud walls. There are vents in the gable ends. I don’t have a door on my 12×14 high bus entrance. So I get a fair amount of air movement.

But the heat rises and goes out. I it is rarely above ambient (97-98 this time of year) at head level and maybe 10 deg hotter at the roof line.

I have not noticed any effects from storing this way the last four years and my ac roof units don’t have the fancy de-humidify setting so they stay off when stored.

i know now others will have sharply different views. My coach is 23 years old and well depreciated when I purchased. I’m not protecting a million dollar investment.

[John]

Reese, it would be helpful if you put some information about your coach in your signature so we know what kind of coach you’re dealing with.

Coaches with laminiate (often Vitricor) surfaces present problems different than coach with wood surfaces.

Do you have 50amp electric available to you in the storage facility?

Is the ban against RVs the neighborhood HOA or the local municipality? Have you thought about asking to change the rules or give you a variance or a conditional use permit?

[Archived]

Reese, is ther power in your unit ? Geo.

[Archived]

I may be wrong but I think a greater risk for an unattended coach is not high ambient (or low) temps, but having electrical devices powered up such as an AC unit. I would want to severely limit the current draw to bare essentials because if there is any risk of a tripped breaker or lost power to the coach, our house batteries are going to discharge and that is a risk I would not want to face.

If the storage area has venting so it is not getting much above ambient I really cannot see a risk. If it is getting into the 130’s or higher then I have a concern. The best thing is the sun is off the coach, and nothing creates a problem greater than high ambient temps and the sun beating down on the coach to get hot things even hotter

My gut feel is the coach will be fine. As stated I would feel more comfortable if there was a way to know if power was interrupted because the house batteries can be hurt. The inverters shut down at some low voltage, but that does not prevent the phantom loads from killing the batteries.

[Corey]

Jon … how high of an ambient temp (hence inside temp for a coach in the shade) as the limit for the laminate surfaces like Vitricor?
Keeping in mind at night the temps are likely to drop.

[David]

I don’t know. I know two things. My bus is in a garage that is always a little cooler than outside. We have had a really hot summer and yesterday I worked in the bus a little bit and it was 86 before I turned on the AC so I would be comfortable. At that temp no issues.

When I worked in a factory doing plastic laminates I worked on the second floor and it often was 100 in the summer during the day and early evening. That had no impact on our work nor did it cause delamination.

But when we wanted to remove damaged plastic we used a heat gun and the surface got much to hot to touch and once it was hot we could slowly pull the formica or whatever we were using off the wood core. But I never measured it. The trouble is our hands can get burned around 120 degrees so all I can say is it was hotter than 120.

The ones who would know would be the folks whose coaches are outside in the sun and are not cooled. How hot do they get? And has there been issues with delamination?

[Archived]

Our rental bus barn is always about 10 degrees cooler inside then out side in summer and 10 deg. warmer in winter. Vents are located on each end of building open full time in summer and closed in winter. Unless one of the tenants opens the overhead door the temp will remain pretty steady.

I know of no issues with any coach parked inside due to extreme heat. Today was over 100 in KC and I’am pretty sure the temp gauge inside the building would be at 90.

Nearly everyone in the bus barn has a fan running full time with coach windows open .

[Rudy]

Great looking storage Al. Makes me wish I lived in KC.

[Peter]

I really don’t think hi temps (within reason) are the issue with the interior…but hi humidity is. Geo.

[Archived]

When I had my boat in Bradenton, FL I used a portable marine dehumidifier that sat on the galley top and drained into the sink. Made all the difference in the world. It looked similar to this one:

[Chas]

likewise, high humidity is an issue. Try to keep humidity in the bus barn at less than 60% as in S. Louisiana we run a steady 90+% all summer long and as we all know, our suspension systems, Don’t like moisture!!

[Archived]

All,

I appreciate all of the replies to my question about storage during the summer. The storage unit has both 110 and 50 amp power. Currently I do not have a Prevost, but in serious discussions regarding a future purchase. I worry about the effects/problems that heat and humidity can create for a coach.

Texas 40 I agree with you about having something like what Al has to store a coach. That would be nice.

Reese

[Archived]

Al,

Do you let your tenants run their air conditioners?

I just recently secured storage in TN at a huge indoor building (all open, no separate stalls, just painted lines). I have a 50 amp hookup but the amps will fall to 110-111 during the day with one air unit running holding at 78 degrees. At night, the amps will show 117-120 (check on my I-phone through Liberty’s i-link).

I will then run two air units to bring the coach down to about 72 degrees. The indoor garage temp seems to hold around 85 degrees with outside temps in the mid to upper 90’s.

The garage assistant said that they don’t want too much water on the concrete as to prevent an unsafe condition. I checked and the water that we put out puddles around the middle of the coach where no one will be walking.

I noticed that there is another Prevost with a CruiseAir running and their water puddle runs to the next space under a Jeep Wrangler. Maybe it’s their Jeep. LOL!

Anyway, I’m glad to have indoor storage in the summer months in TN. I also keep a rental storage garage in CA for protection.

Safe travels,

Mark

[Fred F.]

Reese, my Fellow Texan;

I live in Central Texas, so my summer temps and humidity is pretty close to yours. I bought my bus new in December 1998 and brought it home. It has “lived” outside the entire time I have had it home. There is a pecan tree on the east side of the coach that provides partial shade and a container on the west side providing a little late afternoon shade. But that’s it.

I rotate the coach so one side does not face west all summer. I drive the coach, a lot, and that helps out with not keeping the same side facing west all the time. I normally drive east and west so the nose and the tail take their turns at facing west. I keep all the windows and roof vents open in the summer and closed in the winter. The inside gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

We had over 90 days of 100 degree plus days a few years ago. The high was 112 degrees that summer. But as you know, we normally see 98 to 104 degrees during the summer. It is going to be cooler under a roof than outside in the sun.

After 16 years and 8 months of living outside, I have noticed the roof and roof trim paint is peeling and needs repainting. I feel that’s not too bad for being outside all these years.
I hope this helps your decision.

Michael

[Archived]

Like Michael, Central Texas Here (65 miles east of Austin), I’m fixing to have the same problem until I build another barn to house the bus. Sold my piece of Heaven out here and am looking for a place to store until I do build. Amazing to find a lot of HOA’s don’t allow rv covers even enclosed. Will find someplce under cover at least or hope so. My coach has never been outside overnight unless we were using it. The Gent I bought it off of years ago had a climate controlled barn. Mine wasn’t,, just tall roof line, but the factory paint job looks as good as the day it was put on new 25 years ago. Sun is the killer Gonna try and use a Noco G7200 12/24 volt charger and keep the batteries up as I won’t be able to see coach everyday like I have the last 6 years. Maybe run a roof van (fantistic) and crack a window for circulation.