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Kevinscamps View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Thermal Pictures
    Posted: 10 Oct 2018 at 12:45pm

I have access to a thermal camera from work, so I figured I would take some shots of the camper being heated on a cool evening.  The results are startling.  The thermal imager is going to be my stud finder of choice from now on.  It was probably 50 out at night with 70 degrees or so in the camper and I was seeing 8 degrees or more surface temperature difference on the inside wherever there was a "stud."  

The camper is going to need some more insulation.  Unfortunately some of parts I have already insulated a bunch didn't show much improvement over other ones.  

 What is really noticable is how much the reflectix in the windows helped.  The front windows have reflectix under the shade and the slide out and dinette windows do not.  The difference is night and day.

 

https://postimg.cc/gallery/e14ix2fa/3bd9f882

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Ben Herman View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Oct 2018 at 12:47pm
This is totally cool - I want one! What model is your trailer?
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Kevinscamps View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Oct 2018 at 12:58pm
Its the 180.
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Tars Tarkas View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Oct 2018 at 6:37pm
Very interesting.  Thanks for posting the pics!

As for more insulation, Pods are so small and generally tight that heating or cooling them is quick and easy.  And you need some air exchange to avoid humidity issues, as well as maintaining a breathable environment inside.  If you camp with shore power you can use a little cube heater or the air conditioner at no additional expense beyond your campground fee.  Point being there's no economic advantage to more insulation.  Even without hookups, heating with propane isn't that big a deal in most cases.

TT
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mcarter View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Oct 2018 at 6:47pm
+1 to TT. The only thing I insulated on my 178 was the rear window. Never removed it. It was cold in winter and hot in summer.
Mike Carter
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Oct 2018 at 9:26pm
I insulated in between the framing under the bed in our 179 with hard foam. It made a difference, not my imagination.
2017 179 1/2
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Kevinscamps View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Oct 2018 at 11:46pm

I have a one year old that likes it very warm when she sleeps and has a havit of waking up all night long if she is chilly. Also I married coldilocks. In addition I live in colorado so the warmest nights in the mountains will be 50 and often much colder especially spring and fall. Almost nowhere we camp has hook ups, so not so easy to heat. We also use the camper as our ski lodge when we cross country ski in the winter.

I already have some insulation under the bed and in the wall of the slide out. I will finish insulating the cupboards soon.   I borrowed the camera just to see if I could attack the largest heat loss areas first. I have some lexan to turn the screen door into a storm door which should help with heat loss from the door, though from the picture most of the door heatloss is through the metal frame since there is no thermal break. After that I am not sure how far I will take it.

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GlueGuy View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Oct 2018 at 10:36am
I know that aluminum is considered a "heat conductor"; kind of the opposite of insulation. I'd thought about that, but did not realize that the difference would be that stark with a thermal imager. Thanks for that! Now I need to see where I can find one of those things!
bp
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DavMar View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Oct 2018 at 1:42pm
Very cool pics, now if you just have a way of transferring the photo to the pod with pin pointing the exact stud locations but it does give you a ball park area. I do see how it would be very much help with you upgrade your insulation.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Oct 2018 at 5:05pm
Yes for sure the aluminum will be a thermal short circuit. Not sure there’s anything practical that can be done about it. To find the structural members you can just slide something cold or shiny along the outside of the pod until it is visually aligned with the Al structure under IR. It’s 1 inch square tubing btw.
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