No More 122 degree Inferno - Almost

[Groovy2]

my van Was dark fire engine when new  - Not because i wanted red but it was available -

while building van I noticed that the color red is a Pretty Hot color -
van metal out side would get to 145 degrees F and the inside of
the van would get to 122 F - sometime even hotter 
 through in some humidity and that makes for crazy hot -

Van would Never completely cool off  at night because it heat soaked in the Texas sun 
all day - even in the early mornings Red painted van would still  be 90 degrees inside
never cooled off - 

Van was Hot all the time and not much fun -

So I decided to Paint my Red van White --

In a few hours my van Changed from a sweltering sweat box To --->Nice  
  -- I can deal with this -- 
difference was like Night and Day / pouring sweat To >> maybe sweating some -

Im in Austin TX right now and its been 105/ 110F for the last 2 weeks
and inside White colored van the hottest it has been is 106F inside the van

In this weather inside a Red van it would be in 140F+ temperature range-
temperatures like that are Dangerous quickly -

Painting my van White is the Best Improvement I have made to my van -
van  cools off quickly at night so I sleep Much better and my van is now Fun 


--Jay--

 

[Riverman]

A white van with a 9000 btu mini-split a/c would be real cool.

 

[Van-Tramp]

Coulda just wrapped it in reflectix ?

 

[DannyB1954]

I lived on a boat for many years. White and Blue were the colors in the marina. Blue also seems to reflect ultraviolet. People would try using red for their sail covers and they only lasted a year or two and that was with high quality marine canvas.

 

[wayne49]

Thanks for the tip about blue and UV.

 

[lenny flank]

Whatcha gonna do in wintertime, paint it red again ....?

 

[Groovy2]

yup will repaint van for cold weather-
not red but a darker color -
so easy to change colors and only takes
a hour or 2 to paint van -
painting van is actually fun -
my van has has several different paint designs now -
mostly white is the newest

 

[lenny flank]

Gee, I was only messin' with ya, but I guess it's a solution.

Seems it'll be an awful lot of paint buildup over the years though. How much does a couple dozen coats of paint weigh?

 

[ratfink56]

My van looked like a major skin cancer when I got it. Peeling gray paint and surface rust. It's now painted with white Behr reflective roof paint which I rolled on. The temp difference is amazing. The paint job is good from afar but far from good.

 

[lenny flank]

My van is white (from the factory). I don't have a thermometer, but in the summer sun it is "effing hot" in there.

Though I suppose with a darker paintjob it would be "REEEEEALLY effing hot" in there. But I can vouch that "effing hot" is ... well ... "effing hot".

I make it a strict habit to simply not be in the van at all during the day when it's hot out. I spend the whole day in a museum or library or mall or whatever, and don't go back to the van till the sun is down and it's cooled off.

 

[freenez2]

Careful, White over red can = pink

 

[Groovy2]

Yup hot is Hot but then it gets in to crazy hot in a dark color van-

My red van was crazy hot -
dark red is basically just as hot as Black - Blue - Brown
any Dark color will be hotter than white - by a lot - 30 + degrees

Painting van white completely changed how hot the van would get
Red Van skin temperature would reach 145F

White color van skin get to 107F - Huge difference -

do a test - walk around using a IR temperature gun-
see what the temperature of cars in a parking lot
see what temperature of trunk area of different color cars are -

the results will likely surprise you - White cars will be the coolest by far -
Most of the non white cars will be close to same hotter temperature -

I painted van white with Latex paint and a cabinet roller -
was easy - looks good - easy to change color -
easy to remove paint if wanted-

Plasti Dip is latex paint made for painting cars that is Peelable -
Latex house paint is Very Similar - can get same results -

People living in dark color van age going through much tougher

Once you paint dark color van white - U never go back -

 

[Sofi]

I lived on a boat for many years. White and Blue were the colors in the marina.  Blue also seems to reflect ultraviolet. People would try using red for their sail covers and they only lasted a year or two and that was with high quality marine canvas.

I lived in a blue boat for 2 years, way back. It was ok in the summer (but she was sitting on the water too...) I was wandering how well done I will fry myself in my blue van,. I really don't want to paint it. You gave me hope!

 

[Groovy2]

dark blue van is just as hot as black van - seriously

 

[SilverVoyager]

I’m seriously considering having two exhaust fans installed in the roof, reversible, so one can blow air n and one out. Still will probably too hot in southern Nevada, but at least not fatal.