Sunshades for the front

Maybe you all have seen them, the ones that Liberty put on. They're gray mesh, they snap in place, they sag, hold wrinkles. The good thing, they block out quite a bit of heat.

I've seen some tight fitting sunshades that look sharp. Ran across a vendor here in Traverse City that looks like he does very nice work. Color choice? Black. Well, I already have black privacy shades and they are a huge source of heat when the sun is on the front. My main concern is blocking the heat. Privacy is secondary, by far.

There's another company that offers color choices.

Has anyone had the black sunshades made? How's the heat? Did it work out, are they hot?

Thanks.

We have the black sunshades and they are great! They do not hold heat and really do a great job of reducing the interior temperature in the front of the bus.

Ours were made by RV Sunshades. They custom make their shades for each coach, so there are no wrinkles. They fit so well that, from the inside, it just looks like you're looking through a tinted window.

We have had a set made for each of our last 4 coaches by this company.

We're VERY happy with them!

We've had the black sscreens on the outside of both our buses, and they are well worth the money. We have white electric shades inside the bus.

We have the tight fitting black ones as well - Jenny said you could feel the temp drop in the cockpit area when I put them on for the first time at Kerrville a couple of weeks ago. With 105 deg temps and the afternoon sun on the windshield, I found it still necessary to close the front shades to block even more heat, but they work very well.

I have a question, are all the screens you all use have snaps?

Gordon, on your Marathon, are the front shades white or black? Ours are black and sometimes it seems cooler to keep them open.

Jim,

I think one of the differences is that the sunshades on the outside of the windshield shades the glass and provides for a reduction in temperature.

The black shades on the inside trap the heat between the windshield and the shades.

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Originally Posted by phorner

Jim,

I think one of the differences is that the sunshades on the outside of the windshield shades the glass and provides for a reduction in temperature.

The black shades on the inside trap the heat between the windshield and the shades.

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You're smart. So you think the black outside shades work ok, eh? Did you have the Liberty gray?

Elliott, All the outside shades/screens that I've seen use snaps to hold them.

Jim,

We have the black outside sunscreens and our interior shades are very light biege - essentially white. I think that helps reflect any heat adsorbed by the black sunscreen. Our test was in very hot conditions though so I am guessing in more normal weather the sunscreens alone will do the trick.

Doing a little griping here........

Our sunscreens are the gray ones that snap on the outside of the windshield and front side windows. They are effective at cutting down on the heat coming into the coach. They do fit tight.

Our privacy shades are black. Without the sunscreens in place those shades act like solar panels and radiate heat into the coach. If I ever want to go through the effort I will change them into white. They are the worst color possible right now.

Jim,

Our outside, snap-on, sun shades are black, and were made for our bus by RV Sunshade Co. They can be reached at 877-422-5679.

They are very effective, look great and we are very happy with them.

In my opinion, it is important to have someone custom make the shades for your bus so that they fit very tightly with no sags or wrinkles (unlike me :().

This way, when they are in place, they are not noticeable, and simply appear as a darkly tinted window from the inside.

I can highly recommend both the shades as well as this manufacturer/installer.

PS: Skiffer.... RV Sunshade Co. would be a good sponsor. Gordon Brown just might be interested in manufacturing/installing his sun shades at a rally???

Jim, we too have the external Sunshades. They were measured and sewn right there on site, the only way to have them made for your bus.

Ours have Stainless Steel Snaps, and I have them on the front window and door windows. They work like a charm, and are very well worth the money.

It takes maybe 10 minutes to put them on, but well worth the effort.

We had a vinyl bag made to carry and store them in when not on the windows, very nice to keep them stored. DO NOT FOLD the window shades, always carefully ROLL THEM UP. :)

Gary S.

When I was in Quartsite a few years ago I talked to one of the shade installers and he said he only had one guy bring them back. He said he had a 70 MPH guarantee, but the guy said they blow off before he got up to 70 MPH.

No telling what you'll meet on the road.

GregM

I keep it at 62.

I also heard from more than one shade company, that while some may offer more colors than black for their shades, the black ones are truly the easiest to see through from the inside of the bus? :confused: That is what they said, so I believed them.

Gary S.

I have the white shades inside the front windows. I also have the sunscreen black mesh covers that snap on on the outside.

I am not 100% on this, but once the solar energy is through the glass of the windsheild, it realy doesn't matter what color the shades are. I don't believe that the reflectivity of the white shades is sufficient to send the photons back out through the windsheild.

I will tell you this much, that when the sun gets to beating on my bus, it gets hot in at the driver's area. It gets really hot between the shades and the windsheild. So hot in fact that the heat softened the glue on the white shades and caused the fabric to seperate from the roller. :eek:

Now that I see how these things are put together, I considered changing them to something else and while thinking it through, I came to the above conclusion. And in my best Yogi Berra, the way to keep the heat from coming into the bus is to keep the heat from coming into the bus:rolleyes:.

I will try to get the outside shades on as often as possible. I will also be making sheilds from the reflective bubble wrap insulation for all my windows to be set in place while the coach is in idle in storage. I am afraid that the small amount of UV, the IR and the heat will just destroy all the other shades.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

P.S. These shade fabrics are the same thing they use on greenhouses and for sheilding nursey stock. Usually, you can order a fabric and specify how much sunlight blocking you want to acheive. Again, they go on the outside of the glass.

For those that do not have the snap on outside sun screens I can say that they make a huge difference in how much heat gets into the coach. They are a pain to attach because a ladder is needed, but they are effective.

The privacy shades emit heat. As Ed says once the heat gets past the windshield in the form of solar energy the entire front of the coach gets very warm. Too bad we cannot leave the sun screens on while driving in a southerly direction. I cannot imagine how hot an H3 gets with that tall expanse of glass.

Don't think it has as much to do with photons of light as radiant heat - dropping the inside privacy shades definitely adds a cooling layer when the coach is facing the sun even with the black sunscreens on. More likely just another insulating layer against the heat radiated from the black screen and glass.

White doesn't adsorb as much heat as black. The reigning czar of global warming wants us to paint our home roofs and cars white - remeber???:rolleyes:

There is the possibility of a more permanent fix.
The link is only an example of the product.
If you go to the link click on the second feature in the list under current news on the left side of the page, it will be a a short video of the application of the product. The part you want to see is in the middle of the video and not right at the beginning.

Those living in the southern states are probably familiar with such products used to protect their household from damaging UV (ultra violet radiation).
If you use this product be sure not to clean it with ammoniated cleaners as it will damage the film.

The film is also available in auto specialty shops that sell stereo, audio, and other things that some think tricks out their vehicles. The film is available in varying values to block light transmission.

http://www.energy-film.com
/?gclid=COX87pbFw5sCFRd75QodpwXU_w

The only problem that I foresee with the product is, I don't know how well it will conform to the compound curves of the windshield.

JIM

I always have my car windows (driver and passenger) tinted to match the back windows:cool:. It helps considerably in blocking the intensity of the heat radiating into the car. Washington has restrictions as to how dark the tint can be but they don't substantially enforce it. In the southwest nearly all the cars have added tint to their windows to block the UV and heat allowed into the car. Our tinting guy told me last time I was there that some people that have bright light sensitive eyes have the front windshield tinted as well, so apparently the curvature of the glass isn't a problem. This would be a good alternative to the exterior shades or in addition to.

Jim:

The product you cite is not CDF "Clear Distortion Free". Not acceptable for driving glass. Here's one that may work, but is installed with a CDF adhesive by a professional.

http://www.llumar.com/en/Default.aspx

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Originally Posted by GDeen

Don't think it has as much to do with photons of light as radiant heat - dropping the inside privacy shades definitely adds a cooling layer when the coach is facing the sun even with the black sunscreens on. More likely just another insulating layer against the heat radiated from the black screen and glass.

White doesn't adsorb as much heat as black. The reigning czar of global warming wants us to paint our home roofs and cars white - remeber???:rolleyes:

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That's a trick answer right? I didn't get the bus with the option for the altered set of universal laws of thermodynamics. How much did that cost?:rolleyes: It's all about the photons. :D Even your radiant heat is photons in the non visible Infra red range.

Painting it white is a bad term. Painting it reflective is a better color for reducing thermal load. You can actiaully paint things black and have them more reflective (cooler) than white. It is a function of what's in the paint and usually what's important is what you can't see. Most of the heat action is in the invisible ranges.

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Originally Posted by sawdust_128

Most of the heat action is in the invisible ranges.

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That's what my wife tells me. :eek::p

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Originally Posted by sawdust_128

That's a trick answer right? I didn't get the bus with the option for the altered set of universal laws of thermodynamics. How much did that cost?:rolleyes: It's all about the photons. :D Even your radiant heat is photons in the non visible Infra red range.

Painting it white is a bad term. Painting it reflective is a better color for reducing thermal load. You can actiaully paint things black and have them more reflective (cooler) than white. It is a function of what's in the paint and usually what's important is what you can't see. Most of the heat action is in the invisible ranges.

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Ok Dustman - you are way over my head. I know my black truck is a lot hotter to the touch than my white car, photons be damned.... I also know that running my white interior shades down significantly lowers the cockpit temp even with the black sunscreen on....photons be damned again! But, as I have read JDub say, I am just a lowly oilfield hand (in fact, much lower than he is).

I am calling the red line at the whitehouse and nominating you as new Global Warming Czar. At least it sounds like you know what you are talking about. :)

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Originally Posted by GDeen

At least it sounds like you know what you are talking about. :)

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Since when is "knowing what you are talking about" a requirement for leadership at the federal government level? :confused: What a concept! Are you listening Mr. Obama??? :D

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Originally Posted by GDeen

I am calling the red line at the whitehouse and nominating you as new Global Warming Czar. At least it sounds like you know what you are talking about. :)

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Don't you dare.:eek: I take it all back. I'm sorry!! What photons? What the hell is a photon and who in the hell cares about photons anyway. Why would you want to even if you knew or could? Don't want none, don't need none, couldn't afford them if I did --- PHOTONS. ----PAHToooooHIE


But, now let me really put a twist in your knickers, that oil stuff you work with, it would not be important if it wasn't full of photons:eek:. Oh yeah, your bus runs on photons. And most of all remember, that the universe is expanding and getting so big it will one day turn into, yes you've got it, nothing! :confused: Kinda makes plaid bermudas, black socks, sandles and paisley shirts at one time seem O.K.!!

and here I thought it was made of dinosaur turds...what will they think of next???