The old Stained Glass Window in the RV Door Trick

[Radio]

I am fighting a war on two fronts:

1. Keeping the Georgia summer heat OUT of the RV
2. Making the RV a desirable place to sleep late or go to bed early by reduction of uncontrolled light getting in.

Among other things I replaced the cracked shower skylight bubble with the smoke tinted style rather than the clear. And that seems to help.

Then I turned my attention to the entry door window, which you can't see out of and serves only to let in light and heat. If tint works on the skylight it should work here, too.

I originally planned to use automotive type window tint film, but found it expensive and boring, with various uninteresting shades of black, grey and brown it would indeed keep heat and light out. And make the trailer seem like a portable dungeon.

So I looked at Home Depot and found this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Artscape-24-in-x-36-in-Magnolia-Decorative-Window-Film-01-0113/100014505

Cost $21 and will cover more than one RV door window (at least 2, maybe 3) and comes in several interesting patterns.

Install is a typical wet the film and glass with soapy water type install.

However, the inside part of the door glass has a textured finish to it and the film will not work well if at all on the textured glass. The outside is smooth. Therefore the glass must be turned around.

You'll need some sealant to seal up the window again and a razor blade to scrape all the old seal off the glass and frame. I recommend against the use of an electric screwdriver as the plastic frame seemed easy to strip out. Also recommend a helper since the 2 frame halves AND THE GLASS will fall right out once the last screw is removed. Extra hands will help especially during reassembly. Apply the window film per manufactures instructions while you have the glass out of the frame for the best looking results.

Sweet Wife likes the results. I like the reduction in heat and light. And everybody likes a happy camper.

On edit, the colors match the interior way better than shown in the picture.

[NN5I]

Wade, didn't you ever learn to sleep in the sun?

[N3LYT]

I did exactly the same thing to mine even the same pattern! That textured glass collects light like crazy from all angles.

[wa8yxm]

Stained glass..Refelectivx Shades.

One thing that made a big difference on my RIG recently was a mop (OK I used a Van-Wash Brush(Telescoping handle car wash brush)

And some soap (in this case a bottle of car wash concentrate FREE from Pep Boys) and water.

The roof was kind of a light beige,,Not at all bad to look at,,Did not really look dirty

The roof IS "Snow Blind White" (And I do mean that if you spent too much time looking at it you might well go "Snow Blind") Far Far Far more reflective.

OH..I did the rest of the coach too. (But it is not white) Neighor is cleaning and painting..Same results (HE Is using White).

[Radio]

I did exactly the same thing to mine even the same pattern! That textured glass collects light like crazy from all angles.

Great minds think alike. :beer: The colors in that pattern agree with the colors in the trailer and they also tend to block a lot of light.

Did you turn your glass around, too?

I think having the texture on the outside makes the panel light up better and look nicer in the evenings when the sun is not directly on the window.

[N3LYT]

Yes the rough side is in so you have to flip the glass it needs a flat surface. I think I found my decal at Lowe's.

[wa8yxm]

The Georgia Sun.... Where are you.. I am in Townsend.

Now.... The Stained glass trick looks good but where I sit I often see visitors approaching via that window.

One thing I did that made a BIG difference a couple weeks ago was grab the needed hardware and go up on the roof....

Hosed it down with the Mr. Clean car wash tool set on SOAP

Brushed it with the van wash (long handled car wash) Brush

Hosed it down with Mr. Clean on Rinse,,then on Filtered.

Roof was kind of a light beige when I started.. Snow blind white when I finished.

Much cooler underneath it.

[Radio]

The Georgia Sun.... Where are you.. I am in Townsend.

Now.... The Stained glass trick looks good but where I sit I often see visitors approaching via that window.

<snip>

Roof was kind of a light beige when I started.. Snow blind white when I finished.

Much cooler underneath it.

1. I'm in Fayetteville. When we camp we usually don't wander far. Usually about a tank full each way.
2. I couldn't see out the frosted window anyway. All the door window was good for was letting in uncontrolled light and heat. Our floor plan has a big picture window right by the door so a clear window is a bit redundant.
3. I don't know if cleaning and treating the roof made things cooler but it was long overdue! Replacing the shower skylight with a smoke tinted version seems to have helped.

[NN5I]

Different strokes for different blokes, as a London hippie might say. Me, I'd be replacing dark windows with ones that let in lots of light, especially if I expected to do much dry-camping. Light from skylights and windows doesn't run down the house battery. If I couldn't sleep with too much light (definitely not a problem for me, though), maybe I'd put roll-down shades on the windows. These could even be highly reflective, like surfaced with aluminum foil, to keep the sun's heat out.

Let there be light!

[wa8yxm]

Ah my door is not frosted..And that is NORTH Georgia.. I'm SOUTH. About 200 miles south of you give or take a bit (Think Exit49 onI-95)

The CG I'm in is 3 miles N.W. of that exit...(1288 Cox Rd SW go to the next driveway) No trees but nice PULL THROUGH sites with full hook up if you wish to visit the Darien Area.

[Radio]

Different strokes for different blokes, as a London hippie might say. Me, I'd be replacing dark windows with ones that let in lots of light, especially if I expected to do much dry-camping.
<snip>
Let there be light!

Let there be controlled light.

We chose this trailer in part because of the plentiful supply of large windows, all of which have curtains, shades, blinds, whatever, to control how much (and if) light gets in. Only the door window and the shower skylight had no such control. Now they are both tinted.

When we finally decide to get out of bed we open almost all of the windows.

[NN5I]

When we finally decide to get out of bed we open almost all of the windows.

Lay off the beans and onions, and you won't have to do that.

[N3LYT]

Shoot my roolup blinds are even black I wouldn't care if the door did not have a window at all can't see out of the damn thing any way!

[Radio]

Lay off the beans and onions, and you won't have to do that.

See the tread about Vortex Fan install. :waggle:

[Radio]

Shoot my roolup blinds are even black I wouldn't care if the door did not have a window at all can't see out of the damn thing any way!

Right!

All the window did was let in uncontrolled light and heat. Now it's darker, cooler and object d' art.

:D

[NN5I]

Actually I'll bet it isn't much cooler. To get rid of the heat from the sunlight, you've got to send that sunlight back outside with a reflector. The pseudo stained glass will absorb the light and turn it into heat with perfect 100% efficiency, right there at the inside surface of the door glass, and you'll get just as much heating as you would if it flowed on in and turned to heat on the floor, on furniture, or on citizens.

It will be a bit darker though. As I understand it, that was your primary aim anyhow.

[N3LYT]

Actually I'll bet it isn't much cooler. To get rid of the heat from the sunlight, you've got to send that sunlight back outside with a reflector. The pseudo stained glass will absorb the light and turn it into heat with perfect 100% efficiency, right there at the inside surface of the door glass, and you'll get just as much heating as you would if it flowed on in and turned to heat on the floor, on furniture, or on citizens.

It will be a bit darker though. As I understand it, that was your primary aim anyhow.

You mean we shouldn't put window tint on car windows then?

[NN5I]

You mean we shouldn't put window tint on car windows then?

Window tint darkens the interior and to a degree some kinds of it protect your eyes from ultraviolet radiation. But, no, it doesn't typically make the interior cooler when the vehicle is standing still. Since heat absorbed by the window tint heats the glass itself, though, when the car is moving and the outside surface is cooled by fast-moving air it may get rid of a lot of the heat without heating the interior.

If the window tint is of a kind similar to that used on office buildings, it will reflect most of the infrared and thus reject the heat you'd get from the infrared. I have no idea whether the window tint used on cars is made that way, though.

Even if the window tint doesn't keep the car cooler, it's still worthwhile for keeping the sun out of your eyes and concealing your activities from other citizens. That's what it's for, eh?

[NN5I]

In general, to reduce the heat from sunlight you must (1) increase the insulation; (2) decrease the insolation, or (3) both.

[N3LYT]

I removed a huge dying oak tree on the southwest side of my house the only way we could survive was to tint the house windows we opted for non reflective tint, the tint has evolved to the point that it blocks both IR and UV and does a pretty good job of it I can say that it does really work the difference is dramatic. The very dark tint is even better but we wanted the views and some solar gain during the winter.

[wa8yxm]

I should add..There are campgrounds where I might well wish to take a piece of Plexi, cut to fit and apply that stained Glass decal..(A lot depends on the CG.