to all of you who have a black/dark colored bus

[himem777]

I would like to paint my bus all black but im concerned that it would make it too hot in the summer.Do you find that you have trouble cooling your bus in the summer time?

[westport_wayne]

if you was wondering if you painted your bus black woulb it be hot in summer ?? i would say YES. but i guess it would depend on where you live and if you got air conditioning. up here in oregon, summers dont get that hot but it does get to 90 degrees some time and my buses are roasting in side.(mine are hunter green).if you look at buses say in nevada-cali.-utah-ect. the tops are painted white so you dont have roasted kids but then again, black sure looks good . the lighter colors usually dont retain as much heat, but ive been places where i think it would be hot no matter what color your bus is. good luck- john

[SeanF]

The black rub rails on our yellow bus get to 110*F in mid-winter, with ambient temps below freezing. That's Arizona sun at 7000' elevation for you. And heat transfer from the metal exterior skin to the interior skin is very efficient unless that thermal pathway is broken somehow.

One semi-serious thought I had was to paint one side a dark color, and the other a lighter color. Park with the dark side to the south in the winter to gather the heat, orient the lighter side to the south in summer to resist heat gain.
(Replace "south" with "north" in the above if you're in the southern hemishpere...)

Sean

[lapeer20m]

I worried about the same issue when i was painted my bus black. I live in michigan which is not that hot of a climate, but i have taken my bus(s) to nevada during the month of august the past couple years, and I find that with good ventilation (lots of open windows) the color of the bus is not really perilous. I did however have a bright yellow roof rack on the bus that i'm sure reflected a great deal of the suns energy.

The black on the roof of the bus gets so hot that I cannot walk on it for more than a step or two...and i have tough hillbilly feet in the summer.

[captainkf]

My bus is a burgundy red and in the summer the roof temp (uninsulated, well stock which is the same thing) is very hot. We have a large deck that is painted white on top and inside the bus you could feel the heat radiating inside the roof from areas that are not covered by the deck. My plan this summer is to keep the deck and paint the rest of the roof with Plas-T-Cote alkyd fiber roof coating (white). I will the lower portion red. This should help. I don't want my unit all white so this seems a good compramise. -Richard

[Castro]

An all black bus is a little hotter. However, if you dont mind having windows open, it isnt all that bad. I've had it out in mid July in 90 degree weather. The worst part of the day was just when you wake up. If you've had all the windows up because it was cold at night you roast in there. But, once you get the windows open it is fine.

[jstark]

My bus is a dark navy blue, and it gets very hot in the summer. Even with an air conditioner running all night, I usually woke up sweating. And if I didn't have electricity...forget about it.

One thing to keep in mind is your sleep schedule. We don't crash until 4ish, so when the sun is blasting strong by 8 or 9, it tends to piss you off. If you're in bed by midnight, though, you'll be a lot better off.

One thing that helped immensely was painting the roof white. I got some thick paint from Menards that was designed for mobile homes. I forget how many gallons it took, but it wasn't too bad. I think I spent $30-40. I just rolled it on. It has helped a lot.

David
mailto:dquacken@engineering.uiowa.edu

[Eric von Kleist]

My bus is all white. It makes a big difference. When it was still yellow, while I was painting it, It got unbearably hot inside during the sunny April and May days here in SC. Now it does not get above ambient. The highest it was during last July was 92 degrees.

I strongly recommend white for heat reflection.

When the bus is dirty (I call it off-white), I can tell that it is warmer inside than when it is clean.

[lapeer20m]

Originally Posted by fireguy9993

An all black bus is a little hotter. However, if you dont mind having windows open, it isnt all that bad. I've had it out in mid July in 90 degree weather. The worst part of the day was just when you wake up. If you've had all the windows up because it was cold at night you roast in there. But, once you get the windows open it is fine.

AMEN BROTHER!!!

[himem777]

Thanks fr all the good post. This will help in making the final product.

the next think I will need to boil my brain over is type of paint vs cost!



Oh nooo! brain boiling already mmust stoop thinkkimmgggg.

[Coalforge]

When my work truck was replaced with a forest green instead of the lime green I found I could not keep my dark glasses above the visor. The dark green collected enough heat that the glasses would blister you. The light lime green was much cooler.

[GoneCamping]

I have a similar experience to those posted above. When mine was still yellow, it got unbearably hot inside. As I was painting the roof white with some Kool Seal, about half way through the painting project I'd go inside and check. The ceiling was much cooler to the touch under the portions painted white than the area's still painted yellow. I just couldn't imagine having a black roof. I painted the whole bus white, but I'll be adding in some other colors in a yet to be determined paint scheme...but the roof will remain white no matter what the rest of the scheme turns out to be!