Generator running while traveling down the road

[Weldondl]

Do you run your Generator while traveling down the road for a/c and refrigerator.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

The general concensus is "it's made to do that" though in the context of RV's I'm not sure any particular configuration is exhaustively qualified. But many people including myself have done it and lived to tell the tale. When it's a hunnerd plus outside the dash A/C has no chance of keeping up, so you fire it off and down the road you go.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Larry N.]

Mark's right that for most of us it's a normal operation to run the genny on the road to keep the coach cool. The dash A/C isn't enough to cool such a large area, and it deosn't hurt either the genny or the AC. Been doin' it for years.

 

[Mr Lars]

We do it all the time. Use the microwave, brew coffee, etc., all while traveling down the road.

 

[Skookum]

We have done it before. One day coming through Minnesota it was darn near 100 degrees with 100% humidity so we ran it from the middle of North Dakota all the way down to the Twin Cities, just to keep the coach cool. No issues.

You might already know this, but the generator will typically cut out once your fuel tank gets down to 1/4 (assuming it sips from the chassis fuel tank).

If anything, running it going down the road is better for cooling/air flow for the generator's engine versus being parked. The downside to that is, if it's behind the rear axle, many of them are, there's a tendency for the air cleaner to pick up more dust/particulates as the coach kicks up dust going down the road.

 

[zulu]

As someone who cannot run the generator (it's on the fritz), let me just say RUN THE GENERATOR.

Currently, we're traveling from CA to WI and the SouthWest is getting fierce now. The dash AC is good for 2-3 feet in front of it. On the other hand, when our RV is climbing steep inclines AC will cut off to to protect engine, so it's open window time.

Well, at least it's dry heat. However, when we get to the MidWest, it'll be HUMID heat. Yikes!

 

[LarsMac]

Well, I never run the fridge on Electricity. But, yeah, we have run the Gennie for the AC a few times.
Driving across Kansas in the summer, you can see days where it cools off all the way down to 100 f after the sun goes down. ya need a head start on cooling before you can get any sleep.

 

[phil-t]

Yes.

 

[Laura & Charles]

I’ll add to the ‘yes’ crowd.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Yes...traveling from Fisher's Landing to Bullhead City the temp was 110 in the shade. With the curtain pulled in the driver's compartment the dash A/C was doing OK, but we had a case of beer in the (luckily) bathtub and the tops started blowing off the bottles. Had to run the generator just to get the temp in the bathroom down below 90.

 

[CharlesinGA]

With a class C and probably many class A's you either have or could make a curtain to contain the dash air in the drivers compartment. Its also a privacy curtain. I found the one on my Winnebago View helped greatly with containing the A/C up front. I did run the generator and roof air one time, mostly as an experiment.

With certain generator installations the genny runs hot due to poor air circulation and the general cure is to open the access door. If yours is like this, obviously you will have problems running the generator.

As far as running the fridge and air on the genny, most fridges draw less than 400 watts (My Dometic 6 cu ft draws 325watt) and if you have a 3600lp or 4000 gas genny, it should not be an issue running both air cond and fridge. Just set the fridge to AUTO and it will switch between gas and A/C as it sees fit.

Charles

 

[jagnweiner]

Dash air never worked on our diesel pusher during the 10 years we owned it, so if we were traveling during the summer we always ran the genny while driving.

 

[John From Detroit]

Do you run your Generator while traveling down the road for a/c and refrigerator.

Depending on "other" things yes.. Normally I'd run the fridge on Gas (I know the insurance folks say turn gas off at tank but .... I trusted the safety valve.. never needed it)
But if I needed the additional COOL for sure I hit the genny start button.

 

[DonTom]

Dash air never worked on our diesel pusher during the 10 years we owned it, so if we were traveling during the summer we always ran the genny while driving.

Ever consider fixing it or having it fixed?

I have yet to run the genny while driving either of my RVs, but I have always felt the dash A/C was cool enough even when above 100° F./38°C. But if I ever felt the need, I would run it. In my 2022 Class A I can turn the genny on from the driver's seat. Not so easy to turn on in my Y2K Class C. I would have to stop first. But both RVs dash A/C blows ice cold air right at me and it has always been cool enough for me.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Kirk]

Do you run your Generator while traveling down the road

My answer is yes, many times and for many different reasons. We have even started dinner cooking in a slow cooker that is sitting in the sink and powered from the generator. All well designed, built in generators are intended to be usable when traveling and the vast majority of them are so used.

 

[jagnweiner]

Ever consider fixing it or having it fixed?

Don, I thought about it, but it wasn’t really worth it to us. Our summer traveling was generally confined to one trip of 10-14 days each summer And maybe a couple weekends in the local area. My understanding was that dash air was a pretty common failure on older diesel pushers with that much distance between the engine and the dash and the systems being kind of cobbled together by the coach manufacturer.

Also, the house air failed pretty shortly after I got it and I spent $2k and three months getting that fixed, so dash air was a low priority. Now it’s up to the new owner to decide if he wants to, but I suspect he won’t. Meanwhile, we will ride in the cool comfort of my wife’s big truck while pulling the new 5er.

 

[Racklefratz]

Do you run your Generator while traveling down the road for a/c and refrigerator.

Not for the frig - house batteries & inverter can handle all the 110v stuff except the A/C. But if we need to cool the box, sure, the generator's there to do that, and it doesn't know if the RV's moving or not.

 

[Dan_Frisbie]

Yes. Keep the fridge running, keep both A/Cs on ‘High”, have made coffee, and Kathleen has worked with her computer to get class stuff finished.
The generator is always on when we’re on the road.

 

[FunSteak]

Our dash AC has kept our 27' coach comfortable even on really hot days, so no complaints there. We have, however, run the genny on the road a couple of times for DW's computer, before we got a small inverter for that task. Worked just fine.

 

[Ex-Calif]

I shut down the genny at gas stops although I am about 100% sure it would never cause a problem.

Otherwise I run the genny any time I want to while driving.