Kate Doherty
Here I go again, learning the hard way. A couple of summers ago we spent time exploring Utah. Many days, the afternoon temperatures remained in the mid-90s well into the late afternoon. After picking up our favorite chocolate bars, fruits, vegetables and other related snacks, we went four-wheeling. Upon our return after 6 p.m., our coach was a comfortable 75ish degrees. We decided to share a chocolate bar. To my amazement, upon opening, the bar was so soft it clung to the wrapper. To salvage the tasty snack, we had to put it in the freezer.
If our cabinets were hot enough that food was spoiling or melting, we needed to find a way to keep it cool.
We set out to create a heat-reflective barrier, starting with aluminized bubble wrap. It was easy to cut, size and apply using spray glue to the back wall of each cabinet. Aluminized bubble wrap is a radiant barrier that reduces heat transfer through reflecting. We debated whether we needed to go one step further and glue one-half-inch or three-quarter-inch styrofoam sheets to the bubble wrap as an additional insulative barrier. So far, we have not needed a second barrier in our food cabinets. If you chose to go that extra step, you would lose up to one inch of depth, but the tradeoff would be slightly more protection against excessive heat and cold.
So far, the aluminized bubble wrap has accomplished the task. Our cabinets keep our chocolate and perishable foods fresh and cool, and has prevented them from spoiling. Mission accomplished! The best part? It only took about half a day to complete.
LOL – I put perishables in the fridge. Work smart not hard!
What I got was not the perishable stuff, but the meltable stuff. I like the idea and think I will use it. Besides, our fridge is already stuffed.
The first thing that came to mind was to say that you invented a pop cooler, but after thinking more about it I’ll bet it would also cancel out some of the rattle factor, so it’s a good idea.
Great idea. This will keep canned goods in the pantry cool.
We did the same thing in our food pantry, it’s on the left side of coach. Works good.
Also, if the sun is shining on the outer wall on that side, we simply leave the pantry doors open. Helps even more.
We also cut a long piece of bubble foil to fit over the entry door and surround for when it’s cold at night. We hold it on with velcro squares. If we had to get out fast we could tear it off in a second.
We also made bubble foil inserts for every window. We slide them in behind the blinds.
Same here. Great to block the heat as well.
and light…I like to sleep in
The author doesn’t say if their rv had good insulation to begin with. If an rv is truly 4 season with good insulation to begin with, then this effort might not pay off as well as theirs did. For more lightly insulated rvs, this idea sounds like it’s well worth the effort.
We have a Grand Design and it’s 4-season rated. We custom-cut the bubble wrap for each window and put the bubble wrap in the window/s that are facing the sun. This made a huge improvement in reducing the inside temperature.
Never heard of this bubble wrap. Where do you purchase this? I have noticed how hot the side of RV that faces the hot sun can get and think it is just a good solution to help keep rig cooler. Every little bit helps!!!
I bought mine at Lowes but any building supply store should have it.
Yes, I got mine at Home Depot.
It’s called Reflectix and many RVers use this in their windows to keep heat in when it’s cold out. It’s also good to use to keep the heat out if your windows are facing the sun.
The stuff works but really not that well. It’s only like R.75 or R 3/4. I doubled up on it right away. The best ( which is expensive) would be the foil coated ridgid board . It’s R3 in 1/2 inch but its stiff so it would be a more painfull way to install.
Have you removed the bubble wrap from the cabinet and found moisture? I would think you might have some behind there. So I would be careful using this type of insulation.
We leave the cabinet doors open if it is going to be that hot, the AC on and a fan to circulate the air works great. With the time I saved not installing bubble wrap I ate a chocolate bar 😊
Only one chocolate bar, Tom? 😆 —Diane at RVtravel.com
I leave the doors open when we store our RV. That makes a big difference in the summer in NC. Nothing in the cabinets at the time but the heat can’t be good for the cabinets.
We also keep cabinet doors open during storage and when stopped at campground for more than a day.
Same here.
Would you need the reflective bubble wrap or would regular bubble wrap do the trick. I can see the reflective bubble wrap would be better for insulating windows because it reflects the sunlight (it has worked great for us). But on an inside cabinet I’m not sure it’s adding any greater insulation against the heat.
I may do this in the cabinet where I just stored a dozen of my favorite chocolate bars. (Don’t judge; there’s a pandemic.)
Insulating the cabinet also eliminates rattles and product movement during travel.