It’s been hot, but it’s summertime, right? It certainly didn’t look like summertime when I walked outside a week ago. The ground all around our RV was covered in white fluffiness. Snow in July? In the Desert Southwest? Is this some kind of joke?
Cottonwood trees
It certainly looked like snow, but upon closer inspection, I discovered seeds—cottonwood tree seeds, and trillions of them! They seemed to fall from the sky in a blizzard. It didn’t take long for the seeds and seedpods to cover our campground like a soft, fluffy blanket.
Beautiful, but…
We enjoyed the otherworldly vision for several days. The seeds just kept on coming and coming! As we walked the campground, enjoying the view, we wondered, “If the ground is covered with seeds, what must the top of our RV look like? More importantly, how might the seeds affect our RV’s air conditioners?”
Up on top
Up to the top of the RV we went. Much of the RV roof was covered in seeds and seedpods. Our leaf blower quickly cleared the roof.
We turned to check the air conditioners. Here’s what greeted us. Turns out, each of our RV’s A/C unit was completely clogged with cottonwood seeds!
Cottonwood tree seeds clogged our RV’s A/C
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! As I peeled off the blanket of seeds, it was like handling quilt batting! Yes, it was that thickly matted. How was our A/C even working? The fins were completely clogged!
Most of the seed “blanket” peeled off. However, many seeds were still stuck in between the A/C fins, clogging it up. We tried blowing them out with our leaf blower. No luck! So, we hauled the wet/dry vac to the RV roof and began the tedious task of gently vacuuming the fragile fins until all of the seeds were removed. We put the A/C covers back into place and climbed back down.
Wet/dry vac
The wet/dry vacuum’s filter looked quite similar to the A/C units prior to cleaning. It was also completely covered with seeds. I quickly jammed the filter into a plastic bag and began picking up all of the cottonwood “droppings” we’d blown off the RV’s roof. We ended up with two plastic grocery bags stuffed with cottonwood seeds and seedpods.
The takeaway?
No matter where your RV adventures take you, pay attention to your surroundings. Think about how the weather, bugs and, yes, trees may affect your rig.
Check your A/C units frequently and be prepared to clean the delicate air conditioner fins. (Take some basic tools and a small shop vac with you—every time.)
What about you?
Have you ever experienced something like our cottonwood incident? Tell me about it in the comments below.
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##RVT1165
At our stick and brick home my condensor/compressor unit sits on the shady north side of the residence. Our summer winds are normally from the west and south. Our winter winds are generally from the north. Our neighbor across the street has a huge cottonwood tree in his front yard directly east of our A/C outdoor unit. Somehow, every year when that tree causes “drifts” of cottonwood seeds, the wind invariably and unexplainably turns easterly, right toward my A/C unit. If it’s a warm enough day to cycle my A/C on I have to clean my condensor coils almost daily to maintain airflow. Every storm season I pray for a strategic lightning strike on that tree. I have lightning rods on the house.
The owners of those trees call it fluff or cotton, we call it environmental pollution.
I would ask that neighbor to pay for cleaning your condenser. Let them know they are responsible for your extra work. Female Cottonwood trees are no longer allowed to be sold in Colorado because of the mess they produce. But unfortunately there are still too many of them around.
Well, Gail, you have certainly experienced the worst Colorado summer in history! Record heat, fire, plus collapsed AC ducts and seed-clogged AC filters, etc.! Maybe we could give you a completely different Colorado RVing experience when you head home. Before you leave Delta, try to tour the Yule Marble finishing plant located there and see if you can schedule a tour of the Yule Marble quarry. Then route your trip home on CO 133 over McClure Pass to the USFS cg. at Marble. Drop the trailer off, then drive a couple of miles to the town of Marble and underground quarry, where the block of white marble for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was cut out. Head home through Glenwood Springs to I-70.
Great suggestions! Thanks!
Here’s a preview of the underground Yule Marble Quarry:
Thank you, Gail! 🙂 Congratulations on being so well prepared for the cottonwood seeds! Yikes! 🤔😯 I do not know that we would have done so well. I guess we need to add a portable vacuum cleaner to our set of traveling tools. Thank you for chronicling your experience. Have a great week, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
I remember the first time the wifey got her bum stuck on the biffy. Yep, the fire department had to come out and pry her off. I went to the Pub after I made the emergency call and she was sure mad when I got home later that night. Yeah I’m sure glad I took the keys with me. Otherwise I may have been stranded. Still makes me laugh to this day.
I’m sure I need to clean my 2 rv ac units, I had to take apart 2 window ac units at home that quit. They were totally matted with a thick layer of a felt like mass. I used a scraper to get the top layer and a small brass run with the fins to get most of the rest. I followed with a small handheld steam cleaner that really did the job. I still need to get a ac fin comb repair previously hail damaged fins to finish up.
What brand or year was the AC unit shown? 1918?….I’ve never seen one like that and how would the seeds get in, the blower blows out, not in?