Silver Screens

[teamGB]

Hello there,
I have a CI Carioca 694 with padded silver screens with suckers on and greyish padding the other side. May seem a rediculous question but I am right in putting these on the inside of the cab with the silver facing outwards?
I am getting the hang of things slowly.

 

[wiljoy]

Hi Team GB,
Yes they go on the inside but in time you will find a set of Silverscreen exterior covers will be much better. They stop condensation and help keep in the heat.
Keep searching, we all had to start somewhere.
Wiljoy:thumb:

 

[DESCO]

Hello there,
I have a CI Carioca 694 with padded silver screens with suckers on and greyish padding the other side. May seem a rediculous question but I am right in putting these on the inside of the cab with the silver facing outwards?
I am getting the hang of things slowly.

Yes you are correct but i agree with Wiljoy that a set of ext. Silverscreens are much better.:thumb: don.t worry we all had to start sometime you will look and laugh at the mistakes you made later on ,I know I do.oh:

Dave

 

[pappajohn]

yep....silver side out, inside the van.
they work in two ways.

in winter they keep in some heat but can cause condensation and, in summer, they reflect the suns rays so keeping the van cooler.

as wiljoy and desco have said, the external screens are much better at keeping heat in and stop condensation in winter but at a penalty.....they do get wet and dirty and you have to put 'em away sometime.

i use both 'cos i have them both....inherited the external ones with the van.:thumb:

 

[Bulletguy]

There are two sides to this ........bad pun i know!

I've had both external and internal. I sold the external and now use just internal.

There are 'pluses' and 'minuses' on both.

Internal;
Can be fitted from inside the van so it doesn't matter if it's pouring with rain....you aren't going to get wet fitting your screens.

They can be removed very quickly should you need to drive away suddenly for whatever reason.

They will always remain dry.

External;
Generally give better insulation than internal but you have to fit them standing outside your van.....not much fun when its raining!

If it rains during the night, you will be packing away wet screens.

If you need to vacate the site in a hurry......you are stuck because you will have to get out of your van to remove them.

This was a very good point a poster made on another thread a few months back now. If for any reason you meet with any form of unwelcome 'aggro'.....getting out of your van may not be the wisest of moves. Far better to simply drive away than risk confrontation.

You cannot do that if you have external screens.

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[Spacerunner]

Of course its perfectly feasible to use external screens on the inside if you feel you may have to move in a hurry.

Its a bit fiddly and, obviously they will look a bit of a dog's dinner but it works. And if they are the sort where you can fold the front down then you can actually be on the move in seconds and then fully remove the screens as soon as it is safe to pull over.

 

[purdo4]

Hi yes you are right, the suckers go on the windows inside and the silver screen is what you look at from inside your van.Dont worry we all had to start some-where and we are still learning over 2 years later.


Later on you may want to get outside screens and they are wonderful because you can pull down the front panel and see out,but have the privacy and warmth and coolness inside the van.We use these when we go away and put the other silver screens inside the van when it is parked up at the farm.

Cheers
Mo and Keith :thumb:

 

[oldun]

There are two sides to this ........bad pun i know!

I've had both external and internal. I sold the external and now use just internal.

There are 'pluses' and 'minuses' on both.

Internal;
Can be fitted from inside the van so it doesn't matter if it's pouring with rain....you aren't going to get wet fitting your screens.

They can be removed very quickly should you need to drive away suddenly for whatever reason.

They will always remain dry.

External;
Generally give better insulation than internal but you have to fit them standing outside your van.....not much fun when its raining!

If it rains during the night, you will be packing away wet screens.

If you need to vacate the site in a hurry......you are stuck because you will have to get out of your van to remove them.

This was a very good point a poster made on another thread a few months back now. If for any reason you meet with any form of unwelcome 'aggro'.....getting out of your van may not be the wisest of moves. Far better to simply drive away than risk confrontation.

You cannot do that if you have external screens.

Two more downsides with the internal screens

The condensation can be very bad making the inside of the window very wet - sometimes allowing the condensation to run down inside the dashboard where it may cause rust and other damage.

Often they do not fit very well (position of suckers) and let in a lot of light and cold drafts.

 

[American Dream]

Hello there,
I have a CI Carioca 694 with padded silver screens with suckers on and greyish padding the other side. May seem a rediculous question but I am right in putting these on the inside of the cab with the silver facing outwards?
I am getting the hang of things slowly.

I made a set of Internal silver screens and am delighted with them.

We normally leave the vents slightly open so there's always some air movement inside the RV.

Haven't needed external ones yet.I agree the internal ones are easier to quickly remove in situations where some possible "aggro" might occur.

Silver facing out is perfectly correct in the Summer, to reflect the "heat" of the British Sun.

Let's hope this year is better than last.:Cool:

 

[Bulletguy]

Two more downsides with the internal screens

The condensation can be very bad making the inside of the window very wet - sometimes allowing the condensation to run down inside the dashboard where it may cause rust and other damage.

Often they do not fit very well (position of suckers) and let in a lot of light and cold drafts.

Try venting your van!
The condensation forming is simply because you are closing all vents. This will occur in any mh/van/rv that is being slept in unvented. My campervan is far from the 'luxury spec' which many owners on here are running, yet i've never had any condensation problems.....because i leave my vents open at night.

Incidentally whilst on the subject of condensation. I see many mh's parked up for the winter months with external screens and sometimes complete covers. Thats just inviting damp!

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[Bulletguy]

We normally leave the vents slightly open so there's always some air movement inside the RV.

Sorry AD....read your post after i'd made mine! You are right of course and nobody with even the most basic van will get condensation...unless they have shut all the vents (which actually is a bit of a daft thing to do!).

 

[derekfaeberwick]

Sorry AD....read your post after i'd made mine! You are right of course and nobody with even the most basic van will get condensation...unless they have shut all the vents (which actually is a bit of a daft thing to do!).

If you are not getting condensation when using internal screens it's because the internal and external temperatures are much the same, i.e. not during the cold spells. The vents for circulation would need to be between the windscreen and internals to prevent condensation and even then would probably mist up with large temperature variations between the outside and inside. Personally I close all the cab vents when it's cold after fitting the screens, relying on the conversion vents which are designed for living in as opposed to the cab vents which are for travelling comfort.

 

[teamGB]

I made a set of Internal silver screens and am delighted with them.

We normally leave the vents slightly open so there's always some air movement inside the RV.

Haven't needed external ones yet.I agree the internal ones are easier to quickly remove in situations where some possible "aggro" might occur.

Silver facing out is perfectly correct in the Summer, to reflect the "heat" of the British Sun.

Let's hope this year is better than last.:Cool:

So do Itake it from what you have said that the silver faces out in the Summer and inwards in the winter. (Its such fun being a beginner)oh:

 

[Bulletguy]

So do I take it from what you have said that the silver faces out in the Summer and inwards in the winter. (Its such fun being a beginner)oh:

No...the silver side faces out at all times using the suckers to stick it to the glass.
Its stuck on the inside of each piece of glass.

 

[Chani]

Haven't needed external ones yet.I agree the internal ones are easier to quickly remove in situations where some possible "aggro" might occur.

My apologies for hijacking this thread slightly, but when is "aggro" likely to occur? I didn't think living in a motorhome was that dangerous!

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[scotjimland]

I didn't think living in a motorhome was that dangerous!

It's not dangerous .. but those who wild camp like to be able to leave quickly if there is any kind of disturbance, although this is highly unlikely, it's a good precaution.. much as locking your doors and putting everything away at night, whether on a site or not .. it's just good basic security ..

 

[Bulletguy]

My apologies for hijacking this thread slightly, but when is "aggro" likely to occur?

Where you least expect it.

Two years ago I parked up for an overnight on a carpark in a very desolate area of the Highlands. Beautiful scenery, a lovely evening and total peace.....until four teenage lads pulled on in a couple of cars blasting out techno music. They circled around my van doing handbrake turns etc. I held my ground but got prepared to move off as this area was miles from civilisation.

Amazingly a Police car suddenly turned up and parked up....sitting watching these lads who instantly calmed down.

Eventually they got bored and moved off after realising the Police were not going to leave until they had.

 

[Chani]

Ahh yes, I see what you mean! I suppose if you travel around a lot, you will need to wild camp from time to time. Thanks for the info

 

[pieterv]

No...the silver side faces out at all times using the suckers to stick it to the glass.
Its stuck on the inside of each piece of glass.

Why is that? Heat is radiation, so wouldn't it be better to have the reflective side on the inside in winter, i.e. on the warm side to reflect the heat back in?

 

[Bulletguy]

Why is that? Heat is radiation, so wouldn't it be better to have the reflective side on the inside in winter, i.e. on the warm side to reflect the heat back in?

The silver backing is there to reflect the heat and sun away from the outside. During winter most mh's/vans etc have some form of internal heating. Pretty much the same as in most houses.....and most people use nothing more complicated than simple curtains to retain heat in a house in winter.

An external screen will retain inner heat during the colder weather better than internal screens.....but as mentioned previously there are downsides to external.

Some people buy both, but i'm sure they would be the first to admit they use the internal ones more.

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[oldun]

Try venting your van!
The condensation forming is simply because you are closing all vents. This will occur in any mh/van/rv that is being slept in unvented. My campervan is far from the 'luxury spec' which many owners on here are running, yet I've never had any condensation problems.....because i leave my vents open at night.

Come on - you obviously know little or nothing about relative humidity, condensation and the dew point.

Atmospheric air ALWAYS has moisture in it (certainly in our neck of the woods) and if you cool the air down to the dew point condensation MUST take place. The dew point of the water vapour in the air must be above 0.01 Celsius. It will have this value when the relative humidity is almost zero. When the relative humidity is 100% the dew point temperature will be the same as the temperature inside the van.

I fully agree that ventilation is essential and my wife is absolutely insistent that we have ventilation no matter how low the temperature. The better the ventilation, the lower the relative humidity and the lower the dew point. However with too much ventilation there is little or no point in insulating the windows as the internal and external temperatures will be very similar. There must be some sensible compromise between too much humidity and too low a temperature.

When using internal screens made of good insulating material in very cold weather (around freezing) the temperature of the windscreen will fall to somewhere very near to that temperature of the external air and that means (almost certainly) that the it will be at or below the dew point.

These are indisputable facts I'm afraid.

 

[oldun]

Why is that? Heat is radiation, so wouldn't it be better to have the reflective side on the inside in winter, i.e. on the warm side to reflect the heat back in?

Heat can be by radiation, conduction and convection.

Radiation will always be there and so will the other two, some more important than others.

In the layer of air close to the window the main means of heat transfer will be by convection. The faster the air moves over the glass the higher the rate of convection and this is the reason why double glazing is so good - the layer of air between the two panes of glass or sheets of plastic is so thin and cannot move around much, so the rate of convection will be much smaller. Under these circumstances conduction through the layer of air becomes more important.

As the movement of air will be greatest (normally) outside the screen the external covers will trap a layer of air between the cover and the screen greatly reducing the heat loss.

Internal screen cannot do this.

 

[jezport]

I made a set of Internal silver screens and am delighted with them.

We normally leave the vents slightly open so there's always some air movement inside the RV.

Haven't needed external ones yet.I agree the internal ones are easier to quickly remove in situations where some possible "aggro" might occur.

Silver facing out is perfectly correct in the Summer, to reflect the "heat" of the British Sun.

Let's hope this year is better than last.:Cool:

You mention that you made your own silver screens, what material did you use and where did you get it?


PS. Love your RV its one of the best looking classics I have seen. And I have seen a few as I do valeting and detailing.