Wildfire Season: Protecting Your RV (and Your Lungs) from Smoke
How smoke affects your RV's A/C, filters and generator, and how to keep the air inside the coach breathable.
Apex RV Team
Red Seal technicians ·
At a glance
Smoke season is now part of every Okanagan summer. Fine ash clogs A/C filters and coils, chokes generator air intakes and seeps in through every gap. Here's how to keep your RV running, and the air inside breathable, when the valley fills with smoke.
Smoke season is part of every Okanagan summer now. Even when the fires are far away, fine ash and smoke settle into the valley for days, and an RV, with its rooftop A/C, roof vents and many small gaps, takes in a lot of it.
A/C Filters and Coils
- Wash the A/C return filters every few days during heavy smoke, not every few weeks.
- A clogged filter starves the evaporator coil of airflow, which can make it ice up and reduce cooling just when you need it most.
- After a smoky summer, have the coils cleaned. Ash on the condenser coil cuts cooling capacity.
Keep Smoke Out of the Coach
- Close roof vents and windows and switch fan-vents off or to recirculate.
- A portable HEPA purifier sized for the coach makes a big difference, especially for sleeping.
- Check door and window seals. Gaps that let in smoke also let in dust and rain.
Generators and Engines
Ash clogs air filters fast. Check your generator and engine air filters after a smoky stretch, and carry a spare generator filter if you're dry camping.
Be Ready to Leave
During an evacuation alert, keep fuel and propane topped up, and keep the RV hitch-ready with slides in and awning retracted when you're not using it. Check DriveBC and BC Wildfire Service for current conditions before you travel. If something on the coach isn't road-ready, call us early. Mobile service is available across the South Okanagan.
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In our Okanagan Falls shop or at your campsite.
