Pros and Cons of Electric RV Awnings versus Manual RV Awnings

Electric RV Awnings or Manual RV Awnings, that is the question.

Last year we purchased a new travel trailer. The thing is great ! 32 feet long with 2 double slides. A king bed, large kitchen and all the modern conveniences that come in RVs. RVers now have lots of available options to choose from when buying an RV.

As we went down the list of options on the RV, we opted for virtually everything, as after all we would be full timers. The list of options was extensive and went something like this:

• Upgrade standard 10,000 axles to 12,000lbs with 16" tires and bigger brakes:  Absolutely.
• A built in vacuum cleaner:  No.
• A gas fireplace:  Not for us, we like to go where it is warm.
• Electric Awning $400:  Yes that will be very cool, or so we thought.

The idea of not having to go outside the RV at night, to take down an awning if the wind came up, sounded like just our kind of convenience. Now that we own one, we find that we are not that happy with our purchase. Our awning is made by Carefree. Due to our exterior door, the trailer manufacturer installed a very flat model. It extends out at almost a 90 degree angle from the trailer, with virtually no slant. I guess they have to do this so that the top of the door does not catch or rub on the underside of the awning. At first glance it all looks good. Downside is all the water gets trapped on top of the awning in a big pool. No problem we just need to drop one end lower so that the water runs off, right? Guess what, no adjustment at all is possible. The weight of the water must build up to a point where eventually, one of the pressurized gas shocks that holds the awning out, compresses and then a huge torrent of water crashes and cascades off one end of the awning. My wife and our dog were the unfortunate recipients of a surprise shower when the awning "ejected" while they were both sitting underneath, but too close to the edge.   Want your barbeque and chairs washed -- ours is the RV awning for you!

Well this only will happen if it rains we figured. Wrong. It also happens if you run the air conditioner, as the water runs off the top of the RV onto the awning more often than not. It also happens if their is a heavy dew overnight, as the RV roof and awning are a large catchment area.

Next challenge: How to clean the awning. Because it is so high on the RV you feel as though you are parked under a bridge for shade. No nice cozy feel of an awning above. Does not work well for shading the sun either, as invariably we have to sit off our RV site where the awning actually throws the shade patch. How do you clean something you can't drop down? It is difficult to reach the underside and needs a very long pole and brush for this. Hard to spray water that high to rinse the underside of the awning as well. I really enjoy the shower spray from above as water drips and sprays down on me. Good news is that cleaning the top of the awning is a snap. You just have to get on the roof of the RV. This always makes for a good time, there is always a great view from up there. Again you need a very long pole and brush to wash the awning while standing on the roof. Now how to rinse it? Remember the water does not run off, rather it collects in a giant pool of dirty water in the middle of the awning.  The awning works effectively as a "water hammock". Keep spraying until the gas shocks collapse and let the water off. But it never dumps everything because the awning fabric stretches like a saggy diaper. So rinsing goes on for a long time with rush after rush of water dumping off the awning. Phew all done. Back down the ladder I climb. Well I thought I was done, now all I need to do is wash the side of the RV where dirty water has splashed everywhere from the torrential dumps that happened. Almost done, just need to wash all the dirt and sand off anything that was standing within a 10 foot radius of the water dumps hitting the ground. May as well wash the wheels and tires too since I am at it.

This seems too hard. So I buy a small portable pressure washer for $150. Problem is the wand is far to short to reach the underside of the electric awning effectively and really far to short for washing the top of the awning while standing on the roof of the RV. Not a problem, I find a handy set of extension poles for my pressure washer $50. Now I swing and wield a 12 foot or so long pressure washer wand every time I wash my awning. Good times.

Another benefit is that we can't attach an Arizona room. Apparently they don't make bug rooms 2 stories high!  Oh, and if you haven't rolled your awning in for a few days, the gas shocks become stiff and locked in the out position. You have to go outside anyway and manually pull down the arms to compress the gas shocks so that the really feeble and slow motor can wind the awning in.

I have spoken to many electric awning owners over the the past year. They have all sorts of configurations from various mechanism manufacturers. Some claim to go in when the wind comes up. They work fine until they don't actually go in and end up wrapped up on the roof. Some have fancy whirling wind speed sensors on the roofs of their rigs to tell the awning when to come in. Problem is the many obstructions on the roofs of Rvs such as air conditioners, satellite dishes, antennas, air fans, etc., disrupt the wind flow often providing a lower indicated wind speed than what is actually being applied to the awning. This invariably results in damage. Some awnings go in and out again depending on wind conditions. Some have claimed that this in and out gig frustrates them so much, that they end up disabling the automatic wind detector and just manually roll it in an out.

At the end of the day I have come to the conclusion that if we had to do it all again, we would only opt for a good old fashioned manual awning. This corresponds with 95% of the many, many electric awning owners that I have encountered in our RVing travels. They almost all say manual is the way to go as well. While some are happy with their electric awnings, we would caution anyone thinking of one to actually test the one on your specific trailer and consider the possible downside.