Expecting too much from AC?

Yes you are

Sounds about right, but I would expect more like 82. Stick a cheap analogue thermometer in one of the vents and see what the air temp is. Should be around 55.

Sounds like your camper did MARVELOUS if you ask me. You made your mistake by not leaving the air conditioner run all day while you were gone. Not only that, if your air conditioner was turned off in the morning, it hit 102 degrees outside, and the inside temperature was ONLY 88 degrees... you have a marvelously insulated camper.

If that were my camper, and it sat in that temperature all day, the inside temperature of the camper would not have been 88 degrees, not even the 102 that would match the outside temperature. Like a pressure cooker, mine would have continued to bubble up, more likely, the inside of mine would have reached near 120, and starting the air conditioner that late, it would have taken all night for it to finally make it comfortable.

No, yours did marvelous.

DutchmenSport wrote:
You made your mistake by not leaving the air conditioner run all day while you were gone.

I thought he did. He said it could not keep up.

2oldman wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
You made your mistake by not leaving the air conditioner run all day while you were gone.

I thought he did. He said it could not keep up.

Yes, I did leave my AC running all day.

tim1970 wrote:

2oldman wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
You made your mistake by not leaving the air conditioner run all day while you were gone.

I thought he did. He said it could not keep up.

Yes, I did leave my AC running all day.

In that case, sounds about right. Yours has 2 AC's for a reason.

One trick you can do to help it cool faster is to pull the slides in, making a smaller area to cool (works equally as well for heating faster in the winter too). On extremely hot days when our's can't keep up, we'll pull the bedroom wardrobe slide in, and one of the living room slides in, making the space smaller. This lets things cool down quicker, and then open one slide at a time to retain the steady temperature. (another reason I was so picky on making sure we had a camper that was 100 percent functional with slides in).

There is a reason your trailer came with 2 AC's and you just found that reason.

Rule of thumb is ~20 degrees below ambient is about all you can expect from an RV A/C. Might have done better to close all the slides while you were gone. Less surface area exposed and less cubic to cool.

Lyle

I was just at the beach for 5 days.. Our 42', Mostly DARK outer skin Fifth wheel ran about 75-78 degrees inside while it was 95 outside.. FULL SUN with the front door open, no awning out ( TOO WINDY ) only having a plexi glass PIECE in front of the screens..

We were ok with those results...

We run 2 of the 15k units, and using a digital thermometer, I was getting 59-60 at the vents

We have awnings over each window plus the patio awning. All windows have mini-blinds and the windows are lightly tinted.

When it's over 100 outside we can keep our 364 square feet at 80 or lower with one Dometic 15,000 btu unit.

Here's what we do-
> Once the outside temp reaches 70 or higher we turn on the A/C and set the thermostat at 57. I have found that if we turn it all the way down the A/C doesn't keep the trailer as cool (weird).
> If the outside temps will stay above 65 even at night then we leave the A/C on 24/7. This keeps everything in the RV cool (walls, counters, furniture...etc) so there is less radiant heat for the A/C to overcome.
> If we get cold we put on a jacket or use a blanket.
> The goal is to keep the RV as cool as possible without the typical adjust the thermostat up or down for comfort.
> All of the awnings are deployed and the mini-blinds are turned so the sun is blocked from shining in the trailer.
> The entry door stays closed as much as possible once the outside temp reaches 78
> We keep the ceiling fan on to help circulate the air and use portable fans to direct cool air into a couple of areas that are hotter than others like the rear corner dining area of the main slideout.