Air Conditioner Performance

bsheet2 wrote:

Groover wrote:
I had the same struggle recently with my Thor Palazzo about the same size. My AC's are ducted and I used an infrared thermometer to measure the temps inside the ductwork. I was actually getting 25 to 30 degree temperature drop so I came to the same conclusion as you, the unit just isn't very well sealed/insulated. At least with ducted AC's I could have both units working on the kitchen/living areas and managed to keep them comfortable. I don't know what type of stove that your camper has but mine is a little bit older unit and came with a gas stove. In expectation of heat being an issue I bought a 2 burner induction cooktop for the trip and believe that cooking on it instead of the gas cooktop helped a lot. The cooktop was $180 and I found a surprisingly good set of induction cookware for another $80 so altogether $260. It really did reduce the amount of heat put into the coach and is much easier to clean up.

About the only other easy things would be to make sure that you have double layer covers on your Fantastic roof fans and to pull in a slide during the day if that doesn't cause too much discomfort.

One final thing but it would be a bit expensive. I have heard claims that the Atwood AC's have more real capacity than the other brands and are quieter. I can't vouch for that so take it with a grain of salt. I have been trying to figure out how to compare brands myself but haven't come up with a good way yet.

Thanks for the responses.

I have arrived at the conclusion that I need to focus on improving insulation before I take any drastic steps.

Something I did discover. There are two AC vents from the ducted vent system that are under the drop down bed when it is raised. I dropped the bed down yesterday to put sheets on it and found it there was a large volume of nice cold air coming out of those vents. Suddenly that
whole forward area started getting nice and cool. I started checking other vents and found there are two that hardly have anything coming out of them. We ran the AC for a while longer and with the drop down bunk lowered about a foot or so. The AC performed much much better. Seems a quarter of the air was not making it into the cabin.

THat unit was just installed. I wonder if they messed up the tie in to the duct system??? Anyone know how to check it??? Can I drop down the inside ceiling panel as see ??

Anyway, at least we know what to do now to keep things comfortable.

Since your coach was made by the same company that made mine they may have similar ductwork. Mine has a duct on either side of the AC units about 10" wide and 3" high running the full length of the coach. The distribution from the factory was very poor since the vents were evenly spaced with total disregard for where the heat was generated so I bought 4 more vents and the correct size hole saw and put some more in where I thought that they were needed. Much better now.

As for the comment that you have to live with the noise I bought some covers for the return that really quieted them down. Everyone agrees that it was a huge improvement. We can actually have conversations at the kitchen table now. I have Dometic AC's but I think that they have versions for Coleman AC's as well.

Wacko AC silencer

My Dometics had a big discharge grill for "concentrated quick cooling" that I was afraid that I would miss. After adding vents straight out from where the cold air enters the ductwork I don't miss that at all and it is still quiet. I was also concerned that the flow would be reduced without that large noisy vent so I bought a vane type wind speed gauge and convinced myself that when I shut the noisy vent the air simply went somewhere else with very little loss so I haven't lost any significant capacity. Shutting off air vents in the over-cooled bedroom also mostly just routs the air to the front areas. The Wacko's are a bit pricey but they are still chump change in the total cost of owning the RV and made the family much happier.

Good luck!