View/Navion & Staying Cool
Hello, It’s been a while since I posted on RV.net but we are considering a new rig and am starting to do some research. One of our biggest questions / concerns since we now live in the desert SW is...
Forum Discussion
Rick Jay wrote:JaxDad wrote:
That’s why so many people incorrectly believe the rooftop unit is more powerful when in reality (in the case of a Ford C chassis) it’s barely a quarter the capacity of the Ford unit in the dash.
Just curious, do you have any numbers/examples to back that up? Most of the vehicle chassis A/C's I've worked on (cars mostly) are rated 15k-20k BTU's. RV roof A/Cs are typically 13.5k-15k BTU. When you say "...barely a quarter..." suggests that there are 50k-60k BTU (4 - 5 Tons of cooling!) A/C compressor units under the hood. I don't believe that to be the case for the majority of vehicles. It might be the case for transit buses and such special purpose vehicles, but not the average vehicle chassis.
~Rick
You are correct, most cars do have a 15k to 20k unit, but in larger vehicles like full size SUV’s and passenger vans they instal much larger capacity systems.
According to the service manual for my unit the system takes 68 ounces of refrigerant, that’s 4.25 pounds. If you do the math that works out to more than 60k of cooling capacity.
I can’t find the link at the moment but I had found one that said a Sprinter chassis had a theoretical capacity of about 50k which makes sense because for passenger use you can add a rear auxiliary a/c unit of 30k to the existing system, it does not require a second compressor.
