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TurnThePage's avatar
TurnThePage
Explorer
Jun 30, 2021

Air conditioning performed admirably.

These unheard of high temps presented me with an opportunity to test out the A/C in my old trailer. The ducted Coleman Mach III is 17 years old, as is the 24' stick and tin trailer it's installed in.

With temps hovering around 108 inside and out, I was hopeful but not very optimistic. The trailer was about 3/4 shaded. After one hour, interior temps had already dropped almost 15 degrees. After two, the interior temp was 80 - 82 depending on where measured. At that point I was feeling a little guilty about hogging power and shut down my little experiment.

I'm very happy with the results and am no longer nervous about adventures to the south in the summer.

Based on some of the stuff I've read here, I thought it was worth sharing.
  • We have a 2011 Bighorn, sitting beside our house in full sun. It's been 100 - 106 here and it's fully packed for a trip including the fridge, so I keep the AC running. It keeps it at a good 20 degrees cooler than the outside temp with just one AC running. We only have 30amp at home so can't run both AC's at the same time, but the one does just fine to keep the fridge at a good temp.
  • I had a pop up for 13 years where they "accidentally" installed an airconditioner on it and so didn't charge me, It was a beast that would keep the pop up cool in 98 degree humid Missouri heat. They really built them back then... I have a picture of the old black lab standing at the door with his nose touching in that heat. He was like I want to go inside. It was still working when I sold it with the only maintenance being to clean it every year or so. Never touched it otherwise. It would even start on a Westinghouse 2000 genset (without any slow start help) at 4500 feet here where I live in MT. That goes against everything I've read...

    Having bought a new TT in early March (28 ft, one slide), I also have been testing major systems. I noticed a new airco system on mine I hadn't seen before called an Evolution that appears to be a newer version of the dometic brisk air 13,500. One thing is that it is unbelievably quiet from the outside. Sitting under the awning, I could hear everyone elses airco but not mine 10 feet above my head. I got to test mine at the new Wingate campground at the Utah Dead Horse Point state park. We pulled in at like 99 degrees and I fired it up and it cooled things down within a half hour with the main vent opened, then went to the dispersed. The dogs layed under it loving it. It hit 75 within 40 minutes. Interestingly, the bathroom vent blows best and will freeze the bathroom if closed. The others blow about half to three quarters of it. So, we keep the bathroom open as it blows into the main area.

    I had a 22 footer TT for three years (that traded at what I bought it price) that had a small side mounted residential like airco and it did fine but took longer to cool than the new one being like 8600. It never got tested quite as much as this last run a few weeks ago to the Moab area.
  • Good numbers.The importance of shade can’t be overstated. Try that test again in full sunlight to see how it will perform.