Ducted AC return air in fivers

[Snowman9000]

What mid level fiver brands have ducted rather than direct return air to the AC? Does that lower the sound very much? I don't like the high noise level of the direct air return ACs.

[lac0908]

Our 2017 Crusader 295RST has ducted returns; I no longer have to turn up the TV volume when it kicks on.

Larry

[racer4]

Our Cedar Creek has ducted return air. Both A/C units share the same ducts.

It is much quieter than what I had before.

[NC_Hauler]

Our A/C has delivery air ducts and return air ducts. Seems to be pretty efficient. Still a little noisy, but in my wife and my case, we don't mind it... My wife and I prefer a little noise to help us sleep.. Working shifts caused that.

Jim

[padre1944]

My Big Horn has "whisper quiet" a/c - ducted. It is still noisy.

[Learjet]

2oldman wrote:

Learjet wrote:
Well here you go, my signature model has both ducted output and return aif for both units.

Wow. Even household air isn't return ducted.

Does that make cooling more efficient?

HA! my house air has the return ducted too. It runs through about 10' of large round duct before it gets to the air handler.

[Jack_Spratt]

We have a 2017 Big Horn and it is a lot quieter than any other camper
we have had both in AC mode and in heat mode.

[Chris_Bryant]

Newmar has done it forever. It comes down to the fact that if you are trying to dump air into a small space, you have to remove it as well. Ducting the return lets each room have a balanced air flow.
It also does make it much quieter, and much more of a pain to work on usually.

[memtb]

2oldman, Some rv's have been doing it for many years. Ours is an '04, and I know it wasn't the first year that it was offered in the industry!

[Searching_Ut]

My Bighorn also has the ducted air delivery and return ducts. It's quieter, but tends to be somewhat less efficient at cooling. As far as noise, you still hear the rumble of the compressors on the roof, but the fan noise is significantly less. Half the round vents on the roof are return vents that have foam filters in them. Easy enough to clean, but you need a ladder to get up to the ones downstairs.

As far as the efficiency, with these bigger units you need all you can get out of the AC units. We dry camp a lot, and my twin generators will only power one unit which doesn't do all that great of job if we can't get into the shade on warmer days. Insulation these things isn't all that great, especially with all the windows. Seems there is always a trade off of some sort. On the plus side, the furnace is exceptionally quiet the way they routed the return duct on it so as long as we can head to cooler climates we're all set.

[rav]

ours has it and it is quieter- I think it is more efficient, just have 6 return air filters to clean. they don't take too long to clean and put back in

[Snowman9000]

It must depend upon your house design. Every house I've been around, the central air returns are ducted. Not true for window units, obviously.

All I know is, in our present RV (Class C), it's darn loud. We are looking for a used fiver to put on a site, and I don't want to have to live with noise like that.

[2oldman]

Learjet wrote:
Well here you go, my signature model has both ducted output and return aif for both units.

Wow. Even household air isn't return ducted.

Does that make cooling more efficient?

[Learjet]

2oldman wrote:
I didn't know any RV return air was ducted.

Well here you go, my signature model has both ducted output and return aif for both units.

FYI...I don't think the new Wildcats have that anymore. Although the return air being ducted looks nice and is a little less loud, I miss having the access to the AC unit from below.

[2oldman]

I didn't know any RV return air was ducted.