Need advice on 2nd Air

[nguyenbio]

I am having a second air conditioner put into the bedroom of our fifth wheel. Should we attempt to tie into ducts our just dump it into the bedroom.
Please give me pros and cons of each scenario from real world experiences.
All advice is appreciated

Thanks!
Joe

[Only_True_Mosno]

I was where you are a couple years ago. Just purchased my first fiver and was curious about second AC. All the old timers said heck yeah! I always listen to those with more experience and I ended up buying a non ducted Atwood Air Command that will operate on a 2,000 watt Honda Generator from Camping World. I am sooooo glad I bought a second air conditioner! I like it cold as ice inside when tbe outside is 90 plus so it definitely does that! As far as noise, I actually like the white noise to drown out late nighters abd cars driving by. We installed ours is our front bedroom and the only thing I am concerned about is the extra height it added to the fiver. I am probably at about 13.5 feet now which makes a tad nervous. Good luck...you won't be sorry you have a second...but you might regret not having one when its toasty outside.

[Dayle1]

avvidclif1 wrote:


I prefer the ducted as I can run the main AC at night to cool the BR and have almost no noise.

Clif, if the BR A/C is non-ducted the same situation is still true. The main A/C will cool the BR thru the existing ducts and the 2nd A/C can be off to minimize noise in the BR.

[Dayle1]

nguyenbio wrote:
Thanks for all the advice and opinions. For those of you that had it dump into the bedroom, did you notice an overall improvement in the entire interior of the coach versus having only one main one trying to cool the entire unit? Do you feel with the bedroom door open, the bedroom air actually help cool the coach better?

Absolutely, with a single A/C and 100 degree temps it was hard keeping inside under 80 degrees at times. With the 2nd A/C just in the bedroom I can easily keep temp at 72 degrees throughout the fiver if I want.

[Trlrboy]

When we bought our 5th wheel we had a second 15K A/C put in the bedroom which is ducted throughout the trailer. Best decision we've ever made. When it gets up to 105° outside down here in Texas, our trailer can easily be in the low 70's without much effort. We only run one A/C if we have 30A service.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

nguyenbio wrote:
Thanks for all the replies! i do have 50 amp service. Please keep the advice coming!

You're in So. CA.

Many of the replies come from hot AND high humidity parts of the country.

Take into consideration where you plan to travel.

(In So.CA) - I have a 15K btu (main) and the 13.5 in the bedroom.
Rarely need the bedroom AC - but better to have it and not need it, than vice versa.

Putting the ducting / no ducting issue aside, (IMO) if you add the bdrm A/C, consider a low profile unit - and/or a 9K btu.

Reduces overall height. (I'm at 13.3" due to the bdrm A/C.)
Have been under/thru some *close* clearance areas where even a few inches would make me feel better.

Hmmmmm - do you believe the/a *temporary* clearance sign or not?

Some of those were "cutting it close" on Interstates where *normally* it wouldn't be a problem (lots of room!) - but road work on bridge or tunnel was in progress.

Did the work crew/s measure correctly?..:h
Did clearance (but not the sign) change while work was in progress?.:h

Took the posted detour from I-70 to "old" US 6 at Loveland Pass (rather than through the Eisenhower tunnel) one year due to a temporary 13'6" for the tunnel.
Not a fun detour (steep, winding 2-lane road) - but guess pics from the very top (12K ft) of the Continental Divide made it worthwhile..:C

.

[Bumpyroad]

Evans & Lana Waller wrote:
Can one use a 30 amp service with two air conditioners runing?

yes, with a decent EMS.
bumpy

[avvidclif1]

I have had both. If adequate outlets are available then ducted is better. Both of mine had dual zone thermostats though. Living and BR both had a temp sensor and were independently adjustable via a single control. My current one is short on outlets (soon to be corrected) so the BR AC is not ducted but is controlled by the thermostat. There are no controls on the unit itself and most importantly it cycles on as needed to maintain the set temperature. It doesn't have a constant on fan and a 1-9 thermostat like most non-ducted units.

Once I add some more outlets I will tie the BR unit into the ductwork.

I prefer the ducted as I can run the main AC at night to cool the BR and have almost no noise.

And both of the units (ducted and non ducted BR)were operated in over 100 deg heat over the past 3 years.

[nguyenbio]

Thanks for all the replies! i do have 50 amp service. Please keep the advice coming!

[mdamerell]

Evans & Lana Waller wrote:
Can one use a 30 amp service with two air conditioners runing?

I can only run 1 AC unit (15k) at a time on 30 amp service and sometimes I have to put the hot water heater on gas. I pull around 11 amps on low and 20ish on high according to my progressive industry display. With the coffee pot, tv, etc it can get touchy.

[Evans___Lana_Wa]

Can one use a 30 amp service with two air conditioners runing?

[ttempleton]

nonducted is better for BR

[ttempleton]

Conducted is better for BR

[jaycocamprs]

Our bedroom AC is not ducted. It does help cool the whole trailer, but the effect on the living area is limited. We use it on the initial cool down, and if we have 90+ temps and limited shade. While we run it on low and it cycles more off than on, it does what we wanted it to do. Keep the trailer cool in the summer, something that 1 AC can’t quite do.

[mdamerell]

Need to look at how it was prepped. The specs I saw for your trailer said "wired and framed", so if it's like ours, it probably won't have duct access. We added a non-ducted Dometic Due-therm 1500 BTU heat pump instead of a straight AC unit. It is louder than the ducted unit but we only run it to help cool off the camper or when it's really hot out. On a cool night it's kind of nice to flip on the heat without turning on the furnace.

When cooling down the camper I dump the main unit into the living room and the bedroom dumps in the master bedroom. Once cooled down I direct the main back into the ducts and then turn off the AC in the master bedroom.