Running A/C on Low

[Dynalmadman]

Hi guys,

Wife and I are pretty new to RVing, just bought our 5th wheel a couple weeks ago and are loving it so far.

When we bought it, our salesman and the tech that gave us our walk thru instructed us to not run the A/C on lo fan because there was a greater chance of freezing up the unit. Lo was fine for heating but not cooling. A/C must be run on Hi.

Now we have 2 units, one in the main living area and another in the bedroom. They are pretty loud and wake us up every time it cycles on during sleep.

Finally, my question. Is this true? Are we risking a freeze up if we run the bedroom A/C on low? Didn't want to try it until I get some wisdom from you fine folks.

Thanks.
Michael

[K3WE]

We live in a fairly humid area and have never had freeze up issues. I get the theory and could see how it might happen (and have seen it with car ac) but I vote with those who say to not worry too much. If it happens then try running the fan on high.

[TXiceman]

Yes, lots of opinions based on passion, but not a lot of facts. It is amazing at the "experts" on A/C units and most have never had any A/C instruction or training.

You need to depend on the answers from people that were actually trained on A/C theory.

ken

[Dynalmadman]

Alright. Thanks for all the replies. So many different opinions. Guess I will just dive it a try and see what happens.

Michael

[Jayco254]

Ours runs on low most of the time and we've only froze up once and that was on a very humid day, so unless it's extremely humid, I wouldn't worry about it. If it does freeze up just run the fan on high with the compressor off it won't take too long to thaw out, although it will be warm until it does.

[navegator]

We where at an RV park in Palm Springs and decided to turn the A/C fan from high to low and leave the thermostat where it was, whent to bed and arround two in the morning my wife whoke me up saying that the A/C was broken, it sounded pretty bad, took the cover off and I coud see the ice on the unit so I got the hair dryier and melted the ice.

We now run the A/C on high fan and control the temp only, no more ice blockages, it is to hot outside, 84 degrees at 9 in the night.

navegator

[Itching2go]

Dynalmadman wrote:
Hi guys,

Wife and I are pretty new to RVing, just bought our 5th wheel a couple weeks ago and are loving it so far.

When we bought it, our salesman and the tech that gave us our walk thru instructed us to not run the A/C on lo fan because there was a greater chance of freezing up the unit. Lo was fine for heating but not cooling. A/C must be run on Hi.

Now we have 2 units, one in the main living area and another in the bedroom. They are pretty loud and wake us up every time it cycles on during sleep.

Finally, my question. Is this true? Are we risking a freeze up if we run the bedroom A/C on low? Didn't want to try it until I get some wisdom from you fine folks.

Thanks.
Michael

Same circumstances for us. My wife is awakened every time the bedroom A/C fan kicks on at night. With two A/C units sharing common ducts, our 'fix' is to make sure the bedroom is cooled down before we head to bed, and then run the living room AC on constant low fan with the thermostat set to 72 degrees. We then close most of the ceiling vents other than those in the bedroom, with result that we have a healthy amount of cool air circulating there all night. As the fan is in the living room and is not cycling on and off, it becomes unobtrusive 'white noise'. This has worked for us for the past couple of years with no freeze-ups. Having said this, there might be a freeze problem if attempting this in the heat of the day.

[mileshuff]

My old Hybrid trailer with a Coleman A/C would freeze often if run on high. Could only run low for extended periods.

[spoon059]

dodge guy wrote:
maybe if the humidity was 80%+ it may! (which we have camped in).

Nothing of substance to add, just want to point out how much this comment upsets me. In the summer in the DC area the humidity is usually around 80%, often higher. I hate living here...

[dodge_guy]

I run ours on low and high with no set reasoning other than the sound it puts out. I have never had ours freeze up on low or high. maybe if the humidity was 80%+ it may! (which we have camped in). otherwise I wouldn`t worry too much about it. run it how you feel suits you. if you find it freezing up, then run it on high.

[Passin_Thru]

In NV probably not as it's too dry to form condensation. come to VA and you will have almost a steady stream in the day and drip-drip all night.Humidity here was 100% today and 94 before itt rained, tomorrow 85 and 150%.

It's not the heat, it's the humility. Yogi Berra

[APT]

Gale Hawkins wrote:
We leave the blower blow all the time so the noise of start up is not huge but I sleep when I sleep. 🙂

Same, fan runs on low all night for white noise and the AC compressor is less noticeable. Our family of 5 sleeps well!

[tpi]

Finally, my question. Is this true? Are we risking a freeze up if we run the bedroom A/C on low? Didn't want to try it until I get some wisdom from you fine folks.

No harm in trying it. I'm going to guess your odds of freeze up are less than 50%. Running on medium or high greatly diminishes the chances.

I've had three roof airs now. Two Dometic Penguins and one Coleman. My latest Penguin 15K heat pump will just start to freeze (slight diminished airflow) before it is detected and the compressor shuts off. The former two would run on low without freezing, although one of them had a tendency to drip some water into the RV.

[2012Coleman]

Maybe you can try turning up the thermostat a little and use a fan in the bedroom. That will circulate the air while the unit is off.

[Fulltimer50]

Also remember the same fan that pushes the cold air also removes the hot air from the compressor and condenser.