Air Conditioner - Dometic or Coleman better?

[MikeFL]

We are trying to decided between a (non-ducted) Dometic Brisk Air II unit or a Coleman Mach 8 unit. It's a second A/C in the bedroom for a (50 amp) 33' travel trailer. Have heard good and bad things about both brands.

[lenr]

Never saw any scratches or dents because National Refrigeration put a new shroud on it. Wouldn't have cared even if it did have scratches because it is way up there on the roof. I think the most significant thing about the scratch and dent stuff is that there is no manufacturer guarantee. I think that the manufacturers just clean out their warehouses every once in a while to the local folks around Elkhart. In our case National Refrigeration gave us their own 2 year guarantee since they can repair them. That means that I have to go back there for warranty service which doesn't matter because I would do everything that I could to go there anyway. They're the best.

[Arcamper]

CavemanCharlie wrote:
My brothers last 5th wheel had a Coleman Mach. On a 95 degree day it would only put out 75 degree air. In a poorly insulated camper with a lot of windows that is not going to keep it cool.

I have a older Travel Trailer. My Emerson AC will put out 50 degree air on a 95 degree day.

Someone on here started telling me that it was impossible to get more then a 20 degree drop in air temps. I was saying that my older AC would do better then that.

That led to a discussion about RV refrigerants .

About the time I was ready to give up and think that all modern camper AC are bad because of the refrigerant someone posted a picture of their Dometic Penguin AC also putting out 50 degree air on a 95 degree day.

Try the Coleman all the Dometic are junk .

P.S. Oh, and I just remembered. When I was trying to help my brother get his Dometic to work better we got up on the roof and took the cover off. The air flow design is backwards !! It draws the air through the condenser and then tries to push the air out through the sides of the cover threw the little slats . Not only is this a poor air flow design it also is flowing hot air over the compressor which is the hottest working part of the unit.

Stupid, Stupid, design. And, remember I'm a Caveman !!! Even I know this thing would never work well.

I apologize for the spelling and grammatical errors. I'm just trying to help by telling you the experiences I've had.

The Coleman on our Laredo was the same way so I thought maybe they put the fan on backwards so I called Coleman tech service and asked. They said they are designed that way due to the "station wagon effect" when mounted on a motorhome going down the road and running they will have enough air flow to cool. May be true or total bs but that's what they said.

[Whiskey_River]

lenr... Just wondering what was "scratched & dented" on the unit you bought. I see some RV parts & suppliers are advertising them. They say the unit is fine, but also say "non-returnable".

[navegator]

Dometic, lasted 14 years!

Coleman brand new, did not last two years, replaced with Dometic!

navegator

[Dustytuu]

Coleman is quieter. We have had both and prefer Coleman.

[lenr]

Follow up. We drove 5 hours on vacation to get to our favorite refrigeration and AC man, Leon at National Refrigeration in Shipshewana, IN. Leon said the replacement unit supplied free by Dometic is now toast. We only used it in October 15 and May 16, and it is shot. I was ready to go Atwood, Coleman, anything, but wiring changes and transition piece difference would have caused that to take too long. So, went with a scratch and dent Dometic unit built in Elkhart before they switched to Chinese manufacturing. We'll see how long this one lasts. The good news not only is that it works, but that the 10 - 12 button thermostat and associated control board also work well with none of the crazy fan switching sounds.

[leeper]

Atwood heat pump is manufactured by Dometic.

[BarneyS]

lenr wrote:
Wonder if BarneyS or any one else could give a follow up report on the Atwood? snip...

Sorry but it is too early for a follow up report. Have not been in the trailer since my post early in this thread. We will be using the trailer later this week but probably will only use the heat pump mode. If I notice anything unusual I will report it here.
Barney

[lenr]

Wonder if BarneyS or any one else could give a follow up report on the Atwood? We replaced a 2 1/2 year old 15k Domestic last fall and it worked great then. Today it will only drop the air in the trailer 5 degrees with outside air at 79 degrees. In addition it is just clicking crazy when running the furnace. Pretty sure I'm done with Domestic since they'll say it is 1 year out of warranty. This unit was free parts at 5 months out of warranty.

[kyle86]

I have a brisk air 2. It's not that loud.. But maybe I will notice it now that i read this thread lol

[tpi]

I've had two Dometic Penguins (family member with another) and one Coleman in three RVs. Used quite a bit in very hot weather. The Dometics have never had major failure, but have minor annoying issues. The exterior shroud has marginal life expectancy. The Coleman had no issues including the shroud in same time span. Both seemed equally noisy-and they are noisy.

If I had to do over, I don't know. I do like the look of the Penguin, fairly sleek. The Colemans I've (and know) had just seemed to work better. But probably model dependent. Some of the taller low energy Colemans are pretty frugal with the power and worth checking out if you need that.

[BarneyS]

We installed a new 15,000btu Atwood air conditioner/heat pump, shown in the post above, in our trailer last year as a replacement for our old Dometic DuoTherm unit that was dying. We have been impressed by the amount of air movement it produces and how quiet it is. I especially like the fact that it has two fan motors instead of one doing double duty like the Dometic unit did. So far, it seems to have been a wise decision but time will tell.
Barney

[CavemanCharlie]

I hear these are suppose to be good but, I have never seen one. Maybe you want to check them out

http://www.atwoodmobile.com/air-conditioners/rv-air-conditioners.asp

[CavemanCharlie]

My brothers last 5th wheel had a Coleman Mach. On a 95 degree day it would only put out 75 degree air. In a poorly insulated camper with a lot of windows that is not going to keep it cool.

I have a older Travel Trailer. My Emerson AC will put out 50 degree air on a 95 degree day.

Someone on here started telling me that it was impossible to get more then a 20 degree drop in air temps. I was saying that my older AC would do better then that.

That led to a discussion about RV refrigerants .

About the time I was ready to give up and think that all modern camper AC are bad because of the refrigerant someone posted a picture of their Dometic Penguin AC also putting out 50 degree air on a 95 degree day.

Try the Coleman all the Dometic are junk .

P.S. Oh, and I just remembered. When I was trying to help my brother get his Dometic to work better we got up on the roof and took the cover off. The air flow design is backwards !! It draws the air through the condenser and then tries to push the air out through the sides of the cover threw the little slats . Not only is this a poor air flow design it also is flowing hot air over the compressor which is the hottest working part of the unit.

Stupid, Stupid, design. And, remember I'm a Caveman !!! Even I know this thing would never work well.

I apologize for the spelling and grammatical errors. I'm just trying to help by telling you the experiences I've had.