Recommend brands of Air Conditioner, Advent, Atwood anygood?

[colliehauler]

I notice more brands on the market that seem to have a decent price. I've been looking at Atwood and Advent. They both have complete kits for around $600. including thermostat.

[Bob_Vaughn]

colliehauler wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Advent IS a Chinese knockoff ...

Atwood was fully acquired by Dometic in 2017

Looking at a Atwood 15027 with inside assembly and thermostat.

The Atwoods and Dometics have some serious programming issues and they will not stand behind their products or honor their warranty....get something else...;

[Arcamper]

CavemanCharlie wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
I have had 3 different A/Cs and the following observations
OEM were a pair of Carrier Air V.. For political reasons I'd say to boycott carrier but... They made that uncessary as they decided to boycott the RV world and no longer make RV air conditioners (That was easy). They were 13,500 BTU and drew 13.5 amps running (Measured it I did to confirm)

The 1st replacement was ADVENT.... If only I knew then what I know now.
As someone else said CHINESE.. the fan blew up.> Cleaning was a ... Job as the inner cover is not easy to open and they have a one piece cover for both evap and condenser (I bent it in the middle) 15000 BTU and 13.5 amp

2nd replacement was a Coleman.. Both advent and Coleman have adapt-a-kits to replace Carriers but Coleman was out of 'em (not a problem we went with a ceilin Control so only re-wire was adding a Wall T-Stat and switch for furnace. less than 30 dollars in parts. I'm overqualified for that job) 15000 btu and 13.9 Amps

Now the fun part
Advent, Carrier and most everybody BLOW.. that is the draw air in the sides and blow it out through the condenser. So when you clean the condeneser you have to open up the outer cowling and then the inner cover and if your hands are my size remove the fan.

Coleman sucks... That is draws air in and exhausts it to the sides.
To clean the condenser I remove 4 bolts, lift the cover. brush it off and restore cover and 4 bolts. Swift, Easy and no scraping of knuckles inside evap fan compartmetn

When the fan on the advent went BOOM like a China Bomb. I put in a Coleman fan so now it sucks too

My brother had one of those AC that Suck. And, it really Sucked ! It would not cool worth a darn. When I got to looking at it and I discovered that is sucked the air across the condenser rather then blowing it I realized that this was part of the problem.

You can not Draw air across the condenser nearly as well as forcing it across. Plus when you suck it though you are also moving all that hot air across the compressor which is the hottest working part of the unit !! Also, by sucking it from the back and then trying to force it out the sides you are making the air turn 90 degrees (With no sort of baffling to help it) and then forcing it out of little slits on the side of the unit.

There is a reason that all the other units Blow. It's because that is better then Sucking.

He never did get that Coleman to work good enough to keep his 25 foot 5th wheel to stay cold when it was setting in the shade on days when it was only 90 degrees outside. He ended up getting a different camper but, not just because of that. He was having other problems too.

I understand that you like your Coleman . But, I disagree. To each their own.

Have a nice Day.

Our first unit had a Coleman air conditioner and I noticed also it was sucking air instead of blowing it over the condenser. Thought it was wired wrong or had the wrong fan blade on it. I called Coleman and talked to one of their service techs who told me they where made that way for motorhome use while going down the road. He said they worked better that way because of the "station wagon effect". May be fact or BS but that was Coleman's official response.

[colliehauler]

I ended up purchasing the Atwood 13,500 complete system. While I'm at it will upgrade the anemic bathroom fan to a Fan-Tastic fan. Switching out the tv antenna to a Wingard Rayzar as well.

[Acampingwewillg]

I've told this story before but what the heck, I can tell it again. When I first purchased the Motorhome in my Signature, one of my first trips was to Pahrump, Nevada. It was April of 2003...we figured that the heat would not have arrived yet. Low and behold, it was probably the hottest April on record, a mere 115 degree's. All I can say is those two Coleman 13.5 airs that I had at the time make it cool enough inside that I was wearing a sweatshirt/pants inside.(no lie, it was in the 60's in the MH)

Anyways....the Old Vogue is insulated pretty good with no slides and awnings all around and there was some shade....but those Coleman did very well!!!

[CavemanCharlie]

wa8yxm wrote:
I have had 3 different A/Cs and the following observations
OEM were a pair of Carrier Air V.. For political reasons I'd say to boycott carrier but... They made that uncessary as they decided to boycott the RV world and no longer make RV air conditioners (That was easy). They were 13,500 BTU and drew 13.5 amps running (Measured it I did to confirm)

The 1st replacement was ADVENT.... If only I knew then what I know now.
As someone else said CHINESE.. the fan blew up.> Cleaning was a ... Job as the inner cover is not easy to open and they have a one piece cover for both evap and condenser (I bent it in the middle) 15000 BTU and 13.5 amp

2nd replacement was a Coleman.. Both advent and Coleman have adapt-a-kits to replace Carriers but Coleman was out of 'em (not a problem we went with a ceilin Control so only re-wire was adding a Wall T-Stat and switch for furnace. less than 30 dollars in parts. I'm overqualified for that job) 15000 btu and 13.9 Amps

Now the fun part
Advent, Carrier and most everybody BLOW.. that is the draw air in the sides and blow it out through the condenser. So when you clean the condeneser you have to open up the outer cowling and then the inner cover and if your hands are my size remove the fan.

Coleman sucks... That is draws air in and exhausts it to the sides.
To clean the condenser I remove 4 bolts, lift the cover. brush it off and restore cover and 4 bolts. Swift, Easy and no scraping of knuckles inside evap fan compartmetn

When the fan on the advent went BOOM like a China Bomb. I put in a Coleman fan so now it sucks too

My brother had one of those AC that Suck. And, it really Sucked ! It would not cool worth a darn. When I got to looking at it and I discovered that is sucked the air across the condenser rather then blowing it I realized that this was part of the problem.

You can not Draw air across the condenser nearly as well as forcing it across. Plus when you suck it though you are also moving all that hot air across the compressor which is the hottest working part of the unit !! Also, by sucking it from the back and then trying to force it out the sides you are making the air turn 90 degrees (With no sort of baffling to help it) and then forcing it out of little slits on the side of the unit.

There is a reason that all the other units Blow. It's because that is better then Sucking.

He never did get that Coleman to work good enough to keep his 25 foot 5th wheel to stay cold when it was setting in the shade on days when it was only 90 degrees outside. He ended up getting a different camper but, not just because of that. He was having other problems too.

I understand that you like your Coleman . But, I disagree. To each their own.

Have a nice Day.

[1320Fastback]

My only two experiences are with a 2015 Dometic 13.5k that came stock on our trailer and the 2016 Atwood non-heat that replaced it.

The dometic would brown out our 4.2kw generator. I removed and checked all wiring connections, installed a hard start kit, cleaned everything that was cleanable. When it was running it was very loud inside for the amount of air that was coming out and the air coming out isn't what I would call Cold. Cool yes but not cold. Also wasn't a fan of the words Made in China over all the internals.

The AtWood we bought is a 13.5 non heat pump model. It was designed and assembled in Australia, came with a complete test report showing it's efficiency and electrical usage at various stages of operation. The noise level inside the trailer is easily 30% quieter vs. the Dometic and the air temperature is not only actually cold but also distributed much better. Having a single AC I could never feel the air moving up in the front of the trailer but with the AtWood at the front it is very noticeable. On top of that it will dang near run on one 2kw generator so our 2- 2ks together it's no problem at all.


Yes Dometic bought Atwood unfortunately. If I were going to buy one I would call and see if they have changed anything. The design, the electronics or the place of manufacture. Hopefully they haven't.

[Acampingwewillg]

I've had a total of three different brands also. Started with Coleman 13.5 units when I first got the Motorhome. They worked Fine for the first 7-8 years, then went to Carrier AirV 15,000 BTU, again, I liked them too. I recently replaced one Carrier with an Atwood. So now the Carrier 15,000 BTU is in the rear and the Atwood is in the front. I think cooling and noise wise, the Atwood might be a tad quieter than the Carrier.

[wa8yxm]

I have had 3 different A/Cs and the following observations
OEM were a pair of Carrier Air V.. For political reasons I'd say to boycott carrier but... They made that uncessary as they decided to boycott the RV world and no longer make RV air conditioners (That was easy). They were 13,500 BTU and drew 13.5 amps running (Measured it I did to confirm)

The 1st replacement was ADVENT.... If only I knew then what I know now.
As someone else said CHINESE.. the fan blew up.> Cleaning was a ... Job as the inner cover is not easy to open and they have a one piece cover for both evap and condenser (I bent it in the middle) 15000 BTU and 13.5 amp

2nd replacement was a Coleman.. Both advent and Coleman have adapt-a-kits to replace Carriers but Coleman was out of 'em (not a problem we went with a ceilin Control so only re-wire was adding a Wall T-Stat and switch for furnace. less than 30 dollars in parts. I'm overqualified for that job) 15000 btu and 13.9 Amps

Now the fun part
Advent, Carrier and most everybody BLOW.. that is the draw air in the sides and blow it out through the condenser. So when you clean the condeneser you have to open up the outer cowling and then the inner cover and if your hands are my size remove the fan.

Coleman sucks... That is draws air in and exhausts it to the sides.
To clean the condenser I remove 4 bolts, lift the cover. brush it off and restore cover and 4 bolts. Swift, Easy and no scraping of knuckles inside evap fan compartmetn

When the fan on the advent went BOOM like a China Bomb. I put in a Coleman fan so now it sucks too

[colliehauler]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Advent IS a Chinese knockoff ...

Atwood was fully acquired by Dometic in 2017

Looking at a Atwood 15027 with inside assembly and thermostat.

[Old-Biscuit]

Advent IS a Chinese knockoff ...

Atwood was fully acquired by Dometic in 2017

[colliehauler]

garyemunson wrote:
Are you replacing a dead one or adding a new AC?

Replacing the old unit.

[JW_of_Opechee_S]

I believe that Advent is a cheap unit, you can get a dometic Brisk for about the same price.

[garyemunson]

Are you replacing a dead one or adding a new AC?