Replacing Air Conditioner - which one?

[BarneyS]

I have an 11 year old Dometic Brisk Air 15,000btu air conditioner in my trailer. For the past several years I have had to climb up on the roof, after the trailer has been sitting unused for 30 days or longer, take the shroud off the unit, and physically turn the fan blades and lubricate them before the air conditioner will operate normally. After doing that, it will continue to operate and put out fairly cool air as long as it does not sit unused for a long period of time.

I am getting up in the years and no longer feel too comfortable climbing up on the roof of my RV. I do not want to just repair the existing unit but instead want to replace it with a new one. My question is:

Should I purchase a direct replacement (Dometic 15000 BTU Duo Therm Brisk 2 Air RV Air Conditioner Complete)
or

Dometic Commercial Grade 15000btu
or

Dometci Penguin II High Capacity
or perhaps a

Coleman unit.

All would have to be ducted models but no heat pump.
I would appreciate any recommendations you might have or even any additional units I have not seen yet but high quality.

I will be doing the installation myself(with the help of my two sons and a grandson or two).

Thank you! 🙂
Barney

[RobertRyan]

Chris Bryant wrote:
The Air Command is a great unit, but I would be cautious- Atwood was buying the company, but now that Dometic has purchased Atwood, there are questions whether the Australian government will allow the deal to go through. It may be that unit will be orphaned (it may be the same for the Atwood helium refrigerators)- or it may not. Atwood has offered air conditioners and refrigerators in the past which are orphans.
Gree is another brand of rooftop units, built by a long time manufacturer of air conditioners.

It did allow the deal to go through saying there was competition from Japanese, Chinese and U.S. Manufacturers. So the market was not a closed shop

[BarneyS]

Chris Bryant wrote:
I just hope you all can get parts in another year...

Chris, I just hope I don't need any parts for at least a year or many more. If they are not available by then, I guess it is time for another new air conditioner. After all, it's just money! :W

I was all set to get the Brisk Air II but decided at the last minute to give this new one a try. I liked the fact that it included a heat pump along with the air conditioner. Maybe I'll be able to get rid of my portable electric heater now. It is supposed to be delivered on Monday but I won't get it installed until July 4th week.
Barney

[mpierce]

Chris Bryant wrote:
I just hope you all can get parts in another year...

Well, I had a Penguin that I could NOT get parts for, so what is the difference?

[Chris_Bryant]

I just hope you all can get parts in another year...

[mpierce]

My bedroom Penguin gave up the ghost. The board went bad. Was almost the cost of a new AC to put new board in, as no replacement available! Then, the new board needed a new stat, as would not work with old one. The new stat needed wiring replaced, as it needed more wires!

So, I put in an Atwood 15k AC. It is 100% remote controlled. No new stat, no new wiring! Plus, we can now change the temp WITHOUT having to get up at 2AM to get to the stat on the wall!

Works great.

[BarneyS]

Just to update. I decided to take a chance and ordered the Atwood Air Command 15,000btu ducted unit today. Got it with the heat pump option. I will make a report on the install when it is done over the 4th of July week.

Thank you to all for your advice and recommendations. It came down to the Brisk Air II and the Air Command and I just liked what I saw on the Air Command website so pulled the trigger.
Barney

[Chris_Bryant]

The Air Command is a great unit, but I would be cautious- Atwood was buying the company, but now that Dometic has purchased Atwood, there are questions whether the Australian government will allow the deal to go through. It may be that unit will be orphaned (it may be the same for the Atwood helium refrigerators)- or it may not. Atwood has offered air conditioners and refrigerators in the past which are orphans.
Gree is another brand of rooftop units, built by a long time manufacturer of air conditioners.

[SoundGuy]

I've got a Dometic Brisk Air II in my current Freedom Express and having previously owned Carrier AirV, Coleman Mach III Plus, and the original Dometic Brisk Air in various trailers we've owned in the past I can't say the Brisk II is any quieter or more efficient ... maybe in lab tests but out in the real world that's not been the case for us, it's still noisy as heck and we only run it when absolutely necessary. Aside from the aforementioned, a relatively new entry to the market is an Australian product now being marketed in the US by Atwood, the Air Command series, which claims to be truly more efficient, with their 16,000 BTU "equivalent" model capable of running on a 2000 watt genset such as a Honda EU2000i. Would interest me if true.

[LarryJM]

BarneyS wrote:
Lonny & Diane
You wouldn't happen to have or remember the part number of that kit would you? 🙂 I do have the 5 button thermostat and it would sure be nice to keep it. I will search online also.

Larry, thank you for the help. I will be sure to check out the plenum arrangement before I order anything. I think, without having the rig here to look at, that mine discharges on both sides. I had it apart last summer cleaning the filters, fins etc. and kind of remember openings on both sides.
Barney

Glad I could at least provide something to chew on. I'm light years shy of being any sort of even a self proclaimed expert in this area and would have to bow to someone like Chris who has seen multiple installs and has more hands on experience than I could even dream about. With that said I believe while a manufacturer might specify certain things and ways to install a system and it's associated duct work, making an A/C system play nice together with a specific duct system can be more of an art than something you get out of some sort of install cook book.

Good luck with your project.

Larry

[Chris_Bryant]

If your current model has a separate control box that the upper unit plus in to (more common than not), it will work fine with a new unit. Some models have the electronics installed in the unit itself- that will take a bit more work.
The BA II has a center discharge, like the Penguine, and the old BA has a side discharge. About the only time this make a difference is in Newmar products, which have ducted return. Standard installs are no problem.

I really like the BA II- they are lighter, have better air flow, and are quieter. That said- I like Coleman/RVP just as well- I just don't like their distributors, which has no real consequence to the end user (if someone comes in and wants or needs a Coleman, I have them buy it from PPL and have it shipped to me, and I install it for them).

[BarneyS]

Lonny & Diane
You wouldn't happen to have or remember the part number of that kit would you? 🙂 I do have the 5 button thermostat and it would sure be nice to keep it. I will search online also.

Larry, thank you for the help. I will be sure to check out the plenum arrangement before I order anything. I think, without having the rig here to look at, that mine discharges on both sides. I had it apart last summer cleaning the filters, fins etc. and kind of remember openings on both sides.
Barney

[sdianel_-acct_c]

We replaced ours with the Penguin II Low profile with no heat pump. Dometic makes a kit so you can don't have to replace the thermostat if you have the 5 button control one. You have to be sure to tell the RV technician that Dometic makes the kit (our technician didn't know about it - I found it online).

[LarryJM]

BarneyS wrote:
I agree Larry. That is one reason I am inclined to go with the Brisk air II.

Here is what I am planning now. See what you think. I don't necessarily plan on purchasing from this company but just using them for research right now.
Brisk Air II unit.

Quick Cool ducted return air grill
This looks identical to the one I have now but might as well get a new one with the new unit. Old one is a bit warped anyway.

Comfort Control digital thermostat This seems closest to the one we have now and is almost the same price as the other digital one offered.

Bolt/junction cover set.
I think this is all I would need. Chris, any hints or suggestions?
Barney

Barney,

I about exhausted my knowledge of all this in my first post and am only aware of some of this when I researched register numbers and locations for my Dometic A/C. I remember in the install or service mauals that there could be one side discharge units with a single duct running fore and aft and then dual discharge units on each side where there were two ducts running both fore and aft or even one forward on one side and aft on the other side and each of these configurations IIRC has different Air Plenum configurations and specific sizes and locations of the air diverters inside the Air Plenum.

Other than suggesting the cautions I made in my first post I don't feel qualified to go too much further.

Larry

[BarneyS]

I agree Larry. That is one reason I am inclined to go with the Brisk air II.

Here is what I am planning now. See what you think. I don't necessarily plan on purchasing from this company but just using them for research right now.
Brisk Air II unit.

Quick Cool ducted return air grill
This looks identical to the one I have now but might as well get a new one with the new unit. Old one is a bit warped anyway.

Comfort Control digital thermostat This seems closest to the one we have now and is almost the same price as the other digital one offered.

Bolt/junction cover set.
I think this is all I would need. Chris, any hints or suggestions?
Barney