What exactly does "Second AC Prep" mean

[martinandanne]

This weekend I am going to be looking at a couple of Evergreen Ever-lite Travel Trailers being offered for sale. One is an actual new unit, one is used. Both have 50 amp service and both are billed as having "Second AC Prep". But what exactly does that mean? Does it mean that install of the 2nd AC unit is (virtually) a plug-n-play type operation? Or it is still likely to involve something more than removing the existing fan in the ceiling, finding the wiring and attaching it?

Thanks in advance!

Martin

[j-d]

Klueck wrote:
Thanks J-D. We are currently trying to buy a preowned fifth wheel to put on our lot in the Keys. We NEED a good 2nd air and many do not have them. Good post.

If you own the lot, and don't plan to move the fiver, little if ever, you can add an A/C to any vent you want, and wire another feed to the coach from your shore power supply.

Say it's a 30-amp fiver. Won't run two A/C's at once. You could leave the original wiring and A/C, then run a second feed to the coach for the second A/C.

If it's 50-amp, pull the fan or trim on your candidate vent and see if there's Romex and hopefully a thermostat wire there. If not, you could always feed the second unit with surface-mount "conduit."

[Klueck]

j-d wrote:
Until an owner or tech who's installed the second A/C on pretty much the same model and year of Ever-Lite comes along and tells us, My Answer:

Whatever the Builder and Vendor want it to mean...

Ideally, there'll be

Dedicated Circuit Breaker

Wiring for Power and Thermostat already installed

Some information on how to do the addition, like where to find that wiring

We bought an old Class C with "generator prep" and it had

An empty compartment that fit a generator

Wiring from that compartment back to the shore tie box (with BARE wires)

Control wiring we never would have found without an electrician's "fox and hound" wire detection gadget

And... NO fuel line! Called Factory, they said "we did't provide fuel lines in prep"

The original owners we bought our present Class C from, wanted a second Fantastic Fan. In that case, the 12VDC wiring to power one was already there. But no wiring for another wall mounted control, like the OEM one has.

Proceed with caution! Looking at your travel map, if you have a trailer that's big enough to be 50 Amp, you won't just Want a second A/C - You'll NEED it.

I found This Page and see only Pre-Wire = Yes. This for 294RKS Travel Trailer. It seemed there's a 50 Amp option that ups the standard A/C from 13500 (that will NEVER cool a 30-something coach in Texas) to 15000 and also adds the pre-wire. Does not say what the pre-wire feature involves.

Thanks J-D. We are currently trying to buy a preowned fifth wheel to put on our lot in the Keys. We NEED a good 2nd air and many do not have them. Good post.

[Lwiddis]

"But what exactly does that mean"

Some manufacturers...very little.

[dougrainer]

2nd AC prep means they have run the 120 wire to the roof vent where you install the 2nd AC. Depending on the OEM, they may also have run a Wall Tstat wire from a wall location to the roof Vent also. THAT will have to be determined by a call to the OEM. But, it is an easy thing to do to check. You drop the inside vent plenum(4 screws) and you will usually see the 120 romex wire. IF they ran the tstat wire, you will see it also. MOST OEM's do NOT connect the 120 romex at the 120 Breaker center, but some do. That is something the installer does when adding the AC. Doug

[j-d]

Until an owner or tech who's installed the second A/C on pretty much the same model and year of Ever-Lite comes along and tells us, My Answer:

Whatever the Builder and Vendor want it to mean...

Ideally, there'll be

Dedicated Circuit Breaker

Wiring for Power and Thermostat already installed

Some information on how to do the addition, like where to find that wiring

We bought an old Class C with "generator prep" and it had

An empty compartment that fit a generator

Wiring from that compartment back to the shore tie box (with BARE wires)

Control wiring we never would have found without an electrician's "fox and hound" wire detection gadget

And... NO fuel line! Called Factory, they said "we didn't provide fuel lines in prep"

The original owners we bought our present Class C from, wanted a second Fantastic Fan. In that case, the 12VDC wiring to power one was already there. But no wiring for another wall mounted control, like the OEM one has.

Proceed with caution! Looking at your travel map, if you have a trailer that's big enough to be 50 Amp, you won't just Want a second A/C - You'll NEED it.

I found This Page and see only Pre-Wire = Yes. This for 294RKS Travel Trailer. It seemed there's a 50 Amp option that ups the standard A/C from 13500 (that will NEVER cool a 30-something coach in Texas) to 15000 and also adds the pre-wire. Does not say what the pre-wire feature involves.

[Dutch_12078]

It means the wiring is in place to hook up a second A/C that replaces an existing vent.

[Chris_Bryant]

Should be close to plug and play- wiring in place, just not hooked up.

[wildtoad]

The 2000 Hurricane 30q I had was prepped for a second AC unit in the bedroom. What it meant in my case was that power had been run to the ceiling vent, a thermostat was in place for it, the ceiling duct work was in place. So to install a second unit all that was needed was to remove the existing vent and install the unit, connect some wires. I never did it. Being only 30 amps it would have been difficult to run both anyway.