AC upgrade advise needed

[geneeich]

I'm considering upgrading the AC unit in my Rockwood 2906WS travel trailer from the Colman Mach 3 Plus to a Colman Mach 15 Plus. Has anyone done a similar upgrade from a 13,500 BTU unit to a 15,000 BTU and was it worth it? We are taking a 10 week cross country trip later this summer and will be in the south west late August and September. Concerned about cooling 29' trailer with 3 slides, approximately 300 Sq. Ft.

Any in put will be appreciated.

[geneeich]

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm upgrading to 15k unit when I get back from trip. Unit is suppose to arrive while I'm away and will be installed soon there after. I'll let everyone how it works after it is installed and I get some days in the 90's here in south Jersey.

Thanks again for everyone's input.

[Big_Love]

In my experience with a 15K unit in a Rockwood 2604, it has no problem keeping both the living area and bedroom cool in the 90-100 degree, relatively low humidity heat we get in Northern CA summers.

If you are running on a generator, you will probably need at least 3K watts. I use two Honda 2K inverter gensets in parallel.

[geneeich]

Looks like I don't have any choice. I hoping I'm able to get some assistance from my dealer and Forest River, but no matter what I can't living with it the way it is right now. 80-85 inside on a hot 90-95 degree summer day is not acceptable. So I have to upgrade to get the best I can out of the AC.

Thanks everyone for your help.

[CavemanCharlie]

Screw the Coleman AC. They are junk. Get a different brand name of AC and you will be fine.

I can get 50 degree air coming out of my AC on a 85 degree day. There is one member on the board that has a Dometic Penguin and he says his will do the same. But, I have no personal experience with them

I hear the Atwood AC's are good but, I do not have one.

I do have experience with the Coleman's because my brother had one. His was ****. Taking the cover off of the top to try and clean it I found it was just a terrible, terrible, design.

[_40Fan]

I'd say go for it. $149 for the install sounds pretty cheap and if you can get a discount on top of that...why not? Beets drowning in your sweat and wishing you had.

[knort001]

34 ft tip to tip , 2 slides, and yes ,pillows in roof vents, and double shower curtain for the skylight....

[geneeich]

Thanks for the info knort001, I'm only getting a 10 degree reduction from 88 with the 13,500 and that's if I start in the morning. If I wait until afternoon I get about 4 degrees the first hour and 1/hour after that. We have shades and insulation pillows in the roof vents and sky light.

What size trailer are you cooling and how many slides? DutchmanSport, 3 oaks, and you seem to have good success. Looks like the way to go.

Thanks

[knort001]

living in florida, I would not have bought my tt without the 15k ac. our humidity in summer is crazy. we camp in july\august in the fl keys.,with very little shade. 97-98degree s daily. our coleman is only going to cool 15-20 degrees cooler than outside. I have limo tint all around. some days we actually put towels over windows,with clips to limit even more. I have a floor fan in the bunkroom.it works for us, hottest inside temps 77, but at night ,after sun goes down, it will freeze you out, my wife and kids sleep with quilts. once again , works for us... good luck.

[allen8106]

rwess wrote:
If I were going to upgrade/swap out my A/C I would get a heat pump. I have 2 heat pumps on my TT and I love them. Saves lots of money on propane.

Good move!

[geneeich]

Picked up trailer from dealer and they say AC is working fine. Maybe I'm expecting to much, but I don't thinks it's unreasonable to want 75-77 degrees inside when it's 90 outside and for it to cool the trailer down when stopping late afternoon (4pm) to that temperature in couple hours. Please tell me what I should realistically expect.

Thanks for the info.

[rwess]

If I were going to upgrade/swap out my A/C I would get a heat pump. I have 2 heat pumps on my TT and I love them. Saves lots of money on propane.

[trail-explorer]

DutchmenSport wrote:
I have a 13,500 AC sitting in my shed collecting rust and spider webs now. Not sure what I'll ever use it for now.

Try selling it on Craigslist.

[geneeich]

I'm still waiting for the final results from my dealer. I stopped by a little while ago, looks like they just started. Maybe tomorrow I'll know something. However, based on my future trip west upgrading won't hurt, except the pocket book, but being in the south August/Sept. I may glad for any improvement I can get. Anyone out there who has done this I'd like to hear how you made out. Also, still waiting to hear back from Camping World on cost of upgrade.

[3oaks]

Yes, an upgrade from a 13,500btu to a 15,000btu air conditioner is definitely worth the price.

There are several ways to aid efficiency, window coverings, skylight insulation pads, etc. However, with all things being equal, the 15000btu air conditioner out performs the 13,500.