Need help with air conditioner

[dvitale300]

Hi,

3 days into a 5 day trip at an RV park in central Tx. Very hot and humid. We have a new TT (about 3 months old) and have never had it out in really hot heat. Air has been working fine so far, but am noticing that even when I set it at 90 degrees the air is still on. Sometimes it goes off for a few seconds and then comes on again. My question is - with a 13,500 air conditioner on a 31 ft unit, can it freeze up - when I need to let it set and thaw now and then, or do I have some other problem - perhaps with the interior thermostat? Not sure how this thing should work - we've left it on all the time for the past few days. Thanks for any advice.

[CavemanCharlie]

Is there water dripping off of the outside of the Travel Trailer somewhere? There should be. That is how the AC unit gets rid of the extra moisture it removes from inside the TT. . If the drain port on the AC unit is plugged it can cause water to back up inside the AC and that helps lead to freeze up.

[consumeratlarge]

I have a similar setup: 31ft, one AC unit, and we've been to the desert in the summer, and it works fine. I agree with Fl gypsy: Keep the fan on hi, and always on, and don't close those vent slats directly below it. Yes, there will be less air going through the ducts, but it won't freeze that way. Freezing seems to happen when you have less air moving across the coils, which doesn't warm the refrigerant enough for the next cycle. My buddy in the HVAC business says it can also be a sign of low refrigerant, but only if you're not blocking or reducing air flow.

One thing a single AC unit won't do great, is to suddenly drop the temp of the entire coach. Get those little pillows for the roof vents that insulate, close the shades on the sunny side, and open all the ducts and the bottom vents, it'll work fine. Vegas was 109 while we there, and yes, I know it can get hotter, but we were comfortable inside!

BTW, our dash air can freeze if I turn down the fan on it, too. I just switch it to vent, and when the temp starts to noticeably increase, the ice has melted, and back on it goes, with a mental note to keep the fan on a higher setting. I like dehumidifiers too, but they give a net increase in temperature to the interior while giving a drier humidity.

[marcsbigfoot20b]

Check or have the unit checked to see if the freeze sensor is in the correct location.

[dvitale300]

fla-gypsy wrote:
Run it on high cool and the fan in the always on position.

Won't burn it out or damage the unit? I'm asking because I'm not familiar with these.

[dvitale300]

It's dark now. I turned the unit off for about 20 minutes, opened all the doors, windows and vents of the TT for about 20 minutes. I started the unit up and it's working quite nicely. I did a whole bunch of reading on this forum (past posts - and yes, some of us look them up and read them), and on other sites. I've decided that I'm going to buy a dehumidifier tomorrow - something not too extravagant, but large enough to do the job - perhaps something with a drain hose that I can set on the counter and drain into the sink or in the tub and drain there. That way - I can suck some of the humidity out of the trailer. While my humidity, at least according to the temp/humidity gauge I have in the trailer, reads similar to the outside - 60% humidity with 85 degrees is a bit too much (and yea, I know I'm not in Florida - but I spent 30 years in Arizona and live in the dry climate of West Texas). So I'm rambling. Any tips you all can send re humidifiers would be helpful.

[2chiefsRus]

sometimes the AC will continue to run because the location of the sensor for the thermostat is located in an exterior wall that is on the sunny side of the RV.

[fla-gypsy]

Run it on high cool and the fan in the always on position.

[CavemanCharlie]

They can freeze up. With a ducted unit makes sure that all the ducts are connected and not letting cold air out in the wrong place. RV's are built cheap and there could be leaks in your system. Do a You Tube search for this and you will see several postings on how to tighten up your system.

Here is a similar thread started recently that discusses RV AC units.

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28381327/srt/pa/pging/1/page/1.cfm

[newman_fulltime]

To small of a ac for that size trailer it will never catch up in the heat

[dvitale300]

Thanks. It's ducted and has a quick cool feature in the main room. We also have some fans going. I turned the air off for about 5 minutes and it seems now to be working fine. Can these things freeze / ice up and need to be turned off for a while now and then?

[midnightsadie]

put fan in the rv to push the air around.

[chr_]

Need another unit for a rig that large... Is it ducted? If not, fashion some ducts with plastic and tape or tacks to move the air to the ends of the trailer. The unit will draw the heat back to it. Unducted units just circulate the air in a bubble just under the unit.