Campin'_Nana wrote:
"If the temperature in side your coach is 100 degrees when you turn on the air conditioner, it will only put out 80 degrees. Eventually the air inside the coach will cool, and as it cools, the air put out by the air conditioner will cool also. However, when starting out at 100 degrees, this cooling could take several hours before it reaches your desired temperature. Therefore, if you know the weather will be hot, turn your air conditioner on early.".
We've read a lot about the quality of Jayco's. Maybe we need to find one and look at it and see how the AC cools in another model. !
No that 20 degree difference is the same whether you're looking at a RV air conditioner or a house air conditioner. It's just the physics of how air conditioning works. I think it's good though that Heartland is trying to explain it and maybe head off dissatisfaction about a problem that they have no control over. Here's what it is saying.
the AC can only cool 20 degrees colder than the air it's cooling.
Imagine it's a 100 degree day when you go to your trailer in storage. Since the trailer has been soaking up the heat all day it's also 100 degrees inside the trailer. So you turn on the air conditioner.
Inside air at 100 degrees goes into the AC, air at 80 degrees comes out of the AC.
After a while the 80 degree air coming out of the AC cools the trailer to 95 degrees. So now inside air at 95 degrees goes into the AC and 75 degree air comes out of the AC.
That cycle repeats cooling the trailer until the desired temperature is reached and the thermostat shuts off the AC.
While it sounds simple, there is a problem with this. Unfortunately our trailers are not well sealed nor are they well insulated. So while your AC is working hard with the 20 degree difference that physics allow, the trailer is leaking in 100 degree heat from the outside. If the heat coming onto the trailer through leaks, through the windows and through the insulation is greater than the AC's ability to cool the trailer then it just won't cool down.
Another way to look at it is it works the same as your home refrigerator. Your refrigerator is well sealed and insulated so it maintains the cold. But if you were to simulate a trailer with AC and open the door multiple times, or crack the refrigerator door open, it would heat up inside. There is nothing wrong the the refrigerator, it's just that you didn't close the door so the cold is getting out and the heat is getting in.
Your trailer is the same as the refrigerator and that is why people are saying they cover windows,finding and plugging leaks, leaving the door closed, closing vents, parking in the shade etc. That's the best that we can do with the leaky poorly insulated boxes (travel trailer) that the manufacturers sell us.
So back to Heartland. Yes it is possible that the Heartland is not sealed as well as other models. But I can tell you that my Jayco doesn't cool very well either. I will say though that I have 4 very active kids in that trailer so there are six bodies adding heat and the door is being opened and closed all the time.
I think ultimately it's an odds game. All trailers are mass produced and some of those are produced poorly. So if a manufacturer builds 5 trailers a day, two of those trailers (first built and built of the day) are possibly assembled with less care than the ones in the middle. So when you buy a trailer you might get one that is sealed better than another. You just won't know until you buy it and try it.
