Basement A/C going away

[grtharris]

No basement A/C on 2011 models. The government has mandated a Freon change and RVP didn't have the volume necessary to justify doing this on the A/C unit Winnebago uses. Winnebago has redesigned the roof to delivery the air better and reduce the noise typically seen on roof mounted A/C.

[smlranger]

Probably for the best overall. Roof top AC's are certainly more common and likely more easy to service. Also, space will be gained under the rig for storage. We like our basement unit OK...it is very effective at producing heat during cooler weather.

[dengraham]

Grant,
Is this true for all models? We knew they switched to three roof units on the 45 footer but I had also heard they were no longer making the "old" basement air units. But, I also heard they were coming out with a new bigger basement air unit that did comply with the new regulations. Are you saying they have dropped the production of this new unit?

[grtharris]

My understanding is RVP didn’t have the volume necessary to justify doing the necessary Freon change on the A/C unit Winnebago uses. The issue is no one can manufacture an A/C unit that uses R-22 after Jan. 1, 2010. The new Freon is R-410A which runs at a much higher pressure than R-22 and requires a complete new compressor and piping design.

Lichtsinn's as a 2011 Adventurer 32H on there web site and it has roof air.

[Outbumn]

Also, on the diesel pushers, they are having to upgrade the engines to meet the 2010 EPA emission standards. This means the basement air area will be taken up by the UREA tank.

[Izzyblueye]

Geeeeze this is bad news. I really like the basement air, albeit they are hard to find any one that will service them. Not because they are any harder to service, but because of tech ignorance. I have a top air again after having basement A/C for 10 years and while it does a great job, it is noisy. The heat pump is not as efficient and it has to overcome a lot of sun heat to cool the inside.

[swyates]

This is super news. I had eliminated Winnebago as a replacement for my current Adventurer because of the problematic basement air and the ineffective cooling.

[gbs2320]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Homer Geeeeze this is bad news. I really like the basement air, albeit they are hard to find any one that will service them. Not because they are any harder to service, but because of tech ignorance. I have a top air again after having basement A/C for 10 years and while it does a great job, it is noisy. The heat pump is not as efficient and it has to overcome a lot of sun heat to cool the inside.

I too prefer the basement air for the reasons your state. Bummer!

[Petro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Homer Geeeeze this is bad news. I really like the basement air, albeit they are hard to find any one that will service them. Not because they are any harder to service, but because of tech ignorance. I have a top air again after having basement A/C for 10 years and while it does a great job, it is noisy. The heat pump is not as efficient and it has to overcome a lot of sun heat to cool the inside.

I feel the same way. We like our basement air. It is very quiet.

Don

[azloafer]

One of the reasons that I stay with Winnebago is the basement air. Hate to see it go. Joe

[Joe-K]

I have mixed feelings on the basement A/C. Having owned a Journey for 6+ years, I liked the quietness offered by the basement A/C compared to the previous roof mounted A/C's that I had on another motorhome. On the other hand though, on our 36' Journey, the cooling capability of the basement unit was marginally acceptable. In most conditions (< 90 ) the unit worked well, but if temperatures got higher than 90, the unit lacked the BTU capacity to keep the coach cool.

Friends of ours who currently own a dark brown Vectra complain about the cooling on their 40' coach when the ambient temperature exceeds 85 or so. Frankly, I think the 27,000 basement unit is just a little undersized for a large dark painted coach. Even if Winnebago only offered two rooftop units, if they were to use the 15K BTU sized roof units, I think owners in hot climates would appreciate the additional 10% cooling capacity. Any motorhomes with 3 A/C's will cool very well. I'm not sure if Winnebago is using 13.5 or 15K BTU, on their 42 Tour, but I know with our current three 15K BTU, you can use the motorhome as a refridgerator

Regarding the noise issues, with ducted roof A/C's, with larger, lower velocity, upward blowing condensor fans, and thicker roof insulation, I don't hear much noise difference between our current roof mounted units and the previous basement unit. You don't hear much unit noise, and the air noise through the vents is about the same.

One final benefit regarding separate zoned roof A/C's is that if you are in a campground with limited power, you have the option of running just one roof unit to cool a portion of the coach at a time rather than using the limited power to run the basement area and try to cool the entire coach. The selective area cooling has come in handy several times for us. As an example, we occassionaly camp in a state park with only 20 or 30 amp hookup. I can run one or two roof airs in the front of the coach during the day to keep that area cool, then at night run a rear unit to keep the bedroom cool.

[Ron Lichtsinn]

Good afternoon!

There are a couple of caveats to this that make this more appealing...

1. We were over 12' in most applications to begin with, and with most doors being 12' or 14' we are somewhat in "no man's land" so height may not be an issue

2. Winnebago has done a tremendous job in the 2011 lineup that replaced the basement air models by making the cold air return in a separate run of vents, thereby not having the cold air returns exposing the noise. In essence, if you looked down the ceiling line inside, you would only see ducts. The ceiling is insulating the bottom of the roof airs and not exposing them or the noise. They actually are very quiet.

3. Storage is improved, obviously.

4. Cooling capacity is greatinly increased.

[Easyrider]

I've always thought roof air was the way to go. More storage space in the basement, still having some air even if 1 roof unit breaks down, easier to work on roof units if needed and to replace them if needed.

[fun time]

Having had both on two separate Winny products, I vote for basement air by a long shot. While each has its advantages, my purchase of my Meridian over some other brand had a great deal to do with the basement air. I guess, when it comes to another coach, I will look at other brands now.