Still Warm Traveling With All ACs On

[Daveark]

Apologies for not having a full profile set up yet. Will sort when we get home.

Thanks for all the information that helped us decide on our brand new 2012 Fleetwood Providence 42M that we picked up yesterday. Very, very happy with the unit. At this point, only have one issue to work on. When traveling from California on way to Texas, we ran the dash air and all three roof ACs. Still seemed pretty warm anywhere much past the driver seats. Mid 80s and warmer.

Additional info:
- It was 100 degrees outside
- While not much value to the rest of the coach, the dash air was not really cold which may be a service issue.
- The aqua hot was still on when we left which resulted in warm air coming our of the bathroom heater vent even when turned off (air movement from driving probably) which heated up the coach. This was found early on and corrected.
- The service panel in the floor of the rear bath was almost hot. Big diesel naturally equals big heat.

We will get a jump on starting with a cool coach and not working against it with aqua hot left on . Will also think about adding insulation to the engine side of the bathroom floor.

I guess my main question is, when I get things sorted, what sort of inside temps in the main body of the coach just back of the driver should I expect when traveling in hot weather? Also would love to hear any suggestions to improve things (e.g., close the door to the rear bath and forget help from that AC vent.

I plan to discuss with Fleetwood to see what they think and then a scrub of all the ACs by a service facility.

Love the unit, just want to maximize the experience for the family.

Thanks

[Daveark]

I should add that we sorted the aqua hot and drove another 400 miles with the conditions as I described.

[oh no]

We just came back off a trip. Outside temp 95 an up. We had the heating trouble up front on the floor. Gas coach. Ran both a/c units fans on high. The dash air was on. Stay mid 70 inside going down the road. In the heat of day. No coats need

[RVNeophytes2]

Originally Posted by Daveark

- It was 100 degrees outside
- While not much value to the rest of the coach, the dash air was not really cold which may be a service issue.
- The aqua hot was still on when we left which resulted in warm air coming our of the bathroom heater vent even when turned off (air movement from driving probably) which heated up the coach. This was found early on and corrected.
- The service panel in the floor of the rear bath was almost hot. Big diesel naturally equals big heat.

We will get a jump on starting with a cool coach and not working against it with aqua hot left on . Will also think about adding insulation to the engine side of the bathroom floor.

I guess my main question is, when I get things sorted, what sort of inside temps in the main body of the coach just back of the driver should I expect when traveling in hot weather? Also would love to hear any suggestions to improve things (e.g., close the door to the rear bath and forget help from that AC vent.

I plan to discuss with Fleetwood to see what they think and then a scrub of all the ACs by a service facility.

Love the unit, just want to maximize the experience for the family.

Thanks

Fellow Texan here, enjoying momentary relief in Ruidoso before returning to work. We did two years with a Fleetwood Excursion, now have the Patriot Thunder. In some ways, the Fleetwood was the superior rig. They are a great value, and built with a little more TLC. Blasphemy to Beaver owners out there; but, true when you compare units put together in the mid-2000's.

It sounds like you have all your bases covered. Really, you should eventually be able to run down the road in these conditions with dash AC and one rooftop unit running off the generator, IMHO. 'Hope the dealer stands behind the dash AC failure, common to motorhomes largely due to inactivity.

Before you start installing additional insulation, you might simply check/clean the engine hatch seals. Make sure the hold-down screws are tight. Travel with the bedroom door closed. That does three things: isolates the heat, makes for a quieter ride, AND gives you a handy way to check your exhaust system, eg if the bedroom smells smokey, a leak may be present.

Prowling dealers' lots with a freakishly sensitive nose, I've found that not attending to AC cleaning is nearly universal, in the RV community. We have horrific air quality, in our rigs. AC filters, if even present, are usually filthy. Coils are caked in dirt. Corporate Monkey did a great writeup about cleaning them awhile ago, HERE. In yours, I simply went to the home improvement store and bought new sponge material, cut to fit. Monthly, the filters were put in the laundry. In the Beaver, I affixed 16X16 good-quality paper filters over the intakes. Air exchange while the rig is occupied is critical, another frequently overlooked aspect.

Owner's manuals' guidelines need to be followed, to include those calling for periodically tightening the bolts clamping AC units to the roof.

Enjoy your new rig!!

[Daveark]

Really nice here in Flagstaff too. Hate to leave.

Thanks for the detailed response. Very helpful.

Thanks to all who weigh in. Much appreciated

[38 Special]

One thing is to pre-cool the RV before departing. We set our at 71 degrees on all 3 ACs 24 hours prior to departure. Ours has a rear bath and we keep that door closed during travel. Upon arriving, we open the window in the bath and turn on the fan to cool down the engine heat. We do this with the closet door open.

Our unit will not allow the furnace (Aquahot) and the air conditioner operate at the same time.

[Tha_Rooster]

These things have lots of air leaks the main thing is to make sure all airs are cooling properly. At 100 degree in the sun much less driving down the road works airs to the max.

[Daveark]

We sorted some of the things mentioned in responses, some still to do:

1 As mentioned, we shut down the aqua hot system which helped by eliminating passive heating from air flowing out the vent in the mid bathroom as we drove. Still investigating why they was any airflow even when the blower was turned off, but it worked.
2 Found that the kitchen vent was slightly up. This wasn't visible from inside the coach and not apparent from the ground. Much help here.
3 Closing off the rear bath may have helped, but the ac vent was keeping the bath area cold, so may be net ahead in cooling by opening that back up
4 Front dash air is moderately cold. Will see if that can be enhanced with cleaning, charging, etc.
5 The roof ac (3) airflow patterns will be investigated. The rearmost and very front vents have the most air flow, with the kitchen area flowing pretty well but fairly minimal flow right over the bedroom. This may be as designed but want to make sure the ducting is properly connected and operating.
6 Still diligently searching for any air leaks/whistling, open vent, etc. As we discovered, cooling losses from leaking can be sneaky. My "spider senses" tell me that there is a difference in cooling at 45 vs 65 mph

We were much more comfortable on day two. Low 90s were not a problem. Upper 90s began to have an impact. But making steady progress.

Just in case anyone wonders...in love with the Fleetwood Providence 42m coach. What a massive, complex, brilliant piece of rolling technology. Happy to attend to her needs because of what we get in return.

["007"]

If you have the Evans AC/Heater unit you may want to read this problem found in a 2013 DSDP Newmar coach.
A quick check you can put a pair on vise grip pliers on one of the heater hoses and see if AC cooling increases.

[wimberleyman]

Daveark, if your AC units are Duro-therm roof mounted then your ductwork is probably in the ceiling. If so the cool air is heated on a hot day before it ever enters the coach. On my units you can open the main vent on the AC unit and it will put out a lot of cold air. It is a little noisier but cools the coach much better. We drove from the Texas hill country to Abilene about 10 days ago in 100 degree temps and were quite comfortable running the dash air and front AC. After that a cool front and rain came through and we drove on to Colorado with only the dash air cooling fine. Hope this helps.

WM

[pivotdoc]

We have found this same issue with our 42' Travel Supreme, the ducted A/C in the ceiling really heats up the cooled air. Another thing I have found is the faster you are driving the warmer the dash air gets - I figure that refrigerant is warming up in the lines (long way from the engine to the dash) seems to put out much colder air when going through towns etc........another thread addressed the insulation in the rooftop units on the evaporator ducting into the coach, seems like a good idea........biggest heat source is the engine, I'm going to look into more insulation under the bedroom closet/engine cover........of course we are asking a lot when it's 100*+ with a mostly black coach........ JB

[Dutch Star Don]

I don't see how you didn't stay cool with four A/C units running. What temps are you expecting to achieve?

If you have A/C units that have the center dump on the intake duct, you may want to open those up for more cold air. We also turn on our fantastic fan to vent the hot air near the roof as we drive. All of the night shades are closed also to keep it like a cave.

If you're dash A/C is working properly (yet to be determined from what you said) and the roof A/C behind the cab is running, you should be able to achieve 80 degrees or less on a 100 degree day.

[Pepper2]

I agree with Diplomat Don on the shades. Keep them closed, at the least on the sunny side.

[pagosajoe]

Had a similar problem on our 2012 Fleetwood Discovery 36J - turned out that the front slide for the generator wasn't closing properly. The latch holding the slide closed was installed upside down, letting outside air enter the cabin due to the 1/2 inch gap around the generator slide. Once installed properly, it works well, and the dash A/C takes care of cooling the rig when we're on the move.