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Jchet · 05-03-2015, 07:12 PM

We just took delv yesterday of our new to us 2013 Forest River Sierra. This is a front living room model. One of my requirements was I had to have a unit with 2 A/C's. This unit has two, one mid way and the second in the rear bedroom.

We live in Florida and I use an RV to stay in while traveling around the state for my work. I like things cool, meat locker cool. The bedroom is great. Today we were transferring our belongings from the old unit to the new one. The living room in this new unit was very warm. I am wondering if I now discovered why someone traded this unit in. The air is cold if I divert it to blow from the A/C unit direct as opposed to the ducts throughout the ceiling. When I close that window to operate through the ducted vents it barely blows out of these vents forward in the living room.

I do not know what BTU the forward unit is. I am wondering if it is to small. Or is this typical with front living room units? Is adding a 3rd A/C an option, there is a ceiling sky light in the center of the living room?

Today was a mild day, it was uncomfortable today, in August I would not be able to use the living room.

Knightab · 05-03-2015, 07:25 PM

I have read before that the air is on some units are not sealed very well and don't push all the air thru the vents. You should probably drop the inside cover and check it out. Also and I don't know if this applies to yours but lower end units don't have enough insulation and the heat on the roof is tough for the unit to overtake. If that is the case you may need to upgrade the unit to larger, but that is not a for sure fix. There is usually only 1500 btu difference in units. We had a Fleetwood terry 5th wheel that the ac couldn't cool in 90 degree weather in direct sun.

I would check the unit for an air leak first. Does the unit cool ok when you just open the vents on the unit itself?

Jchet · 05-03-2015, 07:37 PM

Yes it cools fine from the vent alone.

wingnut60 · 05-03-2015, 07:57 PM

Obstruction in ductwork; disconnected ductwork. One of these would be my guess. The most you will ever get in temp difference is about 20d in to out. Might check that also.
Joe

Knightab · 05-03-2015, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wingnut60

Obstruction in ductwork; disconnected ductwork. One of these would be my guess. The most you will ever get in temp difference is about 20d in to out. Might check that also.
Joe

I agree, if it cools fine from just the vents then there is a blockage or the air box to vents is leaking but if there is limited insulation the ducting being in the ceiling have to be cooled down first, that may be the difference you are seeing.

sknight · 05-03-2015, 08:33 PM

I have a dual AC unit Sierra and mine is similar. What I have done is let it blow through the bypass vents on the cover until the room is cool, then I'll close them and the ductwork does the rest.

Mine doesn't have the best airflow, but it's also all tied together, front and back. It might not have enough to cover both on its own.

As of yet I've not been in a 50A environment to test if both running together offsets that.

Jchet · 05-04-2015, 03:55 AM

Thank you sknight, I was running both units all day, the bedroom was great. One ting I did notice this AM is I wonder if having the thermostat set at a high fan speed as opposed to Auto has anything to do with it. I doubt it but I will make the change.

The good thing is I am still at the RV dealership in the delivery process so before I leave today they are going to take a look.

jimcumminsw · 05-04-2015, 07:19 AM

J.Chet

Hi, and thank you for your service.

I would suggest that you check out this forum also Forest River Forums - Forest River Owners Community

This is a dedicated forum for Forest River Owners and someone on this forum might be able to answer your question better. Also Forest River does monitor that forum and from time to time will answer your questions. There is also another link called F.O.R.G. which is supported by Forest River; here is the link: FROG - Forest River Owners Group

This is just a guess but the second A/C might be 13,500 BTU's this seems to be what Forest River offers on most of their models. I know that the Cedar Creek 38FL which is a front living room model uses the 13,500 BTU A/C with this model for the second unit.

Does the unit have dual pane windows?

Good Luck.

Jim W.

drfife · 05-04-2015, 08:16 AM

A friend with a front living room Montana added a third AC to the front living room. It is powered off a 20A plug separate from the rest of the camper's electric system. Really helps on hot, humid days.

Jchet · 05-11-2015, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drfife

A friend with a front living room Montana added a third AC to the front living room. It is powered off a 20A plug separate from the rest of the camper's electric system. Really helps on hot, humid days.

That is what I am thinking is going to be required to make this work. When I am in the living room as I am today it gets a but uncomfortable to work from. I like to be nice and cool while inside.

ralphie · 05-11-2015, 05:30 PM

We weren't getting airflow to the front BR of our Wildcat. Dealer service discovered the ducting was "screwed up" from the factory. Forest River offered a 2nd AC to fix the problem so problem solved, but I wonder what else is screwed up. Why they would send a FW to FL without a second AC is beyond me. I suspect your mid AC unit simply can't get enough air to the front LR. I'd be a very unhappy camper in your shoes.
If a 3rd AC unit would fix your problem maybe FR will do you right, or maybe your ducting is screwed up, too. I wonder if they're built in the same factory.

redhooker · 05-11-2015, 06:25 PM

As a fellow "meat locker" lover living in Florida, I understand your concern. Most service people, from RV to truck, even at the house, all seem to think I am overly critical about my AC systems. I generally inquire if they can run the freon up higher than spec'ed just in case it might get a bit cooler...

That said, my fiver has 2 units. A ducted one up front and a non-ducted in the rear garage. The one up front (ducted) will not keep the unit acceptably cold unless I keep the door opening down to an absolute minimum. I have found this to be the case with ALL ducted systems in a humid Florida 98 degree climate. I don't care how chilly it gets, if it can't part your hair when standing under a duct it just aint enough to keep up if you open the front door frequently, period. I therefore require the younguns to use the rear door for the in and out traffic and that helps ALOT. When checking out the unit or loading it up even a properly functioning unit will most likely not feel sufficient. Many "professionals" will tell you that it is just you, but I can assure you that your opinion is indeed a valid one. Another solution that helps quite a bit is I have a small fan I put in the garage area and blow forward and it helps tremendously in summer heat.

If Carrier offered a gas powered 50,000 btu air conditioner and it cost 10 grand, it would sell here in Florida. I would have an extra in my shed, just in case of a breakdown.

Rob_Fla · 05-18-2015, 05:11 AM

We have a Front Living Redwood with two A/C units, one is over the rear bedroom and one is over the kitchen in the middle.
Both are 15K units but we had some cooling issues during the summer heat in the South.
I found a couple of issues, that I corrected and since our 5er stays nice and cool even on days in the mid 90s.
One issue I found was the A/C vents have collars on them that extended into the duct lines about 1" and block much of the air flow, I shortened the Vent Collars and that helped the air flow a lot.
I also added 3 vents to the ducts (2 near the front, 1 in the middle)
The other item I found was the foam seal between the intake and supply plenum on both of the A/C units was sucked out in on the front of the A/C condenser coils.
This just made a lot of the air from the supply side just blow right back into the intake side.
I sealed the foam back in place, now both the units cool much better.

mike1poles · 05-19-2015, 08:21 PM

We traveled with work, building powerlines from 2005 to 2012 in a 5th wheel from Texas to Michigan, hot and cold. The unit we have now we have had since Oct 2008, being in sunny 100+ degree days, with and without humidity. Trees always help, but not to many in west or central Texas. We have two separately thermostat controlled A/C and heat units, one 13,500 unducted in the bedroom and a 15,000 ducted in kitchen. The one in the kitchen also cools/heats the rear den, there is a wall between the two, so the den was hard to cool/heat. Have a couple of suggestions on the ducted unit: first, put the fan on medium or high if needed and run all the time. That way you always have air flow moving throughout the unit and the cool just adds when in compressor's come on. The second thing I did was change out the A/C inside shroud, made my own design out of wood so I could use allergen filters. I also went into the distribution box and put in a piece of mental as a "deflector", so more air flow would go into the den. Our duct is 2"X10", not big, so in the den where they had two of the tiny 3" plastic vents, I removed them and installed 2 - 8"X14" metal white registers with deflectors to adjust as needed (pickup at any home improvement store). You will need to remove the little plastic vents, then you can see in the roof where the crossover "beams" are to install the bigger registers. This made the most improvement in cooling. You could add these anywhere the tiny ones are if you need more air flow. Now I can dial in the temperature separate thermostats in the bedroom and the kitchen A/C's. On the 100+ days with high humidity, we have been able to stay at 72 degree throughout our 5th wheel. I will say this, you can not go by the temperature that is displayed, our has run as far as 4 degrees lower than what the "real" temperature, but it does work.

Hope this helps and God bless,
Mike