Living Area AC

[etcmss]

Looking for other 5th wheel AC performance info.
How cold does your Living Area AC get (temperature)?
I have a Big Horn with 2 AC's and most of the time the LR AC struggles to get to 77 degrees. The temp is highly affected by cooking and if its hot outside (in Fl now). Its about 84 here with some humidity but nothing like the summer.
Some have told me the LR AC runs constantly in Texas-AZ and outside temps are about mid 80's. Doesn't sound right for 15K AC unit in this trailer. (36 ft)
The bedroom one does fine and easily cools to low 70's.

So how well does your AC do to get to mid 70's? Is it just my model/brand 5th wheel?
Gary

[336muffin]

Window awnings, outside color of fw, clean ac filter and un tinted large windows all are factors. Motorhomes are also hard to cool in the front because of large windows, that is why they use outside window sun screens.

[Walt Bennett]

Everything 336muffin said and there's also the possibility you've a collapsed or misaligned duct in the ceiling (they're not metal). The vents almost always have a collar that sticks up into the duct up to several inches too. I've read about several people pulling them and trimming off that excess to get much better airflow.

We've several large windows and only one AC on our 38' Montana. I bought a 25' roll of Thinsulate (basically mylar coated bubble wrap) and cut pieces to fit most of them. The shades pretty much keep them in place and this works very well. When we don't need them, they lay flat in the compartment under the bed or behind the couch. We spend October and most of November last year in the Southwest and the one 15k btu AC handled 90+ heat and sun very well.

[dayle1]

Mine struggled when I only had a single AC, even with slide toppers and dual pane windows. Now the same unit with the 2nd AC and I can easily get down to very low 70s. If you don't have slide toppers, they can help as the slide out roof has very little insulation. You also need to check for air leaks at each outlet and between the cool air and the return air. Aluminum foil tape will seal any leaks you find.

[tuffr2]

My Sunnybrook is easy to cool. Not easy to heat...but cooling with two 15,000 btu A/C units is too much cooling. I can stay cool running just 1 A/C unit. I stay in Fla. until mid May. Days are 85 degrees and humid outside.

I will say the 1 A/C unit runs 90% of the time. When in the living area we run the A/C in the bedroom. Then at night we switch and run the A/C unit in the living area while we sleep.

Not sure why my unit is hard to heat but easy to cool. Maybe I expect too much as far as heating goes.

[SkiSmuggs]

Make sure your filter and coils are clean. Mine has a quick cool vent right in the unit that I discovered while cleaning the filter the first time. Open it and it dumps cold air straight down into the LR.

[CampingCajun]

When we had the Cedar Creek we would point a couple of the bedroom vents towards the living area once the bedroom was cool. Never had a problem keeping the whole trailer cool. Had a 15K in the living area & a 13K in the bedroom.

[etcmss]

have done some troubleshooting with LR unit and local vent versus the ceiling ducts and it does appear to have leakage. Will do more to see why I get minor air flow in directional ducts when using the local quick cool vent.
There may be a hot air to cold air leak path, and then sealing them.
The 15K unit should not struggle to cool.

[paz]

Originally Posted by etcmss

Looking for other 5th wheel AC performance info.
How cold does your Living Area AC get (temperature)?
I have a Big Horn with 2 AC's and most of the time the LR AC struggles to get to 77 degrees. The temp is highly affected by cooking and if its hot outside (in Fl now). Its about 84 here with some humidity but nothing like the summer.
Some have told me the LR AC runs constantly in Texas-AZ and outside temps are about mid 80's. Doesn't sound right for 15K AC unit in this trailer. (36 ft)
The bedroom one does fine and easily cools to low 70's.

So how well does your AC do to get to mid 70's? Is it just my model/brand 5th wheel?
Gary

I think your experience is typical for most RVs. The bedroom unit cools better because it is a smaller area that typically has fewer windows than the living area.

If the outside temp is around 85º and the sun is out, our AC runs constantly, but the inside temp struggles to get below 78º. The motorhome we had previously was the same way. Even though the inside temp is not that low, however, it is fairly comfortable because with the AC running constantly it is removing a lot of humidity from the air.

Once the outside temp gets to about 90º, we run both AC units. We usually set the living area AC for 75º and the bedroom unit for 78º.

[Dr4Film]

Turn the A/C units on as early as possible in the morning.

These A/C units are only capable of maintaining on average a 20 degree differential from whatever the outside temp is currently. eg. 100F degrees outside, 80F degrees inside.

Lower the heat transfer from the sun by using as much insulation as possible on the outside of the RV.

Close all window curtains and make it as dark as possible inside.

Lower the cooling transfer by using insulation inside the A/C unit.

Purchase a stand-a-lone A/C system to supplement what is on the roof.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[okcnewbie]

I'd suggest picking up a little IR thermometer. This way you can shoot the vents and know that you have a ballpark temp coming out.


ps. You can also shoot the tires after driving. Under-inflated tires are typically hotter than properly inflated tires.

[Bamaman]

You might want to pull the bottom ceiling plates off the a/c unit and make sure that there are no problems with baffles or air blockages into the ductwork.

Your second a/c unit should be ducted into the same air system as the rear a/c system. A thermometer should tell if both a/c units are equally cold.

Remember that you can open your ceiling plate to blow a/c down into the room--or through the vents. You'll just have to see what does best for your application.

[mikensallyt]

Originally Posted by 336muffin

Window awnings, outside color of fw, clean ac filter and un tinted large windows all are factors. Motorhomes are also hard to cool in the front because of large windows, that is why they use outside window sun screens.

Outside window sun screens?? I googled but can find. I think this might be a good investment for this Texas person. tks/mikey

[mikensallyt]

Originally Posted by Walt Bennett

Everything 336muffin said and there's also the possibility you've a collapsed or misaligned duct in the ceiling (they're not metal). The vents almost always have a collar that sticks up into the duct up to several inches too. I've read about several people pulling them and trimming off that excess to get much better airflow.

We've several large windows and only one AC on our 38' Montana. I bought a 25' roll of Thinsulate (basically mylar coated bubble wrap) and cut pieces to fit most of them. The shades pretty much keep them in place and this works very well. When we don't need them, they lay flat in the compartment under the bed or behind the couch. We spend October and most of November last year in the Southwest and the one 15k btu AC handled 90+ heat and sun very well.

Now that is a great idea "I bought a 25' roll of Thinsulate (basically mylar coated bubble wrap)" tks/Mikey