Community Forums

Urry2323 · 04-03-2015, 02:06 PM

I own a 2014 Allegro Red & we are in the coach in the Florida sun it is 92 outside and I can't get the A/C to cool the coach below 80 degrees . In fact the coach is getting warmer. I have never got the coach to cool below 78/77 even with the outside temperature in the low 80's.
Is this normal? I called Tiffin & they said a Allegro Red with just two A/C units will "struggle".
The front unit never shuts off.

traveler of california · 04-03-2015, 03:58 PM

We have a 36' red and recent temps in the low 90s were comfortable in the rig. Thermo was set at 74 and the AC would cycle on and off.

dtcasey · 04-03-2015, 06:40 PM

we have found that putting insulator in the windshield helps a lot in this Florida sun

Floridakamper · 04-03-2015, 07:14 PM

Which model Red do you have? I live in Florida and I'm considering a 33A. AC is even more important to us than TV.

luvlabs · 04-03-2015, 08:04 PM

Do you remember whether or not you have 13k btu or 15.5k btu A/C units? You definetly want the bigger units if you live in the south.

Either way, if you are parked with the windsheild facing any direction but north, you are going to need a sun blocking windsheild cover. If you don't have window awnings, those will help as well. I also suggest that you set the temp to 75-76 degrees and set the fans to on and HI. That should keep the temp even and the units cycling on and off.

If you are facing into the sun, the front unit will run more. Running both the fans will help the front unit cycle.

colter · 04-03-2015, 08:17 PM

Something is definitely not right. I was able stay high 70's to Low 80's in Daytona Beach, FL this summer on 1 ac due to being limited to 30 amp. Kept it cranked down in the morning to cool off as much as possible and used a fan to move some air. Tried to limit door opening by the kids (that's a full time job,lol). I think u should see better performance than what u r describing. I would get it checked out. Good luck.

Rodneykrantz · 04-03-2015, 08:26 PM

Look in the engine department to the right there are 2 hoses from the a/c units see if water is coming out of those hoses I have a 38qra with two 15k a/c units
and last year at a football game the outside temp was 96 and the coach stayed around 82 during the day but cooled off at night

Floridakamper · 04-03-2015, 08:32 PM

I'm starting to have 2nd thoughts about Tiffin. I've owned two Winnebago's and my present Newmar. With the AC's running I can hang meat in them. I use both AC's to cool down initially then one to maintain low to mid 70's.

Urry2323 · 04-04-2015, 01:27 AM

Thanks for all the suggestions I am checking them out. It seemed to help to keep the rear A/C unit as cold or colder & adjusting the vent levors . I have a 2014 38 QRA.

Floridakamper · 04-04-2015, 08:20 AM

I've been dickering for a 33AA and your AC problem concerned me. I'm guessing there is an issue with your AC system or Red owners would be screaming. I checked the unit I'm interested in and it has the 15K heat pump option so with that extra capacity I can't believe two units would not cool a 35 foot motorhome. I hope you get to the bottom of your problem. Bob

gatorgirl66 · 04-04-2015, 01:13 PM

We are having a little problem with our 15.5 heat pump not cooling as well as the 13.5 in the bedroom. We are also in Florida. Ours is only a 31 SA so not as large and only three weeks old. We keep the fans on high and it runs all the time until evening when it cools down outside. The smaller one actually turns off and gets down to 71 but the larger one usually only gets down to 75 running all the time. We are not sure if it is because it is a heat pump or if it has a problem. Not sure if there is a setting on the air conditioner that needs to be changed for Florida's high heat. We have not tried climbing on the roof to check and the booklets that come with the coach are not much help.

tkcas01 · 04-04-2015, 01:38 PM

I don't have a Tiffin, but as others imply, this is likely not a brand issue. Could be a one-off quality issue where some worker was having a bad day or otherwise didn't know what they were doing.

If you exhaust other potential issues, you may want to investigate if perhaps the AC install was not done well. I recently discovered that on mine and had two problems. First the cutouts in the roof where the units are were not sealed well, allowing cooled air to escape into the space between the roof and ceiling and limiting the amount of air pushed through the vents.

Since my rig is older, some of the HVAC tape around the inputs to the ducts was also deteriorating, further limiting the amount of air getting into the ducts. The other problem with one unit was regarding a baffle that separates the return air portion of the unit from the "plenum" side. It also was not sealed well so essentially cooled air was also being blown right over into the return air side. That unit which serviced the bedroom and rear bath obviously was not very effective and always had a tendency to freeze up.

I retaped everything and also applied HVAC mastic and they now work better than it ever did.

Pellerotto · 04-04-2015, 06:48 PM

I too have an Allegro RED with two heat pump units. I have always had issues with the unit cooling. It seems to be better though once we stop and we are parked. There has been more than one or two phone calls to tiffin about the issue. The unit is a 2011 and when I first got it the breaker kept tripping when we were on the road. At Tiffin request the breakers were changed to 25 amp breakers. Well this has changed little as far as the cooling goes. It has however stopped the breakers from tripping. The back of the unit seems to cool better and there was better air flow back there. At my last service I had a baffle put in to direct more flow to the front. We will see what happens this summer.

jax1911 · 04-07-2015, 07:09 AM

I have a 2015 RED 38 QRA and previously owned a 2012 Allegro 32CA, it's been my experience that the front cap and windshield is the major contributor to heat build up in the motorhome.
Last year on a 4.5 month trip out west during the summer the 32CA would heat up in the afternoon and the A/C's would never shut off and fail to cool the interior to the point where it was comfortable.
After reading many post's on this forum I went to Home Depot and bought a few rolls of "Reflectix Reflective Insulation" and installed it on the windshield and side windows and it made a significant difference in the inside temperature.

I also learned on this forum that the front cap has no insulation and causes major heat built up in the front of the M/H, last week I removed the front TV and the backs of the front cabinets and installed insulation in the front cap, there is an area about 18 inches high and 12 inches deep that goes across the entire with of the front cap that is wide open and very hot, adding insulation has to make a big difference on the heat build up.

It's an easy job and only takes a few hours to do. We will be leaving on our East Coast trip the end of May and I think the insulation and the window covering will keep nice and cool.