AC Upgrade?

[Cowboy0001]

Greetings road warriors. We have a 2000 Country Coach Affinity Bed and Breakfast model 42' coach and we need to repair our AC units on the roof. Two of the units are broken and I'm told they need to be replaced. Since the age of these units are past 20 years I was told they are a system and need to be replaced by an upgraded system. Has anyone ran into this situation or upgraded from the CC system installed? Could use some help with this, thank you all!

K&K Desmond
New Bern, NC

[deandec]

Yes, I replaced our salon heat pump and upgraded to a 15k Dometic Penguin II Heat Pump unit in 2015.

Our bedroom unit is a 28 year old Dometic 13.5K heat pump and still does the job. We use it for white noise while sleeping in both modes.

The most challenging part was lifting the new unit to the roof and lowering the old unit.

I used a rented drywall panel lift to get the units up and down. The new one weighed @ 110 pounds.

I have the 3yr Warranty from Dometic in writing even though I did all the work.

I might be able to help, except that our units have separate thermostats which made the replacement simpler including a new thermostat.

Also, I may be approaching my expiration date, so the memory is foggy.

[Coach Driver]

I had a similar situation in our Country Coach Concept. The coach never had roof airs but our system was old and the front stopped functioning. I have just installed a mini split system and we are extremely happy so far but it’s too soon to give a full report. After a lot of research I decided to use Senville units because of features and wide range of temperatures that they can function effectively. They have a unit that is designed for duct work, as well as ceiling cassettes, a floor ceiling model and the wall mounted. I used the floor model in front and a wall hung under the bed. I installed an 18,000 btu system in the bay with 9,000 btu under bed and 12,000 in front. It is so quiet you can not hear it run. The air circulates very well without ducts. Today it is 37 and the coach has never felt so evenly warm and cozy. I would suggest that sometimes wrong information is given by those that do not have a mini split system.

[Gatesway]

Vernon,

Where did you put the outdoor portion of the mini-split unit?

[Coach Driver]

In one of the bays on driver side near rear. I preferred not to hang it on the rear of the coach, but others do that. I plan to do a detailed report with pics when I get it all buttoned up and have a road test.

[Coach Driver]

John, Happy to answer any questions

[Jubilee 45]

Sounds very interesting Coach Driver. Looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labor!