Air conditioning

[Guitarman3]

Hi, hope somebody can shine some light on the use of air con in an rv.
I’m from Uk, and currently in Ukraine in my stratus Chevrolet gmc , we are experiencing very hot weather, so, I put my generator on, and put on air con, I found I had to stand underneath it to get full benefit, it’s my understanding that with air con, you should be able to stand there with a winter coat on and still be cool. Is there a maintenance situation I’m missing? Do air cons not need “ gassing up”? Or, what can I do to get it really cold?
Another question I have, is is it ok to have generator on while you are driving? To make tea, or, use air con ?
Thanks in advance

[TXiceman]

RV A/C units are sealed and no way to recharge unless you do a lot of work. 90% of the time, the problem is low or restricted air flow.

Turn the unit(s) on high fan and thermostat set at max cool. Using a thermometer (not an infrared temp sensor) read the temperature at the air inlet to the unit and then the closest outlet to the unit. The outlet should be 18 to 20 degF colder (11 degC) than the inlet temperature. If you are in that range, the A/C in working at maximum.

When was the last time the unit and filters were cleaned or checked for by passing air?

If you are getting the temperature difference across the unit, and still not cooling the RV, the heat gain on the RV is greater than the capacity of the unit. And it is perfectly fine to run the generator while on the road. Just shut it down and the refrigerator when fueling.

Generally, depending on the age of the unit, it is not worth the efforts or cost to recharge these units. MOney is better spent on a new A/C and upgrade the size while you are upgrading.

Ken

[Argosy]

Get on the roof, take the cover off and look at the coils. It doesn't take long for them to get plugged this time of year.

[ga traveler]

Yes you can drive with the generator running. As for your ac, did you start the ac early or did you wait until the motorhome was hot? As the other poster said, the ac will only drop the air temp down 20 degrees if it is 110 inside the coach the air coming out of the ac will be 90. Once it gets to 90 the output will only be70 and so on. As you can see the inside temperature will have to be 70 degrees with a 50 degree output to feel really cold. If the motorhome is really hot, this will take quite a while. Motorhomes have a lot of windows and therefore are hard to cool. If the outside temps are over 100 degrees they will never get really cool.
I noticed you have a 29 footer. The rule of thumb in the industry is under thirty feet one ac over thirty feet two. So you probably have only one ac. That is another strike against you.

[Guitarman3]

Not sure I understand the 30 foot rule, and “ strike against me”?

[rssnape]

Originally Posted by Guitarman3

Not sure I understand the 30 foot rule, and “ strike against me”?

I think what he was saying is that it may be your bad luck that you may have only one A/C unit as the manufacturers would often only put one unit on anything under 30 ft long.

[Guitarman3]

Thanks ken

[Guitarman3]

Oh I see, thanks