AC Replacement with Heat Pump

[Camp CA]

2022 Palazzo (have not picked up) does not have a front heat pump. My 2022 Entegra 27A did and so does my Montana fifth wheel trailer. The Montana front AC is a Coleman Mach 15 kw heat pump with a Dometic wall contoller that can select cooling, heating, furnace or fan and is really quiet in the heat pump mode for heating. I can buy a Coleman-Mach 15K BTU HP2 High Performance Heat Pump - Black 48004-669 for $1285. Do any Palazzo owners know the front AC manufacturer and model OR have experience doing this?

[Corc]

Thought about it myself. My 2018 are Dometic Penguins. One concern is you move away from low profile units. The other issue is you would have issues with Firefly system. The control would not plug and play.

I think you could get by with a separate wall unit and a taller unit, if you are ok with that.

[Camp CA]

Not concered with the added height since Palazzo's are not that tall to begin with. However, very good comment about the controls.

[Corc]

Height is not a big deal, but I did hear Dometic say they were going to have a low profile heat pump in 2023.

Didn’t want you to buy it and then…..

[Camp CA]

Thanks...........will check with Dometic on their low profile heat pump offering. We have some time as are picking up the new Palazzo today.

[jharrell]

My 2022 33.5 has two Coleman Mach 10 13.5k "Low" profile A/C units. The are not as low profile as the Mach 8 "ultra low" profile units, but are lower than the full size "medium" profile units like the one you are looking at. Not sure why Coleman decided to change high to medium, and low to ultra low when they introduced the actual medium unit the Mach 10, some kind of marketing nonsense. If you want the matching heat pump it would be 45004-6792.

Yes the main issue will be control, Firefly control board acts as the thermostat and directly controls the A/C with 3 wires, compressor, fan high, fan low, that's it, to do a heat pump (or add a heat strip also Coleman option) you need a fourth wire to tell it to switch to heat and the logic and UI to do so.

You would need to run a 4th wire to the heat pump and disconnect the controls wire from the Firefly and wire up a new separate thermostat. Another maybe simpler option is to get the Coleman shroud with thermostat built in, would not have to run a wire but still lose Firefly control, also not sure if they sell that in a ducted version.

You might be able to buy a different board from Firefly that supports heat pump but will be very expensive, my understanding is they charge $600+ just for a custom software change, $1000 to upgrade to Vega from Mira (which is just the wireless module) so who knows what it take to upgrade the main board and screen.

Here is the Firefly board reference, look at the purple connector 10.1-10.6:

[Camp CA]

jharrell.......appreciate the recommendations on Coleman Mach and Firefly. Thanks!!

[Camp CA]

For the near future will use a small, low-cost 1500 watt ceramic heater as it has demostrated it can keep the rv warm inside with outside temperatures in the low 30's.

[jharrell]

Small electric heater works well for living space but watch water bay temps below freezing as basement is heated by furnace but won't really be with electric heater.

So far have been happy with propane furnace, propane tank is much larger than my gas MH and Palazzo has better insulation so no issue staying warm below freezing without worrying about running out unless I stayed somewhere really cold for some time.

Next MH will have heat pumps and heated floors and diesel heat

[mlpeloquin]

For our 2013 Palazzo, a small ceramic heater up front and the furnace work well. Would not spend money on the heat pump unless the rig came with it. If it is too cold and need the under basement heated, you have to run the furnace anyway and not the heat pump. The ceramic small tower is quiet. We always set the furnace at 74 degrees. My wife is on blood thinners ans is always cold. I sleep with the blankets off.

[dons2346]

THE Dometic low profile unit I read about is a 13.5 and does not have a heat pump

[TripleGGG]

We use one of the oil filled radiator heaters in our Palazzo. Set on low or medium and also have furnace set so it will come on sporadically to keep basement areas warm. Been in weather down to 4 degrees with no issues.