Looking for QUIET air

[B RAD]

It has to be really really hot before I will subject myself to our very loud air conditioner. Has anyone replaced their noisy loud roof top non ducted air conditioner for another one and been happy with the purchase. If so, what did you get.

[CharlesinGA]

Quietest ones on the market are the market are Houghton/RecPro units. No personal experience but people on various forums who have installed them, have been extremely happy with them.

Note the first post in the first link, measured sound level on the Dometic they have was 71, and the Houghton was 60 or less depending on mode.

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...all-21313.html

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...ner-21723.html

Charles

[dsrace]

i can completely agree with your search. i have had 5 diff toyhauler campers over the last 20 years. 1 was a wolf pack 29wp with ducted air the rest were all non ducted. the geneis supreme had the loudest ac unit i had owned to date. on low fan you had to almost yell to speak to someone, insane! on the up side it would drown our open header v8's in sand rails driving by at the sand dune parks! our current model has two attwood air command II ac units, non ducted. these are by far the quietest roof ac units i have had to date. with the fan on low, directly overhead, you can speak with someone at a normal voice db level. i was shocked at how quiet they are and can easily watch tv with them running. high fan isn't much louder then low fan either. the quietest you'll find are mini split units. as for roof ac units, i am sure there are quieter then the command II models but i am impressed with these. these are equal too or quieter then the ducted unit our wolf pack fifthwheel toyhauler had. when i say that i am comparing sitting or standing with in the same proximity to the ac unit not in the bed room with the door shut as the ducted version that far away was quieter. our current has an non ducted ac in the bedroom and the main living area.



i am sure there are quieter models on the market then the air command II. any non ducted unit will be louder if it has a fan that's capable of moving a decent amount of air. the one in the genesis supreme was horrible, couldn't stand to be inside with it running and it didn't matter what fan setting i ran it on just obnoxiously loud!


the air command II is remote control or you buy the extension cord and un snap the face control plate off and mount it on the wall. our are just remote control and work fine. we did not get the heat pump model either. not sure if that one would be any quieter or not.


this is not a great video and the new models have a slightly newer look to the control panel. in the video he is standing directly below the ducted ac unit and open the main dump. this gives you an idea of how loud it would be as a non ducted and it's pretty accurate. remember, he is holding the camera directly below as he opens it so that is as loud as they get. https://youtu.be/CQ8qZeOEgtA

[dsrace]

rec pro has one they claim .....

• Decibels:
  • Indoor High speed: 56 decibels
  • Indoor Low speed: 47 decibels
  • Outdoor: 67 decibels
• https://www.recpro.com/rv-air-condit...te-non-ducted/

the attwood air comman II i have is listed at a claimed 55 db on low fan and 66 db on high fan. it also says 11.3 amp draw but monitoring both of mine i can state that they both only draw 9 to 9.3 amps after start up. i have the watch dog 50 amp hard wired surge protector and with it's app i can monitor line one and two. my wife wanted to plug 2 crock pots in for a group dinner and i wanted to verify there would be no issues and that they were each on a diff line. i turned the two ac units on and watched the power draw on each line so that i knew there would'nt be any tripped breakers while we away.


doing an online search, i saw two articles listing the coleman mach 10 as the quietest...... i don't know for sure but the fact that coleman doesn't list a db rating on this unit i tend not to believe it. i searched youtube and found a video of actual testing. https://youtu.be/caBQ87EBPrY the air command II is quieter.

[pasdad1]

Have you tried this ?

https://wackoproducts.com/

[B RAD]

Originally Posted by pasdad1

Have you tried this ?

https://wackoproducts.com/

Attachment 373496

This is for DUCTED air systems only.

[dsrace]

a quick search using " quietest rv rooftop ac" brings up a number of links. the first 3 articles were RVing Beginner ( written by Bob Matsuoka) the 2nd was quiet your digs ( written by jessica shiffler ) clearly affiliated with rving beginner, and the 3rd was rving trends ( written by scott rivers ) all claiming to be long term rv'ers or such, scott stating ...... Master’s Degree in Automotive Engineering from Columbia University in the City of New York, Scott worked as an RV technician in Camping World and Outdoorsy for years. i find it interesting that they all are full of affiliate links, which leaves myself believing them to be biased ads, more then articles. all 3 are completely lacking in detailed info and are current to a year old. scott's article is the most disappointing imo. with his degree, he knows the importance of detailed information and fails to provide any!

[SteveJ.]

Originally Posted by dsrace

rec pro has one they claim .....

• Decibels:
  • Indoor High speed: 56 decibels
  • Indoor Low speed: 47 decibels
  • Outdoor: 67 decibels
• https://www.recpro.com/rv-air-condit...te-non-ducted/

the attwood air comman II i have is listed at a claimed 55 db on low fan and 66 db on high fan. it also says 11.3 amp draw but monitoring both of mine i can state that they both only draw 9 to 9.3 amps after start up. i have the watch dog 50 amp hard wired surge protector and with it's app i can monitor line one and two. my wife wanted to plug 2 crock pots in for a group dinner and i wanted to verify there would be no issues and that they were each on a diff line. i turned the two ac units on and watched the power draw on each line so that i knew there would'nt be any tripped breakers while we away.


doing an online search, i saw two articles listing the coleman mach 10 as the quietest...... i don't know for sure but the fact that coleman doesn't list a db rating on this unit i tend not to believe it. i searched youtube and found a video of actual testing. https://youtu.be/caBQ87EBPrY the air command II is quieter.

Thanks for posting up the amp draw.

I installed an Air Command into a ducted system last year, hugely quieter than the old Penguin. This unit also keeps a pretty tight temperature swing. I like it.

I also looked at the Houghton from RecPro but was not a fan of how much current it used.

I'm thinking the DB rating for the Air Command showing 66db on high may be with the air dump open as the difference between high and low with the dump closed is not that much.

Both the RecPro and Command have the interior fan run all of the time. The Command does use a separate motor for the condenser. I also like the fact that there is a brief delay when the compressor kicks in. The condenser fan comes on first followed about a second or two later by the compressor kicking in.

Everything is included with the Command, no separate control box required, at least for a single install.

[dsrace]

Originally Posted by SteveJ.

Thanks for posting up the amp draw.

I installed an Air Command into a ducted system last year, hugely quieter than the old Penguin. This unit also keeps a pretty tight temperature swing. I like it.

I also looked at the Houghton from RecPro but was not a fan of how much current it used.

I'm thinking the DB rating for the Air Command showing 66db on high may be with the air dump open as the difference between high and low with the dump closed is not that much.

Both the RecPro and Command have the interior fan run all of the time. The Command does use a separate motor for the condenser. I also like the fact that there is a brief delay when the compressor kicks in. The condenser fan comes on first followed about a second or two later by the compressor kicking in.

Everything is included with the Command, no separate control box required, at least for a single install.

the amp draw on the bedroom unit was 9 amps and the main living area was 9.3. i thought that was fantastic compared to 2011 fifthwheel 13,500 ducted ac unit that drew 14 amps after start up.



i do agree with you on the db rating. imo, there is very little audible difference (with my non ducted ) while switching between high and low fan. to be honest they cool the camper very well on low fan so i rarely switch them to med or high. i must confess, my camper is only 26' of floor and 30' aol. 2 - 13,500 btu ac units in that small of space is overkill, but i bet i could hang meat in there on a hot day . when i ordered this unit the dual non ducted ac's were $100 more then a 15k btu ducted ac. as far as db's go, my current unit is a toyhauler so it does have 8' side walls. the ac unit in the main area is farther away overhead as a result but in the front nose bedroom, the ac unit is much closer, more like a 6.5' tall side wall camper. my thought process behind dual ac units vs a single ducted was that at night i could shut the one in the bedroom off and still keep it cool with just a small quiet fan. i am not a light sleeper but my wife is. the less she wakes me up the better! also if one breaks down i can still use the other to keep it tolerable. we have been camping in 100* temps many times so ac's are a concern for myself. i do understand that ducted ac units are quieter as well. the one thing i disliked about the ducted unit in the fifthwheel was the heat intrusion into the ducting. with the ducting up in ( for lack of a better term) attic space, the heat up there gets to be substantially higher then below. i believe this defeats some of the cooling capabilities or did in the case of that 2011 wold pack 29wp fiver.

[Podivin]

Originally Posted by CharlesinGA

Quietest ones on the market are the market are Houghton/RecPro units. No personal experience but people on various forums who have installed them, have been extremely happy with them.

Note the first post in the first link, measured sound level on the Dometic they have was 71, and the Houghton was 60 or less depending on mode.

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...all-21313.html

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...ner-21723.html

Charles

I installed one of the Houghton units (bought from RecPro) and it is MUCH quieter than the Coleman Mach it replaced. Mine is ducted, but it has vents that you can open or close on the bottom, making it work somewhat as both a ducted and a non-ducted unit. It is a good bit louder with the vents open, but still quieter than the fully ducted Coleman it replaced.
I think hoping for 'quiet' with a non-ducted system is somewhat futile, at best I think you'll just find one that is quietER.