Air Con. question

[mstan]

Can someone give me a little comparisons to go on. I have a 38 GK with 2 roof airs. I was assured by the dealer that I would be cutting back on the AC. Well I am in south Louisiana. And it has not yet got as hot as it gets down here. Both airs are running wide open. And according to my t-stats 75 is a cold as they are getting. They ran most of the night. shut off early this morning and cycled until about 7:30 am. But now they have been running all day long. Does anyone on the forum have 3 AC units? if so is it set up to run through the existing ductwork or is it one that just dumps the air? This was one of my concerns when I bout the RW. Folks up north just don't understand what Hot and humid South Louisiana and South Texas weather is really like.

[brenkco]

I have a 38GK as well. What I have done when it has been really hot, is a form of manual "zone" control. During the day, I'll close the bedroom vents and even at times, the 2 vents in the hall, thus forcing all of the cool air into the living space. We don't have hot nights, but if so, I would reverse the procedure closing some (but not all) of the living room vents and forcing more air to the hall and bedroom.


I close both the bedroom and hall doors when doing this. Also check your air filters, mine sure get dirty!


Ken

[Enroute]

I have a 36RL and temps have been 97-108 the past two weeks. Best my coach does during the day with both a/c's running wide open is 78 inside. We do not have any trees around the coach to provide shade, but I am a bit surprised that 78 is the best the inside will get until the sun goes down.

[Shane Wood]

These supposed full time units are not insulated as well as they should be
You can hear your neighbors or people talking in the trailer when outside. The slides have very little sound proofing eg insulation. I have had numerous trailers over the years that did a way better job of retaining heat or air

[S&K]

Originally Posted by Shane Wood

These supposed full time units are not insulated as well as they should be
You can hear your neighbors or people talking in the trailer when outside. The slides have very little sound proofing eg insulation. I have had numerous trailers over the years that did a way better job of retaining heat or air

I agree.

[Dave&Ginny]

I had my 36RL in AZ during June one year without a problem but we did use a tower fan to keep the air moving.

Keep all your vents closed because the a/c units will draw in warm air through them. Also make sure your cargo doors are kept shut. In the 36RL the front closet got very hot but I found that if I kept the doors open, the heat would not build up as much. A couple times a year get on your roof and spray off the fins of the A/C unit to remove dirt and debris. We also kept the shiny bubble insulation stuff on the bedroom windows because we sleep with it very dark and cold (67 degrees).

[travelin' texans]

We use a couple of oscillator fans, ceiling fan, & be sure to cover the shower skylight & stay very cool.

[DonMac]

I am in Arizona and have had many very warm days 100+. I have a 2012 36RL Redwood (For sale by the way). I have never had a problem cooling of the rig. However as Dave has said you may need to block the heater vents. Close them if you can on yours and if you cannot buy new ones. What I also did was to block what I will call the heater return area under the cabinet area located to your right as you enter your rig. There is a large area on the bottom covered by a screen in mine so I made a nice piece of wood and hold it on with Velcro so it can be removed. I believe the two AC's running suck a lot of hot outside air in and dust with it. Also have double pane windows but I guess they all have that. Also make sure AC fans are on high.

[Grizzby]

We full-time in our 36FL and are from the Dallas/Ft Worth area. We have been I that area when temps are high 90's low 100's. When we are not travelling in a cooler location, and have to be in the hot weather, it is difficult to keep the unit cool. However, we do/have done the following to help. First we completely closed off the bathroom skylight with bubble wrap insulation. We also keep the window shades closed, and also manually adjust the cooling vents to maximize cooling in the different locations in the unit. We also make sure that the filters are kept clean...sometimes we have to clean them almost once a week. By taking the steps, we stay pretty comfortable even in the hottest time. Also, finding a shaded area for the unit helps considerably.

[Titan Guy]

Has anyone installed a 3rd AC unit. I have not checked power requirements but seems it would be worth the money.

[rob_fla]

Originally Posted by Grizzby

We full-time in our 36FL and are from the Dallas/Ft Worth area. We have been I that area when temps are high 90's low 100's. When we are not travelling in a cooler location, and have to be in the hot weather, it is difficult to keep the unit cool. However, we do/have done the following to help. First we completely closed off the bathroom skylight with bubble wrap insulation. We also keep the window shades closed, and also manually adjust the cooling vents to maximize cooling in the different locations in the unit. We also make sure that the filters are kept clean...sometimes we have to clean them almost once a week. By taking the steps, we stay pretty comfortable even in the hottest time. Also, finding a shaded area for the unit helps considerably.

I agree, keeping our 38FL cool in the Southeast in the Direct Sun is a challenge.
When it is 95 to 100 degrees outside and we are in direct sun, our inside temps will run 79 to 80 degrees with both A/C units running a full speed.
Keeping the return filters clean and A/C air flow at a maximum is paramount to A/C performance. (I added 3 more ceiling vents / registers to our ducts to balance the air flow on the left and right ducts, we now have 5 ceiling vents / registers on each duct line for a total of 10 ceiling vents / registers and I cut down the ceiling vent / register sleeves that stuck up approx. 5/8 inch into the duct to improve air flow, )
I have not covered the Bathroom Skylight with Bubble Wrap, but we do keep the window shades closed.
Finding a shady area or even partial shade during the hottest parts of the day really helps, an nice afternoon rain shower really cools things off too.
Maybe I should put a lawn sprinkler on the roof and run it during the hottest parts of the day, (not sure the RV Parks would like that idea)

I like the idea of adding a 3rd Unit (not sure how this could be accomplished) but most coaches I have seen with three A/C units have some type of power management system in onboard.

[travelin' texans]

Rob, that's strange you added vents for a total of 10 & my FB has 12 (I did not add any) just in the living area, 1 in the WC, & 5 more in the bedroom/vanity area. The guy installing yours must have sent to lunch halfway through.

[rob_fla]

Originally Posted by travelin' texans

Rob, that's strange you added vents for a total of 10 & my FB has 12 (I did not add any) just in the living area, 1 in the WC, & 5 more in the bedroom/vanity area. The guy installing yours must have sent to lunch halfway through.

Wow, you have 12 vents in just the living room with a total of 18 vents total in the ceiling?

Our FL only had a total of 7 vents in the ceiling, two in the bedroom, one in the bathroom area and 4 in the kitchen / front living room area.
(If you look at Redwoods own engineering drawing they show 12 vents on the 38FL)
Common sense tells me 7 vents in the ceiling is way too few vents for 2 15K A/C Units.
One duct line had 3 vents and one duct line had 4 vents, I also thought this was quite unbalanced too, so I added the 3 vents hoping to improve air flow.
I removed one of the factory installed vents to see how they were installed and found they have collars on them due to the distance between the ceiling and the ducts, but the collars are so long they protrude about 5/8 of a inch into the duct line effectively blocking air flow down stream.
(When I ordered the new vents I ordered the collars with them)
I removed all the factory installed vents and shortened the collars so they only protrude into the duct approx. 1/4 inch and I also shortened the collars on the new vents I installed.
Maybe I still need to add more vents to the ceiling !!!!

[travelin' texans]

Sorry Rob, I was still asleep I guess, I counted some light fixtures, I have 6 down stairs, 4 over the bed/vanity, & 1 in the WC. With a couple of fans we stay about 74 degrees here in the PNW where they are currently having record breaking heat. Fortunately we can leave our awnings out with the screens on them as there is no wind to speak of.

[rob_fla]

Ok, that makes more sense, with vents I added and the other mods to our A/C system our current configuration actually works pretty good.
We are able to maintain a fairly constant temperature from the Front Living Room to the Rear Bedroom.
The only real hotspot is the front living area theater seating unit by the front cap, when the sun hits the front cap directly and the black paint, it does get warmer up there.

[travelin' texans]

If we don't leave the closet doors opened a bit I think we could bake a turkey in there, not much insulation there for sure.

[rob_fla]

Originally Posted by Titan Guy

Has anyone installed a 3rd AC unit. I have not checked power requirements but seems it would be worth the money.

3rd A/C Install

[Shane Wood]

That looks like something right out of the ozarks

[RW Cal]

I read a post saying that the air registers have parts that protrude into the ductwork and that performance of the A/C would improve if they were trimmed off. I'm going to look at mine today.

[rob_fla]

Yep, mine did, the air registers have collars since there is a gap between the ceiling and the duct but the collars are too long and stick 1/2" to 5/8" into the ducts effectively blocking the air flow downstream