Air Conditioner

NewRW Owner · 06-04-2017, 04:03 AM

It's only 88 today but neither front or rear unit will bring the temp down. The rear went from 91 to 88. The livingroom actually went higher after 3 hours. We live in Nothern California and our summer temps are frequently in the high 90's and many times in the 100's. Can't imagine being in our new RW when we get to those temps. Don't know what size our ACs are. We didn't get manuals for either AC and on the list of equipment in our owner packet the brand is identified as airxcel but the model number portion is left blank on both units.

Has anyone upgraded to a larger AC? If so, which brand, model, size did you get? And are you happy with the upgrade? Appreciate any info and input. We have a 38GK

mstan · 06-04-2017, 07:11 AM

What year is your 38 GK? There is a way to add a third AC unit. But it will not be ducted air. And you will have an additional cord to plug in. I purchased a small portable AC from Lowes. However you have to vent it out a window. It will however keep you cool. Down side is it takes up some floor space. If you will look at the https://www.redwoodrvowners .com and join their site. They have a very expanded Technical library which will give you lots of pictures and write ups concerning AC modifications. I have insulated the nose cone. I have added two additional return airs. You will find a big part of the problem is the lack of air flow. I have removed and trimmed my air vents to improve air flow. I have climbed upon top and removed the AC covers to insure that the Return air and the supply are not mixing. And that the return is not sucking hot air in. I think you will find that your AC is sucking hot air, and mixing the two. Return and Supply. You will find your AC duct is very restricted. Hope this helps. Let me know if you can't find the info and I will get you some direct links with picture. you may want to remove tow of your Return air vents and with your phone take some pictures facing toward the AC's. You will be shocked at what you find. And will get really mad at Redwood for the horrible design failure. They will not admit it. But They should have to pay for every Redwoods AC being fixed. They will not. I wish this were the only design flaws. But it is not. you will discover all of them as time goes on. Read all the forum posts and you become educated real quick. Redwood can be fixed. At least most issues can. The AC is one problem that you cannot completely fix. Sorry to tell you that.

NewRW Owner · 06-04-2017, 09:01 AM

Thank you for your detailed explanation. Not good news though. Our 38GK is a 2016 model. We just bought it brand new April 2017. We are going to try to get it fixed under warranty. Thankfully the town our dealer is in is just as hot in the summer as we are and can't expect it to be okay to have the inside temp at 92 when it's 88 outside. I will check the owners forum, or better have my husband take a look. Redwood should be ashamed of what you've had to deal with so that you don't roast in the summer. The RW owners on this forum are the best and so very helpful.

mstan · 06-04-2017, 03:30 PM

This is a very common problem for RW. However, if your seeing 92 degrees inside temp. I suspect something else is the problem. I have had mine not able to pull it down below 84 degrees but it was also over 100 degrees. You should be able to expect at least a 20 degree split from the outside temp. By what your describing, I can assure you something else is going on. Your pulling in outside air. You may also have a units heat pump running also. Sorry for your problems. RW are beautiful RV's. Sad that a few design flaws tarnishes the beauty. However, not sure if this is your first RV or not. But the whole RV industry is junk right now. All of the smaller great family RV companies are being bought out by a couple of big Corps. Sad for the consumer.

atom ant · 06-04-2017, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mstan

You may also have a units heat pump running also.

That's a good point - I used to do that by accident all the time! NewRWowner - make sure they are both set to cool. We would have both of ours set to cool, then kick the bedroom to elec heat (heat pump) at night when we went to bed not thinking about the Living Room thermostat. Because they share the same ducts, the upstairs would come on in heat mode, followed by the Living Room in AC mode and they would fight each other all night getting nowhere. Something to check anyway.

Our Redwood had 15,000 BTU units, which is the largest you can get in a rooftop. The only way to increase capacity is to add a 3rd. Airflow is definitely a problem with the Redwood design. As stated, there are some fixes you can do to correct what Redwood messed up in otherwise a good design, mainly electrical bundles running through the duct.

NewRW Owner · 06-04-2017, 06:00 PM

Thanks again for your response. We've had 5 slide in campers. We still own a 2004 Host with 2 slides. We owned 1 other 5th wheel, 1 class c moter home and 5 bumper pull trailers. We traded for our RW a 10 year old Arctic Fox that we owned since it was new. We've travelled the U.S. with each one. Never have we had as many problems as we're having with this beautiful RV. It's not been usable most of the time since we've owned it.(:

NewRW Owner · 06-04-2017, 06:05 PM

Thanks for your response. It looks like you no longer own a RW? Based on suggestions here my husband is going to try a few things. He says the AC in the rear living area is a heat pump. The one in the front isn't a heat pump.

Barbara

NewRW Owner · 06-04-2017, 06:12 PM

Another AC question: Does anyone have the 3rd AC that I understand these rigs are prepped for and if so how well does it work?

gvtahoe88 · 06-04-2017, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewRW Owner

It's only 88 today but neither front or rear unit will bring the temp down. The rear went from 91 to 88. The livingroom actually went higher after 3 hours. We live in Nothern California and our summer temps are frequently in the high 90's and many times in the 100's. Can't imagine being in our new RW when we get to those temps. Don't know what size our ACs are. We didn't get manuals for either AC and on the list of equipment in our owner packet the brand is identified as airxcel but the model number portion is left blank on both units.

Has anyone upgraded to a larger AC? If so, which brand, model, size did you get? And are you happy with the upgrade? Appreciate any info and input. We have a 38GK

New Redwood owner!! What part of Ca. do you live in?? I am ic Chico, Ca Ac is one of the few things I have not had a problem with. We also have a 2016 38GK. Good luck

NewRW Owner · 06-05-2017, 01:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gvtahoe88

New Redwood owner!! What part of Ca. do you live in?? I am ic Chico, Ca Ac is one of the few things I have not had a problem with. We also have a 2016 38GK. Good luck

We live in rural Vacaville. It's encouraging that you've not had a problem. Chico can be even hotter than we are during the summer. My husband's parents lived in Corning after retiring so we were in the area frequently. My husband is going to check out some of the suggestions in this thread. Hopefully he'll figure out what the problem is and fix it.

brenkco · 06-05-2017, 05:14 PM

Another issue with the a/c was the fact that a foam pad was known to fall out between the a/c unit and the roof mount. The cool air was running into the roof area instead of the rig. Redwood supposedly fixed this issue but it would be worth checking.

There was a simple fix using heat tape to secure it. There was a post with good pictures if you can find it. The fix involved pulling the roof cover off, reinstalling the foam pad and taping it in place.

I haven't done any of the other repairs but have had relatively good performance. We have a 2014 38GK and in Northern Ca as well. We are camping in Plymouth where it was in the low 90's this weekend, rig maintained low 70's.

Ken

NewRW Owner · 06-05-2017, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brenkco

Another issue with the a/c was the fact that a foam pad was known to fall out between the a/c unit and the roof mount. The cool air was running into the roof area instead of the rig. Redwood supposedly fixed this issue but it would be worth checking.

There was a simple fix using heat tape to secure it. There was a post with good pictures if you can find it. The fix involved pulling the roof cover off, reinstalling the foam pad and taping it in place.

I haven't done any of the other repairs but have had relatively good performance. We have a 2014 38GK and in Northern Ca as well. We are camping in Plymouth where it was in the low 90's this weekend, rig maintained low 70's.

Ken

Thanks for that info. My husband turned on the back AC this morning and set the thermostat at 75 to see if that AC will keep it there with the door shut between front and back and the front vents shut. Yesterday he turned on both ACs. When he did this it was 99 in our RW. In appx an hour the inside temp came down to 90 but then the breaker tripped (our house breaker). The reason he's playing with only 1 AC today is because some of the RV parks that we've stayed out have told us we could only use one AC and that if we tried to use more our whole row would shut down. We're going to try to go to Delta Shores in Isleton in a little over a week. That will be our 2nd try at using our RW. If the AC is a problem on that trip I think we'll take it back to our dealer and hope it doesn't have to stay there for over 3 weeks again. Where in Nor Cal do you live?

brenkco · 06-05-2017, 06:35 PM

When I have been in Arizona and really hot, I shut down bedroom and bathroom vents, doors closed to hall and bedroom, both a/c's run set at 72 and it works. A/c is set to high fan. The bedroom a/c thermostat will always call for cool as there is no a/t in that part of the rig. This works for me....one a/c doesn't seem to help much.

Sounds like poor electrical in that park! I have always run both a/c units.

BTW, we live in Windsor, just north of Santa Rosa on 101.

Ken

NewRW Owner · 06-05-2017, 06:52 PM

Thanks. The park where we could only run one AC last year is in Washington state. Really nice park but maybe they only had 30 amp service. Or maybe we were in a 30 amp row. Don't know if they offered 50 amps. Our Arctic Fox had 30 amps.

Barbara

brenkco · 06-06-2017, 12:36 AM

Sorry, didn't realize you only had 30a, yes only one a/c��

Jim & Mary · 06-06-2017, 02:13 AM

Not only can only run one A/C on 30A, you have to be pretty careful about running more than one heavy electrical load, i.e. microwave, electric water heater, toaster, fireplace, clothes dryer (if you have one). You get the meaning. Running more than one of these at a time could trip off your entire coach.

NewRW Owner · 06-06-2017, 02:48 AM

You're right. We had to take care about running appliances at the same time. Also where we plugged things in (different breakers for different electrical receptacles). Most of the time we had no problem. The air conditioner in our Arctic Fox had a quick cool down ability that I wish the RW air has. Hiding the unit looks nice but not nearly as functional.

NewRW Owner · 06-15-2017, 01:29 AM

Don't know what we were doing wrong when I originally posted but our air conditioners do seem to be working and we are using both. It's 90 outside, inside its 73. We are on day 3 of our 2nd outing with our new RW. So far so good. Everything seems to be working. My husband did notice that the secondary slide seal is missing on the right hand slide leading edge. He says it's an easy fix. It's supposed to be 107 this Friday so our air conditioners will really have a good test.

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