Air conditioner

shane langston · 09-10-2013, 11:03 AM

I bought a 2014 365SAQ. We have taken it out a few weekends already. It has two air units. The front bedroom cools real fast but the main living and especially the rear bunk room takes forever to cool down. I know it has been a hot summer but it seems to me the bunk room should cool off faster than it does. Even when I close the vents to the front room, the air in the back doesn't come out any faster. Any advice?

TheFordes · 09-10-2013, 12:06 PM

3rd Ac. We run 3 and it rocks! !

5erDriver · 09-10-2013, 12:06 PM

We have a 2013 and find that it cools great throughout. We have not needed to run the front bedroom AC too much at all and we've spent a couple of 95+ degree weeks this summer in it. Just to clarify. If you are running both zones, which I'm assuming you are, the front AC is running independently from the back. If you are running only the rear unit(living area and bunk room) then the master bedroom is getting supplemental air from it as it is ducted from the rear unit too. Do you have the vents at the unit itself in the rear open or closed? Closed it will push alot more air to the bunk room. Open and it will cool the living room alot faster and the bunk room will suffer a little. Just trying to get a handle on how you are operating it.

garbonz · 09-10-2013, 12:17 PM

I would evaluate how you ductwork runs and whether there are any restrictions etc. The little roof ducting is an HVAC nightmare and you may need to tweak things a bit to improve your distribution. In my inut I had to essentially block most of the flow to one outlet to get the overall distribution to work better and close up a couple of duct leaks. The duct run on the fan side of the AC will see more flow that the other side.

I only have one AC and can imagine how challenging it may be to balance two or even three. There is another post recently that discuss this, but I can't find it right not.

garbonz · 09-10-2013, 12:33 PM

Here is the recent post on this subject, sort of.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...lem-45680.html

shane langston · 09-10-2013, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5erDriver

We have a 2013 and find that it cools great throughout. We have not needed to run the front bedroom AC too much at all and we've spent a couple of 95+ degree weeks this summer in it. Just to clarify. If you are running both zones, which I'm assuming you are, the front AC is running independently from the back. If you are running only the rear unit(living area and bunk room) then the master bedroom is getting supplemental air from it as it is ducted from the rear unit too. Do you have the vents at the unit itself in the rear open or closed? Closed it will push alot more air to the bunk room. Open and it will cool the living room alot faster and the bunk room will suffer a little. Just trying to get a handle on how you are operating it.

I am running both zones and after the front and living area cools off I close the vents on both units. Still isn't very much air coming out of the vents in the bunk room.

5erDriver · 09-10-2013, 04:03 PM

I wish I could help more! I know we shouldn't really have to mess with stuff to get a result but I know this has also been an issue with some people for heat also. It's a fairly long run to the bunk room from the unit considering that the duct has to be so small to fit in the small ceiling cavity and add the beating sun on the roof and its seems somewhat of a losing battle.
As I say we haven't had any problems with cooling. The force of air out of any of the ductwork is not a lot by any means but it does cool. Is yours actually cold, never mind the amount of it? Could it be a charging problem?
I would try the opposite. Close the living room vent from the start and let the bunk room get more air until it is sufficiently cold and then open the vent. Especially before bunk room bedtime! Also during the day when you could have the master bedroom door open when running the second system, leave the door open and some of that air will undoubtedly make its way to the living room. Cold air falls. We found that that system makes the master like a fridge if run for long. A 13.5k for a 10x10 room and a 15k for the rest!?!
Checking the ductwork? There's not alot you can do except see if they are connected to the registers. The rest is in the ceiling but you'd expect it would be one piece from the unit to the registers right. Did you try running the fan on manual high if there is such a setting I'm not sure. Just throwing stuff out there. Hope you find a solution.

4ralvarez · 05-05-2014, 10:05 PM

If you find a solution please let us know . The 2014 sandpiper SAQ The same it will loose temp during the day

golfmedik · 05-06-2014, 03:43 AM

How many ac vents are there in the bunkroom? I know this may sound odd, but those of us with '12 and early '13 SAQs only had one vent in the bunkroom. For some reason FR only put one back there. There is a thread on here of how to cut more vents for the bunkroom which most of us have done and it makes a huge difference. Also makes me wonder if the roof is vented properly to the outside. Check an make sure your roof vents, if you have them, are now clogged.
Monty

shane langston · 05-06-2014, 07:10 AM

There are two vents back there. What I have been doing is using a squirrel fan for the back. Works great keeping the air moving back there in the bunk.

Cajun Moon · 05-06-2014, 09:23 PM

I added a 3rd A/C in the bunk room.

TheFordes · 05-07-2014, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cajun Moon

I added a 3rd A/C in the bunk room.

Welcome to the ice box club

Rtazz17 · 05-11-2014, 09:48 PM

Open up the vent ,the last one in line in bunk room.I bet there is no stop for the air.It continues on past the vent hole into nowhere.Put cardboard stopper up there with foil tape and you should be good.My brothers and mine were the same way.Fixed with above method and air flow doubled atleast.No problem with keeping bunk room cool now with temps in 90s in full sun.

golfmedik · 05-12-2014, 05:47 AM

I did the same and it works great. But I also cut another vent in mine since it only came with one. Much better now.

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Rtazz17 · 05-12-2014, 06:15 AM

Yeah our already has two.But the stop increased air flow substantially

cmptrkd · 05-12-2014, 07:56 PM

I'm with Golfmedik. Our 12' only had one vent and both the bunkhouse and master bedroom vents blew on to only God knows where. I popped out each of the "last run" vents and added aluminum tape to create a solid stop. Then I dropped each and every other vent, and found not only that there was a ton of crap up there, styrofoam pieces and wood scraps that blew out (do this with the fan on high) but also that the ducting was lifting in some places allowing the cold air to run in-between the ceiling and the roof. I put aluminum tape on all the vents wrapping it around the circle cut out and folding it back down inside the duct in the ceiling. All this made a HUGE difference. I was about to do the 3 a/c mod and glad we waited. The bunkhouse still gets about 2-3 degrees warmer then the living room, but it's tolerable now.

Rtazz17 · 05-12-2014, 08:06 PM

Exactly what I did.I opened up front bedroom vents too.Again no stop,air just went past last vent to cool the ceiling! Ridiculous FR did this,this way.Its obviously not a mistake on one unit since it appears they are all done this way.At any rate its an easy fix and makes the A/C much more efficient..

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