air conditioner

[glewis]

We have a Flagstaff 32 ft. 5th wheel camper, model 8529RKW. The a/c seems to struggle keeping it cool inside when temperature is 85 deg. or higher. Does anyone have suggestions.?

[N6ZCM]

Originally Posted by glewis

We have a Flagstaff 32 ft. 5th wheel camper, model 8529RKW. The a/c seems to struggle keeping it cool inside when temperature is 85 deg. or higher. Does anyone have suggestions.?

If you are parked out in the direct Sun with no shade, this is most of your problem. Sun beating down on the roof, slide outs and sides create most of the heat you are trying to cool.

Check the output of the AC, it should be a 20º difference between the air temp being sucked in and what is coming out of the vents... not the outside air but the air going into the return.
Check the filter, if you have air ducts throughout the trailer make sure they are all open. if you seem to have low air flow check to see if the AC unit is connected to the ducting properly, some have noticed that the ducting was not secured properly at the factory.

If it less than 20º, then you could be low on freon!

Covering the windows, opening the awning to shade part of the side walls.

[OswegoLion]

Do you have one or two AC's?

[rskeans]

I have an Atwood brand AC and the inside baffle was not secure permitting intake air to go right out without cooling. Took it apart and fixed it. All's well now.

[Doodleguy]

Ya gotta love this forum!

[moshe1436]

Originally Posted by rskeans

I have an Atwood brand AC and the inside baffle was not secure permitting intake air to go right out without cooling. Took it apart and fixed it. All's well now.

My AC doesn’t send much air through the ducting in the ceiling. I have the outlet directly under the unit closed but very little air comes out of the outlets in the bedroom and LR. The outlet in the bathroom has good flow but that one is close to the AC unit. This is in a 2014 RV Salem 241 QBXL. Any suggestions?

[Bama Rambler]

Originally Posted by glewis

We have a Flagstaff 32 ft. 5th wheel camper, model 8529RKW. The a/c seems to struggle keeping it cool inside when temperature is 85 deg. or higher. Does anyone have suggestions.?

Check the partition between the outlet and return. Then check the duct work to see if it's sealed well to the outlet ports. Then check the duct work to ensure that it's sealed at the ends and that it's not collapsed anywhere.

[moshe1436]

Originally Posted by Bama Rambler

Check the partition between the outlet and return. Then check the duct work to see if it's sealed well to the outlet ports. Then check the duct work to ensure that it's sealed at the ends and that it's not collapsed anywhere.

All good suggestions! Will let you know what I find. Thanks!

Mo

[5picker]

Often times if you can't get in to see back through the ducts, holding your cell phone or camera up to the duct and snapping a photo will tell you if the duct is open. Sometimes it helps to hold a light at the other end from the camera.

[jeff64]

Originally Posted by 5picker

Often times if you can't get in to see back through the ducts, holding your cell phone or camera up to the duct and snapping a photo will tell you if the duct is open. Sometimes it helps to hold a light at the other end from the camera.

Those borescope cameras from Amazon are real handy for this kind of stuff an not overly expensive.

As far as the AC cooling tips, do a search on the subject. It has to be one of the most written about items on the forum. A combination of 5 -6 items will put you in a livable situation. Kind of a whole is greater than the sum...

[moshe1436]

jeff64 and 5picker:

Two good suggestions that I will check out. I took the louverd vents off the end of each of the four runs and found the sticky backed aluminum foil used to seal the vent to the ceiling was sticking up slightly, probably interfering with the air flow but that didn’t help much. Thanks for the camera use suggestions I will also do that.

Mo

[moshe1436]

I took pics of the AC ducts and shone a light through them and everything looks fine. I see no blockage anywhere. There seems to be adequate air flow from the fan so I’m assuming it’s working as intended. What I wish it had we’re baffles to adjust the air flow in each run. Thanks for all your suggestions. Each one helps to eliminate possible problems!

Mo

[Bama Rambler]

Don't forget to look toward the terminal ends of the ducting. A lot of people have found them left open, just dumping air into the ceiling space of the RV toward the end walls.

[Thurman]

It has been stated many times on this forum to check the A/C outlet registers for proper air flow. My TT had A/C air flow problems from day one. I removed all of the ceiling registers and found that where the ceiling material met the duct work of the A/C there was no type of sealing material at all. Air from the A/C was going into a space between the bottom of the duct work and the top of the ceiling material. Two of these registers had at least a 1/2" gap at that point. The front end of the duct work was closed off/sealed but the rear end of the duct work, in the bunk room, was wide open to the space between the ceiling material and the roof material. After sealing up all those gaps I had quite an improvement in air flow from each register. The "baffle" thingy that separates the incoming air of the A/C unit from the outgoing cooled air of the A/C has gaps around three sides. This allowed some amount of cooled air to go straight back into the incoming air side of the A/C. Again, some time, some adjustment, and sealing of those gaps helped a lot. Another thing to consider is IF you have a Dometic 15,000 BTU unit then you may have one of the units Dometic produced that leaks freon and your cooling capacity will diminish over a short amount of time. On my TT, a 2015 model, I am now on my third A/C unit and the local Dometic certified service man just last month found that it was not cooling properly. He got a 9* difference of the incoming air and outgoing air on an 84* day. We are in discussion with Dometic as to a replacement at this time.

[moshe1436]

Originally Posted by Bama Rambler

Don't forget to look toward the terminal ends of the ducting. A lot of people have found them left open, just dumping air into the ceiling space of the RV toward the end walls.

I just had the vents out but never thought to check that - good suggestion. I’m wondering if using the shiny aluminum sticky back tape is what you would use to plug those open ducts? Thanks for responding!

Mo

[moshe1436]

Originally Posted by Thurman

It has been stated many times on this forum to check the A/C outlet registers for proper air flow. My TT had A/C air flow problems from day one. I removed all of the ceiling registers and found that where the ceiling material met the duct work of the A/C there was no type of sealing material at all. Air from the A/C was going into a space between the bottom of the duct work and the top of the ceiling material. Two of these registers had at least a 1/2" gap at that point. The front end of the duct work was closed off/sealed but the rear end of the duct work, in the bunk room, was wide open to the space between the ceiling material and the roof material. After sealing up all those gaps I had quite an improvement in air flow from each register. The "baffle" thingy that separates the incoming air of the A/C unit from the outgoing cooled air of the A/C has gaps around three sides. This allowed some amount of cooled air to go straight back into the incoming air side of the A/C. Again, some time, some adjustment, and sealing of those gaps helped a lot. Another thing to consider is IF you have a Dometic 15,000 BTU unit then you may have one of the units Dometic produced that leaks freon and your cooling capacity will diminish over a short amount of time. On my TT, a 2015 model, I am now on my third A/C unit and the local Dometic certified service man just last month found that it was not cooling properly. He got a 9* difference of the incoming air and outgoing air on an 84* day. We are in discussion with Dometic as to a replacement at this time.

First off I have no literature for this Dometic A/C but I believe it’s a 13,000 BTU unit. I will take off the grill to find a sticker that probably tells what it is.

Secondly I think my outlets are sealed pretty well but difficult to really tell.

Thirdly I have wondered about the gaps around that baffle “thingy” and surmised air must be moving through them. Would you use the sticky backed aluminum tape to seal those gaps to keep the outflow away from the inflow?

Lots of great ideas here- thanks!

Mo

[Bama Rambler]

Most people that find them open, use some foam to plug the ends and then tape them with HVAC tape.

[moshe1436]

Originally Posted by Bama Rambler

Most people that find them open, use some foam to plug the ends and then tape them with HVAC tape.

Good thought. Thanks!

[rskeans]

That AL tape seems to be good for anything in the AC. I used it to re-position the baffle and it would also be good for any gaps.

[FrankG]

We have been in central Florida for the last month and have learned how to manage the two air conditioners. First of all we are lucky to be partially under two large Laurel Oak's providing us with morning and late afternoon shade.

We use the front (13000 BTU) on low fan as the primary and it will run tel mid afternoon before the second (15000 BTU) kicks in at 79 deg. The front unit will draw the humidity down to about 35% which is real comfy for the higher 70's. It is important to get an early start and keep the shades pulled on the sunny side.