Love my new Birkshire but....

[BamaCorner]

am a little surprised that the unit has only one heat pumb and only 13500 BTU air conditioning units. Traded in an 05 Allegro Bay and had two 15000 heat pumbs. Traveling mainly in the south we never used the furnace but looks like we will have to now. Traveling primarily in the South, the two 15000 units were not enough in July and August so I think upgrading would be a waste of money. What is your experience with heating and cooling.

[kvtaylor]

Originally Posted by BamaCorner

am a little surprised that the unit has only one heat pumb and only 13500 BTU air conditioning units. Traded in an 05 Allegro Bay and had two 15000 heat pumbs. Traveling mainly in the south we never used the furnace but looks like we will have to now. Traveling primarily in the South, the two 15000 units were not enough in July and August so I think upgrading would be a waste of money. What is your experience with heating and cooling.

In the Georgetowns they also came standard with 13500 A/c. We upgraded the front one to 15000 from the factory. Makes a lot of difference.

[wnytaxman]

We are also looking at increasing one of the A/C's to a 15,000. I wish they could have given us that option when we ordered, but it was not to be.

[amarzano]

We have run both of our A/C's when it was in the 90's and it kept the unit cool. I *THINK* we had the upgraded units. I could be wrong -but I thought FR offered an optional 15k btu unit and I think we got it. One thing I do notice is the windows let in alot of heat! We have the double pane - but when parked - you might want to plan which way the coach is facing to cut down on some of that sun. Not much help when driving - but makes a big difference when camping..

As for the heat - the single heat pump is fine in keeping the unit warm in 40 deg weather. When it gets into the low 30's it would still keep the coach warm - but ran almost non-stop. I think the furnance (50k btu I think) or a portable electric heater might be better options when the weather gets really cold.

Good Luck!

Alex

[BamaCorner]

I inquired about upgrading my ac/heating units and the technician suggested that my money would not be well spent. Said the Birkshire has a good balance of heating/cooling equipment and adding 3000 btu's to my existing 27000 would not help enough to justify the cost. As I said in an earlier post I have had two 15000 units and even they could not compete well with Alabama's July and August heat. He agreed with others here who said the existing heat pump would do just fine in knocking the chill off in 40+ temps. Think I will use the 13500 units for a while to see how they do. Thanks for the input.