air conditioner not cooling well

[trudif]

Hope someone can help us, we have a 2012 3008 Windjammer added thermal windows, 15000btu air. We live in Las Vegas, NV and are staying at an RV Park here. We can not get this unit to cool down it's on high auto and we are only at 97 deg outside, start cooling at 6am and can not get it below 84 untill 11am and cools to 79deg in the main part of the TT, we a have a fan going in the bedroom too and that is at 89deg, we tried adding a swamp cooler and that did not work well. we don't even have air vents in the bathroom We have owned many other 5th & TT and never had this problem. Looks like we may have to get a portable air conditioner. We have not even hit 100 and we can not cool this down, anyone have ideas. The main air is in the front kitchen with four vents in living and 2 in bedroom. Vary bad lay out we ever have the main open with all the vents and that does not work. All roof air fans are close and have weather related pads in all to keep sun out and any window facing the sun has been blocked out too. We have dogs and us to keep cool Feels like a easy bake oven..

[Herk7769]

It is most likely doing the best it can when it is 97 outside.

You really can't get it much colder without a lot of defensive work. (manufacture some shade for example). Tinted windows only go so far.

It is normally recommended to set the Thermostat to 10 degrees below the outside air temperature to limit continuous running which can ice up your condenser (not likely in Vegas though). Getting 84 continuous is a drop of 13 degrees. Just be glad you don't have a 13.5K.

Another idea is an upgrade to a second AC (and 50 amp service) if you spend a lot of time in 100 plus temperatures. Most of us head north when the temps get that hot. North Dakota is great this time of year.

[OldCoot]

This is how we created 'shade', works great and ac can keep up with 90d +.

[1l243]

What Herk said is right on. I have a 15k BTU and when it gets that hot it will not cool the trailer much below what you have exprienced. I just added a second AC to my garage area. (My rig came pre wired for a second AC).

Shading your windows will help but what you really need is to park as much of your rig in the shade you can. Roll out the awning and tilt it down to shade as much of the trailer as possible. Can you close the door to the bedroom durng the day? Close all vents to outside the AC will suck in hot air.

If you have 30 amp service and will be running the portable AC at the same time as the main unit you may have to plug the portable in to the outside panel and not the trailer. If you have 50 amp you can plug it into the trailer.

If your trailer is pre wired for a second AC I would go that route before the portable unit.

Some times it's better to run your AC at a lower level than on high.

[DAISY BOYKIN]

I sympathise with you for your problem for We went through the same thing you are now going through last May in Tampa, Florida.

First off, I hope you do not have a defective A/C !

I have corrected two problems that is a design flaw with the cooling of the
8258WS Rockwood Signature Lite. First after the trip to Tampa when we returned home I removed the bottom of the A/C, the sheet metal plate to expose the air plenum in the bottom of the A/C. When you look at each
side where the air goes into the vent duct in the ceiling, you may notice how small the openings are. I first removed 1/2 half of the aluminum brace
(bottom 1/2) just where the air goes into the vent duct. Next I used a rough "RASP" file to enlarge the openings in the Styrofoam as you look into the vent duct. I shaped it into a very large "V" or flat cone, tapering into the vent duct. There was a very extensive post of the mod around the end of May 2011 or the first part of June with pictures on this website under MODS. I would suggest you place a canvas or plastic tarp down the floor under where you work, because there will be a lot of foam that you will remove. The opening that you will be working with should be about 2'
at the beginning and taper to the back of the duct. You can purchase a "NIBBLER TOOL" at Harbor Freight. It will be slow going removing the aluminum brace that runs fore and aft. Remember, leave at least 1/2 to 1/3 of the upper part of the brace. You will have to perform this mod on both sides of the plenum box for both sides of the vent duct. If you remove any of the foam that has been sprayed into the plenum to separate the intake from the supply air, make sure you put new foam back so there is no air leak between the two. Sometimes at the factory, the installer will get carried away with the foam and put too much there fore blocking the cool air as it enters the vent ducts. Make sure you are careful reinstalling the screws back into the overhead that holds the white plastic intake grid, DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN the screws, the will strip very easy in the wood ceiling. What you are doing is shaping the vents to force the cool air into the ducts. The mod will improve the air flow by at least 75%.

After I posted the mod on here last May-June, many did the mod to improve the air flow and were very happy with the mod.

To achieve quick cool with your A/C you should open the vents in the bottom of the A/C itself for a quick cool down.

Next mod you can make is apply window tint that is "GILA" from Lowe's.
The name of the tint is either Platinum or Titanium, either one will work.
Unless you are good at applying tint, you may need to have it done professionally. Believe me, it will work in helping to cool the inside of your RV down and keep it cool. I could not believe what a difference it made after I applied the tint. I even removed the clear flat plastic in the bath sky lite,
replaced it with a TINTED TEMPURED GLASS that is 11" X 18 1/2" X 1/8"
thick. You will have to remove the skylight in the over head in the bath (not the dome on the roof) simply peel the clear plastic off the white frame, glue the tempered GREY glass on with silicone glue. You can get the glass from your local glass company for about $14-$16.00.

Park your RV in the shade, put out your awning to assist in the cooling.
I did experience the same problem you did, but I corrected the problem with just the two mods. We just spent two weeks in Charleston and Savanna in 90° + temperatures. The inside of our RV was a cool 76° with the A/C cycling off and on.

Good luck with your MOD and I hope you have success.

[DAISY BOYKIN]

UPDATE:

Go to "MODIFICATIONS & UPDATES" under forums, Click on #8 , then scroll down to MY POST WITH PICTURES under the date of 9-2-2011. There you will find the post under "DAISY BOYKIN" about the A/C mod with pictures.

[rockwood06]

97 degrees is up there, and it sounds like it is at it's limits, you have a rv with little or no insulation, very thin walls and the more slide outs you have the grater the heat gain, how many people in the rv? for every one person just setting they are producing about 350 BTU's per person. Is the rv parked in the middle of the park with full sun.

I am sure that once the sun go's down the a/c seems to be working a little better, that's because the heat load has been reduced and that is most likely the only time you will feel the differance. Heat moves to cold, so as you are trying to cool the in side of the camper all of that heat on the out side is coming in.

I can suggest what we did while in Mytle Beach in July at temps around 95+ and the a/c system worked fairly well and we had a 15,000 BTU. We had a Rock Wood 8314ss/2006
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1.We installed insulated curtains in the camper and kept them closed all day.

2. If you have day/night shades do not close the night shades just close the day section, I had ran a test with the day/night shades and found the with the night shades closed the air around the windows became hotter in side of the camper dark colors attract heat, I posted this test here on the forum.

3. I place the "fan mode switch on "ON" this helps keep the air moving and helps elimate hot spots in the camper.

4. If you have any roof vents or sky lites like over the shower, get some of that silver insulate material like the stuff people use for car windshields and custom cut it to fit each vent and sky lite, you will be amazed how much heat this blocks.

The good thing is that you do have a 15,000 BTU unit.If I can remember anything else we did I will post it for you.

[trudif]

The mods have been done to our 2012 windjammer 3008 all ready, we did notice that we had openings all away to the far front of the roof from the main air opening that went no where and to no vents just running cross the bottom of installation. so we plugged that, we have not been getting air flow out of the vents, We use the pads in the ceiling vents have that special foil in the windows and in shower dome, keep awning out when not windy and have shade and covers blocking windows plus thermal pane windows. Thanks for all your help and ideas we will let you know if we get this worked out.

[talladega1]

As rockwood06 stated, a lot of these newer campers have almost no insulation value, as the walls are paper thin. If I was going to be camping under extreme conditions, I would get a camper with a minimum of 2 inch thick walls.