360IBL Going Back to Dealer Again

[shorthorn]

First real trip last weekend and found some more issues that need resolved.

1) AC never able to keep up... Temps were between 70 and 80 all weekend and the AC was never able to cool the coach to 68 or 70 to shut off. ran straight thru all weekend and the coach stayed probably at best 72... In the heat of the day it was warmer. We have the single 15k AC, but it should have been able to handle these temps right?

2) We had a storm blow in on Saturday night (just a brief downpour with some gusty winds as it rolled thru). We had the quick cool register open on the bottom of the AC as we were all in the kitchen / living room staying out of the rain and the AC that never could, well couldn't.... We had water spitting out the AC register... Not like gallons of water, but drips... possible condensation was being blown back in from the gusty winds and downpour?... I don't know.

3) Right before leaving for our trip I went up on the roof to clean the slide roofs before rolling them in... While I was there I was checking on the seals and caulking on the roof... (Mind you the dealer was told to check all the seals before I picked up the unit, as it sat on their lot a year before I bought it)... I found 11 places that the lap sealant was questionable (probably 6 or 7 of those were actual pin holes or cracks in the lap sealant). There was one bubble up on the nose of the unit where the roof meets the front cap that when I pushed on it water came out... that kinda ticked me off.. Luckily I had a tube of lap seal here and was able to touch it up, but clearly they didn't check the roof worth a damn.

4) locks on the basement doors are corroded.. I can barely get a key in the latch to lock / unlock them as the little "flapper" is very hard to get to move to the side to allow the key in.

Getting a little bit frustrated with this unit, but I guess thats what I get for buying one that sat on the lot for year.

Will be calling my dealer first thing this morning... hopefully they can atleast look at the AC this week as we are pulling out again Friday night.

[IronCobra]

I'm honestly not sure if 1 AC unit would keep up, but I don't think it would. We had a travel trailer before our 360IBL and it only had 1 15k unit and it couldn't come close to keeping up with a 31' trailer except at night and considering the 360ibl is considerably larger that would be even more of a challenge. Our 2 units do a pretty good job of keeping our Coachman cool though. Yeah, buying one that sits on the lot for an extended period is always risky, however, if it truly sat for a year then they should have discovered and made any repairs to the unit during that period of time, especially to the roof. I suggest just buying a tube of lap sealant and try to do the repairs yourself if your physically able to. You'll get them done quicker, better, and will learn so much more about your unit.

[shorthorn]

thanks Iron... I did have a tube of lap seal and repaired to roof... thankfully... we have gotten a ton of rain the last week.

Interesting on the comment... so one 15k wont cool the 5er on a 75-80 degree day?

Anyone else with a similiar size camper with just one AC?

[carter2k]

I have ran mine with just one 15k ac unit and it will keep it cool if only 80 degrees outside. I am on my 3rd 15k ac unit. The other 2 did not cool properly and was found to be defective. I do have the 2nd ac unit up front but have not needed to run it when only 75-80 outside.

I have also re-taped all of the ceiling vents in the ducting. Mine was not taped down good and was blocking a lot of air flow. Also I found a large piece of the ducting that was cut out for the ceiling vent in the bedroom vent.

[dblr]

We have a 2010 Cedar Creek with only one 15K unit and never have a problem keeping the camper cool, we do have dual pane windows and run the ceiling fan and a small oscillating fan in the bedroom. We have been in Fl in the summer so we have been in some really hot temps with it,

[CaptnJohn]

Originally Posted by shorthorn

thanks Iron... I did have a tube of lap seal and repaired to roof... thankfully... we have gotten a ton of rain the last week.

Interesting on the comment... so one 15k wont cool the 5er on a 75-80 degree day?

Anyone else with a similiar size camper with just one AC?

My 5er is 35' with one 15K unit. Last week in FL we were parked in the shade but temps hit 91. Coach stayed at 73 where it was set and did not run continuous. What I found was the bedroom with only 1 vent will warm up, with the bathroom door open and another vent it was OK. Open the bedroom door as well and only 1 degree warmer than the rest of the coach. During the heat of the day we kept the window shades mostly pulled which probably helped some.

[YEGrolo]

Originally Posted by shorthorn

thanks Iron... I did have a tube of lap seal and repaired to roof... thankfully... we have gotten a ton of rain the last week.

Interesting on the comment... so one 15k wont cool the 5er on a 75-80 degree day?

Anyone else with a similiar size camper with just one AC?

Chances are you've got one of the bad Dometic 15k units with no/low freon. Unit needs to be replaced.

[shorthorn]

thanks yall... hopefully I will here back from the dealer soon!

[Mewcasa]

Originally Posted by shorthorn

thanks yall... hopefully I will here back from the dealer soon!

Who is the dealer????

[shorthorn]

Its my local dealer... Bradley Bourbonnais RV.

The dealers initial thoughts when I talked to them this morning was that the AC was working perfectly in the shop... He went on to say much above 80 degree's and the Ac won't cool a rig this large.. why even bother putting an AC on it then???

I think I convinced him to dig deeper.

[CaptnJohn]

Originally Posted by shorthorn

Its my local dealer... Bradley Bourbonnais RV.

The dealers initial thoughts when I talked to them this morning was that the AC was working perfectly in the shop... He went on to say much above 80 degree's and the Ac won't cool a rig this large.. why even bother putting an AC on it then???

I think I convinced him to dig deeper.

With the amount of dark windows drawing heat I may agree. With the shades mostly closed on my 35' 5er 1 15,000 unit does fine at least to 91 degrees though.

[blwnsmoke]

Originally Posted by shorthorn

thanks Iron... I did have a tube of lap seal and repaired to roof... thankfully... we have gotten a ton of rain the last week.

Interesting on the comment... so one 15k wont cool the 5er on a 75-80 degree day?

Anyone else with a similiar size camper with just one AC?

I was camping in RI this past weekend and it hit about 84-86 degrees for 2 days straight.. the nights did get cooler. I had the thermostat set at 72 degrees if I recall and kept my dog inside all day while we toured the area.

When we returned after an 8 hour day or so, the camper was plenty cool but it was running continuously. It was very comfortable inside but without running the 2nd unit in the bedroom, I do not think it would get into the 60s with just 1 AC with those temps outside.

I got the 2nd unit because I wanted to be safe and not have it struggle.. the down side to the 2nd unit is it is SO DAMN LOUD that you don't want to run it when it is time to sleep. With it being 4 feet right above your face, my wife could not sleep at all (ran the fan, not the AC portion) to circulate air.

I wish they had a whisper version of the AC to make it manageable to sleep.

[shorthorn]

Thanks yall.

I did pick up the 5er last night from the dealer and we are headed back out tonight after work for our 2nd trip.

The dealer did find some problems with the seals between the hot side and the cold side of the AC... He has taped them up and believes what happened is that the cold air was blowing back into the warm side causing the evaporator to freeze up. Once that happened there was very little cooling happening (and not alot of airflow) but it also could then be the cause of the water dripping from the unit as the ice melted.

I think we are pretty much resigned to the fact we are going to have to add the 2nd AC unit... I just wish in hindsight I would have done better research on the need for a 2nd AC in a 5er of this size... Of course the salesman told me it would be fine to "at least 100 degrees".. idiots!

The dealer did also look over my pictures and checked the roof out and agreed the roof seals looked good now after I patched them up... they came just shy of admitting they missed anything. They also ordered all new locks for the basement doors as you can barely get a key in them they are so corroded.

Thanks yall.... I did go buy a temp gun last night too, as I want to keep an eye better on what this AC is doing. The dealer claimed he was getting 30 degrees delta T across the unit, so it should be doing all it can.

[farmncamp]

I put a Coleman Mach 8 Polar Cub 9200 BTU AC in the front. Its low profile and low power enough I can run both 15000 btu back and the 9200 btu front on a 30 amp with fridge, and water on gas. Electrical monitoring system said I pull ~ 27 amps.

[CaptnJohn]

I'm mostly interested in quiet up there....

[blwnsmoke]

Originally Posted by farmncamp

I put a Coleman Mach 8 Polar Cub 9200 BTU AC in the front. Its low profile and low power enough I can run both 15000 btu back and the 9200 btu front on a 30 amp with fridge, and water on gas. Electrical monitoring system said I pull ~ 27 amps.

Just be careful with that... you should not run more then 80% of a breakers capacity (24amps). It will cause your wires to run warmer then they should.

[VizJedi]

I hope you had a good weekend. What the dealer said, makes sense, but let's see if it's what they really did.

As a point of reference, I had a 31 ft 5er for 13 years. It had one 13.5k A/C unit. Until it got into the mid 90s, it did fine. Unfortunately, around St Louis it is 90s with 90% humidity most of the summer. Even in 95-98 degrees, it would still keep the trailer in the upper 70s during the full sun of the day. It did run continuously to do it. Sadly, DW thinks 78 is WAY too hot.

j

[shorthorn]

Thanks viz... the SC did fine our last trip, but it wasn't hot out either...

[shorthorn]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone added the second AC themselves? It doesn't look all that hard, just wondering if anyone has experience with the process.

[farmncamp]

I did. But I cheated and used a tractor with forks and a 800lbs manlift. The toughest part is getting it up there. Everything else is pretty easy.