AC noise level too high

[wmtire]

I merged the thread asking why this thread was not showing up, back into this one. It's all good. Carry on.

[cgpalmer]

Originally Posted by formerFR

I'll agree that RV air conditioners are something you may have to adjust to, but the reality is that we demand cold air, and therefore we have to deal with the sounds that come with it - if you think about it, the unit is right above your head, and the main return/outlet is also right above your head, and especially if you have two or three units on the roof...there's little way to get 'away' from them.

Some have installed further insulation in the main outlets, with some success, but I'm not sure that there will ever be a way to make these units 'quiet', at least not much more than they already 'are'...

When we are in the living room area, whether watching tv, or eating a meal, we actually only use the REAR air conditioner, shutting off it's main outlet, OPENING the living area Main Outlet, and shutting off many of the ceiling outlets near the rear of the coach in order to put more of the air out into the living area...making for a rather nice and quieter time. We also use floor fans to move the air, which is a large part of keeping any space cool.
When we are in the bedroom at bedtime, watching tv, we do the opposite ... we've grown accustomed to understand that simply turning 'on' the air condtioner(s) is not the only part of the equation.


And, YES, it is HOT!!!! almost everywhere right now - we had a day last week where the high was in the low 80s, and we 'thought' that the weather had turned and we were moving into more of a temperate time....oh no!!! This week has Wednesday at 94!!

I agree with everything you’ve said here. We had malfunctions in both air conditioners and I ended up replacing both with 15,000 units that were supposed to be and are quieter. However, they are still right over your seating area or bed so no way around the noise. We’ve been in 100+ temperature a lot this summer so had them blasting all the time. Honestly hardly notice it anymore and it is nice and frosty inside!

[rfifer]

We installed a Wacko AC silencer in our TT and it made a world of difference. With regard to decibel reduction, it reduced the sound level between 6 and 10 dB. By listening perception, that is half as loud as what it was before. The cold air flows through the ducts, so we still have plenty of air conditioning for the trailer. Very happy with it.

[Tom48]

Originally Posted by SPCF

Anyone have any good ideas on how to reduce the noise level on the ACs in the Legacy?
It is so loud that it becomes hard to even talk in the couch if it is running even at low speed.
I read some article about doing so but the mod did not work so good.

I have also seen YouTube Videos by A/C professionals who just clean up the air flow and insulation in the mounting and return ducts with Silver tape that seem to increase efficiency and reduce some of the air flow noise without forsaking the dump vent openings

[almcguire]

Originally Posted by SPCF

Anyone have any good ideas on how to reduce the noise level on the ACs in the Legacy?
It is so loud that it becomes hard to even talk in the couch if it is running even at low speed.
I read some article about doing so but the mod did not work so good.

The quietest AC l know of is the Dometic Atwood Air Comand.

[Photo Lab]

Originally Posted by MillMitch

does the wackoproduct work? i watched the install video, and they block the air dump and then put a cover over the AC that reroutes the air across the blocked air dump and into the intake. Interesting theory.

The modification probably works well, considering the ease of installation. If you have say, a duct with a large air flow, every time you change direction of the flow, and have a sound absorbing material "in the way" of the air, you will reduce the sound level of the air movement. Likewise, if you go to a duct or opening large enough to reduce the velocity of the air, without reducing the volume of air, you will also reduce the noise of air movement. Unfortunately, this isn't usually an option in an RV.

Dometic (and others) makes a split unit especially for applications such as RVs, and I used them almost exclusively when building bus conversions. The condenser with compressor went underneath, in the baggage bins typically, and the evaporators with their blowers went where ever they worked out. My favorite was mounting the evap low in a cabinet or closet, then ducting the air up to a ceiling level outlet. I liked to use fairly large grills (6x12) and lined the duct with automotive trunk carpet, glued in place.

So, there IS an alternative as posed by the OP, but it does not tend to be cheap. But, on the other hand, you don't have those lumps on your roof!

[NorSnrub]

When they quit, buy Coleman.
There was someone at the frog rally selling a supposed quieter cover.

[bob213]

Originally Posted by NorSnrub

When they quit, buy Coleman.
There was someone at the frog rally selling a supposed quieter cover.

I think it's same cover just different model # (#200)

[cbgrab]

If you remove the inside cover you will see a metal baffle which separates the incoming air from the cooled air being blown into the rv. when they install these baffle they just throw them in any old way. I bet this baffle has half of the duct opening covered. All that cooled air has no where to go and sets up a lot of turbulence inside the unit. That's what I found with my a/c. Rearrange the baffle and foil tape all the holes where air can escape, replace the plastic cover and enjoy the quiet

[repsolgamma]

The most effective noise reduction is a set of noise cancelling headphones, especially when trying to sleep.

But that leaves 16 hours of the day to suffer the fate of the rocket blast sound pounding into your head.

Was subjected to criminal amounts of deafening wind blast from a Dometic “Brisk Air II” 13500 btu for half of this summer and finally had enough.

Thankfully, you can buy and install an AtwoodAir Command that is extremely quiet and has more than effective cooling.

Have the Dometic BAII sitting waiting for its new owner to take it away, (anyone please?). Whatever I can get for it is going into the AC slush fund to buy another Atwood to match the first.

Michael

[kurtsont]

We too had this problem and looked at a different cover, but I did not want to pay almost $200 for the WackO cover. Doing some searching on this site we found this. https://www.rvpartscountry.com/-Dome...5_p_32444.html

Installed it and used a bunch of that foil tape and we have quite. Still have some noise from the AC but we no longer have to yell at the kitchen table to have a conversation. The cover is solid where the dump use to be and it comes with a new diverter plate and foam tape. I then foil taped the crap out of it to seal out the air. I also used that tape to seal up the ducts and air flow is way better. I was amazed on how crappy the ac ducts were sealed. One of our ducts did not have the end capped off and now it is like a wind tunnel. We had an air duct in the bathroom and I sealed it off so now the bedroom gets all the air.

[xrpb11a]

Tiffin and newmar have the ac done right. No thru the ceiling air conditioner parts, just ducts and 75% noise reduction . I'm looking at isata 5 and thor omni but if their ac sounds like a freight train I may start looking at Baystars

[Hogq]

I purchased and installed the wack-o-product silencer. It is kinda expensive, but it makes a huge difference in noise,. I have a Dometic Unit which is very quiet on low, with the silencer installed. On high it makes a bit more noise but you can easily watch tv or converse. I am not at all concerned about missing the dump feature, with the silencer installed, on high, I cant tell much difference in the cool down time. Plus the dump sounds like a Saturn 5 rocket inside the coach. The silencer also provides a much better filter solution. For me it was money well spent, reinforced by the fact that I am impressed each time I turn the ac on and it is quiet.

[Gideon]

Originally Posted by dan-nickie

https://wackoproducts.com/

I just purchased a Wacko - have not installed it yet.

[cdinatl]

Originally Posted by dan-nickie

https://wackoproducts.com/

I have one and it actually helped a lot. Would recommend.