Hi! We are the Hinkles!

[gusmom]

We have a new Forest River XLR Hyperlite 3310 toy hauler. We love the layout with the huge front kitchen, mid bedroom, and back garage with deck in which we haul an EzGO golf cart. We have camped in it a total of maybe 2 weeks at a few Texas campgrounds since we got it in June. We are experiencing some issues with our a/c not cooling so our camper is in the shop right now. This unit supposedly has some new technology that allows 2 a/c units with 30 amp service. We figured that if they were selling it, surely they would have thoroughly tested this technology to ensure it would work in Texas summer heat! Well, sadly, they must not have because it doesn't work. We had both units running attempting to cool the space, yet as the day wore on, the inside temp climbed up to 96 degrees! It would cool down to 70 overnight, but as soon as the outside temps started climbing, so did the inside temp. Plus, with both units running constantly, they were consuming ALL 30 amps available so that nothing else could be turned on. We even had to switch the refrigerator to LP because there were not enough amps to run it properly. We love this design so much but are disheartened by this poorly designed system that should never have been made a 30 amp service. Is anyone else experiencing issues like this with their newer campers? Thanks in advance for any feedback anyone can offer!

[gusmom]

While we were camping and melting in the heat, we called the tech to come to the campground and see if he could figure out the issue with our a/c. For one, he found that neither of the freeze sensors had been installed properly from the factory. He put those in place and it might have helped a little, but not enough. When we were leaving camp, my husband realized that plug had melted from the back a/c. We took the camper into the shop for this and other warranty work. The tech was very thorough and found that the factory had run wiring inside the ductwork! That's crazy! He also determined that part of the issue is that we have 2 supply vents in the bedroom, 1 in the bathroom, but only 2 in the much larger living space, which should have at least 3 or 4 since the kitchen is going to generate more heat from cooking than any other area in the camper. We normally camp with friends so we monitored how their campers were managing with only single units and 30 amps. All of theirs managed to keep their units much cooler than ours, and they all have much more living space as ours is a toy hauler with a separate garage. So something is still wrong with either the actual a/c units, the ductwork, or the overall design of this power management system. If anyone has any input, we would really appreciate it!

[TheWolfPaq82]

Two A/C units on 30A service....they DON'T run at the same time. You may have heard the "FAN" running, but the compressor on only one is running at any given time. I use to own a 2018 Cherokee 304BS Dual A/C 30A service. The system runs through a PMS: Power Management System that continually SHEDS....circuits for a predetermined amount of time. Usually it's Water Heater, Frig, sometimes Microwave and other AC outlets. When we needed both A/C units, I always set Frig to gas and Water Heater to Gas to take them out of the PMS. We discovered it's not a very efficient system and had better luck running main A/C and fan to push air to back bunkhouse area.

[gusmom]

Yes, we knew they did/could not run at the same time, so we initially tried just running the main unit and using a fan to move the air where we needed it. When the main unit was not keeping up, we decided to try using the other that is located over the garage space. We even closed up the garage deck, hoping it would help, but the inside temps just kept climbing. We hoped that the discovery of the inappropriately installed freeze sensors would help, but it barely made a difference. Having wiring running inside the ducts could certainly impede air flow but we wonder if there could be other issues with the ducts that is preventing air from moving. We will be returning it to the service center and hoping for answers. It just seems very odd that our old camper could manage to cool just fine with the same size single unit, and our friends' campers do as well. So something just isn't right and we need to get to the bottom of it while it is still under warranty. This weekend camping, outside temps were about 87 and we could only cool to 75 in our bedroom and 79 in the kitchen.