Increase ac vent air flow by 75%

[FyrFytrDad]

Interesting mod...going to have to check it out in my TT.

[mg0427]

With the camper hot as hell, I spent a hour and 3 bottles of water doing this mode in the hottest part of the day today, after cleaning up all the white foam at the AC unit when I turned the fan on I had a snow & dust storm in the bedroom, all the stuff came out of the duct work that was just sitting in there. Difference of night and day on air movement. I am glad I did it this, just wish I had waited until the cooler part of the day.

Michael

[DAISY BOYKIN]

Michael, You must not have read my post about not "A DRY THREAD ON ME" ? But you have to admit, the mod does work to increase the air flow.
I called Forest River about the problem with the A/C duct restricting the air flow and what I did to increase the flow. Their comment was, " we have had some complaints, we will notify the engineering planning department! Where the factory has made any changes or not remains to be seen.

Also if your RV is a fifth wheel, look inside any cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling, especially above the TV with the large cabinets above it. Turn your A/C on, close the vents in the bedroom only (you have to use a ladder to check) open the cabinet doors at the ceiling, feel for a large or small air leak at the piece of molding across the seam in the ceiling inside the cabinets. I had a large air leak on the front side of the molding (1/4"). I was loosing a large amount of cooling in the top cabinet.
I used lots of silicone to caulk the leak. (you will need only one bottle of water this time).

[Iggy]

SID
I haven't done the mod yet but plan on it when the temps get below 70. That should be September. I will check my above the TV cabinet for the leak also. Do you think tin snips will cut and make the vent larger instead of hacksaw? Is it really thick material?

Also is the blockage on one hole to the bedroom or is their one going to the back of the trailer also?
Thanks

John

[DAISY BOYKIN]

Iggy, if you have a HARBOR FREIGHT in you area, they have a metal "nibbler" tool for about $7-9.00. Tin snips will not cut it. The stuff (ALUM) is too thick. You have to do both sides. Also take down the round vents to check to see if the installers put foam at the end of the vent duct just past the two vents in living room and in the bedroom. Only 1/2 was blocked in one of the end vents causing air loss into the rear of the RV.

It is about a 2 hour job doing the mod. Just make sure you have a rough file rasp to remove the styrofoam in the plenum. I did not have the nibbler to use. Someone said they used a Dremel tool ?? Must be the tool that has the round cutter in it.

Good luck

Sorry about the typo Iggy

[PatrickCrotty]

Sid,

Did the mod today. It was cut the grass or do the mod. Since it was raining, it was a great day to be in the RV without A/C.

I used a Craftsman Multi-tool to cut the beam out. Worked great.

The result was very good also. I cut the bottom out of and plastic coffee can and then cut a small trap door in the lid to check the air flow before the mod and after. When I held the can over the round vents the trap door opened a half inch. After the mod the trap door opened an inch. Not to best air flow meter, but gave me a base to see if it helps. I would say it doubled the air flow.

The sun came out and the RV got hot so I turned the A/C on. It was 89 degrees outside when I started it up and 88 inside. One hour and 20 minutes later it was 79 inside. I don't know if it cycled off cause I had to go to work. But, it sure lowered the temp faster.

I would recomend the mod.

Thanks Sid

Patrick

[DAISY BOYKIN]

You fellows are making me get the "big head", Ha- Maybe I should file for a patent????

I am glad the mod is working out for you RV owners.

It is good that the Forum is loaded with good information for "FIX-EM" to work better ideas..

I surf three RV web sites for info, ideas and suggestions. The Forest River
Forum web site has more info for all types of RV's than both of the other two put together. But I will continue to check the other two, they are good web sites also.

Patrick, you can cut the grass any ole time, that RV has first priority in my book. Turn the A/C on
before you start cutting the grass, when you finish citting the grass, go inside of your RV, have a cold one and enjoy the cool air!!!!!

[PatrickCrotty]

When I'm not on the road with the RV, I do what you said before, get a beer and head for the pool. And, you are right, the grass can wait, life is to short.

Again Thanks

Patrick

[Nigels]

Hey Sid

We are in Carson City NV in the upper 90's and my beer evaporates as I pour it! I am getting up very early on Saturday morning to do the Mod, we have a rear kitchen so all the ducts go one way so I only have to do one side and cut one piece of Ali' is that right? ( I haven't opened it up yet.)

Also since most of my tools are, as you know, 8000 miles away, can I get away with cutting two vertical slots in the ali at either end with a hack saw blade and some how dig out the polystyrene behind it and then "Bend" the ali into the duct.

What ya think

One more thing, can this mod be done without switching off the airco? What prevents one doing this?

Thanks for your help.

[DAISY BOYKIN]

Glad to hear from you again, must be the heat? Sorry ole man, you will have a problem cutting the aluminum with a hack saw. If you can find a "HARBOR FRIEGHT", they have a "NIBBLER TOOL" for about $6-7 dollars.
Some have stated they have used a DREMAL tool and some have used some type of Sears Roto Tool? I used a small "JIG" or "Sabre" saw, Cut vertical cuts 1/2"-3/4" tall about 1/4" wide, used pliers to break each piece out. Make sure you leave at least 1/4" of the aluminum on the piece you are cutting for strength of the short brace. Again, Harbor Freight has a set of cheap files for about $6.00 with handles with a good 1/2 round rough rasp (several files are in the package). You should do both sides, there are two ducts that run fore and aft. You will need a can of the foam insulation to fill in the openings created between the intake and the plenum box output. You may have to take out the four long bolts that clamp the AC to the roof for access in removing the bottom separator
panel. Watch closely the bolts that you remove, when re-installing, do not over tighten. They are not real tight to start with. Do Not squeeze the gasket down too much. There are little tabs used a a gage
when reinstalling the four long bolts. You will need a vacuum with a long thin "SNOUT" to remove the shaved Styrofoam from the duct. Open up the styrofoam openings as much as you can on both sides. The bottom will open all the way down to the wood ceiling panel and the top open all the way up to the aluminum brace and taper back into the vent duct as far as you can reach, fore and aft and to the back of the duct.

Sorry old man you will have to turn off the ac to accomplish this job. When you finish and reinstall the bottom white plastic portion of the AC,
Before you put the filter panel back, turn the AC on to check for air leaks between the intake and the discharge of the AC. This is where you may have to use the foam to fill in the holes between the two.

Good luck and

Your wife will love you when you are finished, especially when you turn the AC back on. You may have to put a jacket on for it will be snowing

[mg0427]

Nigel, also go get a couple tubes of caulking, and find the air leaks in the duct works, the entainment center at the top was a big one for me as Sid recommends, also over the sink cabinet, I even found lights that had air coming from them, all said and done we used 2 tubes, the vents now will not close now we have so much air going through them, I will know this weekend how much better the system cools.

Michael

[DAISY BOYKIN]

Hey Brit, you are in luck for there is a "HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS" in Carson City.



Harbor Freight Tools Carson City, NV


www.harborfreight.com/nv/carson-city.html - Cached
Sep 27, 2010 – Harbor Freight Tools Discount Tool & Hardware Store. Log In; or register .... 2749 N CARSON ST STE 150. Carson City, NV 89706 ...

[DAISY BOYKIN]

Repairing the A/C air leak in the top cabinet above the the TV.

This can apply to any of Forest River's fifth wheels RVs. The leak usually shows up where the roof on the fifth wheel starts the "UPWARD" slope up
on the roof. The seam or "joint" is hidden usually in a cabinet that goes all the way to the ceiling. When the finish trim was "stapled" or "nailed" over the "joint" or "seam", the installer failed to secure the trim to the ceiling on the front edge of the trim.

My fix was to use a small drill bit to drill pilot holes on the front edge of the trim every 4". DRILL ONLY THE TRIM FOR PILOT HOLES. I used small Phillips head sheet metal screws 3/8" long. After the screws were started into the ceiling, you have to force "UPWARD" on the screws to
pull the trim against the ceiling. Do not try to pull the trim up with just one screw. Use all the screws just a little at a time to evenly pull the trim against the ceiling from one end to the other end. When you are finished forcing the trim against the ceiling, caulk your trim on both sides.
You can use silicone or just plain painters caulk. No one can see the job after you are finished. The end results is to seal the A/C leak.

[Nigels]

Went to Harbor Freight this morning and bought the "Nibbler" seems I will be nibbling for hours, also got the caulk and a can of foam if I need it.

'let you know how I get on.

[DAISY BOYKIN]

Everyone notice how trainable the Brits are when their beer is evaporating in the heat??????

Nigel, let us know how your mod turns out?

[Nigels]

Hey Sid I'm on to it......Following your every instruction

[Nigels]

On a more serious note here is what I found:

Possibly the rear kitchen is ducted different to a central kitchen model. On a rear kitchen the airco sits right at the back of the roof and air flows to the Lounge and Bedroom through two ducts port and starboard the air has to do a 90 deg. (The fan axis is front back). a 90 deg turn is not good for airflow!

I opened up both sides as per Sids instructions but the crazy thing is that there is a branch opened up to the rear as well as though there are vents at the rear and there isn't any in an aft kitchen model. So I blocked off the rear part of the "T" with foam and then inserted some strips of vinyl flooring tight enough fit to create a curve to improve airflow, These I stuck in with caulk, I finished off by caulking every rough edge and gap to create a smooth airflow.

I also fixed the leak in the cupboard above the TV.

So everything is back together and working fine.

On my beer evaporation measurment device I guess there is a good 50% more cool air coming out the vents in the bedroom

[DAISY BOYKIN]

Nigel, don't know where you improved the air flow or not, but from the pictures, you sure got the "BEER MOD" down pat. Looks like you need a larger ladder to just hold the beer.

I was looking at a room "Roll Around" ac yesterday that you can sit in a corner near a window for the exhaust of a 6" hose. It was 110Vac @ 9000
BTU for $289.00. Pretty neat for a portable AC. Was not very large in size.

It is encouraging that the air flow to the bed room increased, at least it will be "COOL" zzzzzzzzzz's

Anyway, let us know in a couple of days if you can see or feel any different in your AC performance? At least it will slow down the evaporation of your beer

Sort of surprised me that your AC is all the way in the rear of your fifth wheel. I guess different models are changed in the way the AC is installed.

You and the Navigator have your parts of the US turned around for your visit. You are suppose to be in New England in the summer and in Carson City in the winter. Someone else mentioned it was 110° near Carson City.
Nigel, It has been hot just about anywhere you can be.

[DAISY BOYKIN]

Michael, Nigel just added two pages to the A/C mod, it takes a full case (24) of beer for a Brit to get the job done.

Just a thought, did BEV put the mattress on the floor in case Nigel fell off the ladder??

Michael, let us know how your A/C mod worked out for you after your weekend?

[Nigels]

Hey Sid.....we are sitting here with our thermals on its so coooooold