Is my Air Conditioner not working properly?

[Chance]

Originally Posted by richbam

....cut...

So I guess my question is this - Is this unit just underrated for the Florida climate, or should it be performing better than this? I have no way of knowing as this is our first experience with a motor coach.

A couple of general comments.

First, I think you know a new digital thermostat may be nice to have, but it's not going to increase your cooling capacity. As long as your A/C is working, it's working.

There has been a lot discussed on this forum about air conditioning capacity and also about upgrading when necessary. I recommend you look through some of those threads when you have nothing better to do.

I just looked at Thor 2018 specifications for your 31W and was honestly surprised they list one 13,500 front A/C as standard and a 15,000 BTU/hr A/C as optional. Hopefully you have the optional higher-capacity A/C. I didn't even see a 2 A/C option on their specs.

I hate to say it, but if you only have one A/C in a coach that is 32-feet long, with a full-wall slide, and residential refrigerator, I think you may be correct suspecting the A/C is underrated for Florida heat.

I'm in South Florida and it's been hot and humid the last couple of days. If parked with some exposure to sun, I doubt there are many (if any) RVs your size that will get really cool in middle of day with only one A/C.



I've camped in Florida and along Gulf Coast for years in various RVs, and from noon to 5 PM or so it takes a lot of cooling, particularly if in sun.

[Dearhunter]

Keep in mind, when you turn on your AC in warm weather, you are not just cooling the air inside the unit, but the drapes, towels, bedding,mattresses, furniture, and fixtures. It will take a good while to cool everything down.

[SuperD]

Originally Posted by Dearhunter

Keep in mind, when you turn on your AC in warm weather, you are not just cooling the air inside the unit, but the drapes, towels, bedding,mattresses, furniture, and fixtures. It will take a good while to cool everything down.

VERY good point!!!

[Oneilkeys]

Originally Posted by SuperD

If you use a Coleman thermostat you will retain the fan speeds, if you use a home thermostat you will only have high fan speed.

I added a small two way switch to the home unit to provide two fan speeds. It's simple to do and there are several videos out there to show you how. The particulars have been discussed in several previous posts.

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Dearhunter

Keep in mind, when you turn on your AC in warm weather, you are not just cooling the air inside the unit, but the drapes, towels, bedding,mattresses, furniture, and fixtures. It will take a good while to cool everything down.

Not only that, it has to remove a bunch of moisture from the air as well.

[Joe-FL]

In our Florida home we can easily get the inside temp down to the low 70's in the hot and humid summer. But we keep it set at about 77 so that we don't experience such a temperature extreme when we go in and out. Maybe that is why we are not bothered by our RVs only cooling 10-15 degrees lower than outside temps.

[Miramar Owner]

I have found setting the AC's to 70 until it cools everything down enables me to maintain the desired temperature. I think part of the problem is the ceiling AC ducts pull a lot of heat from the roof. Once I have it cooled I then only run one AC at a time. For example when we are in the front of the coach, I run the rear AC. I close all the ceiling vents in the rear, including the sliders on the air conditioner and open all the vents in the front. At night I reverse the process. It works great and reduces the noise where you are at the time. Again the key is to get the RV (including all the duct work) cooled well first.

[Oneilkeys]

I have a 13.5k A/C in my Axis and it is marginal cooling the RV during the very hot summer days in Florida. I looked into adding a second small A/C or the cost of swapping out the 13.5k unit for a 15k. After much thought and discussion, I decided to first attempt to "manage" the issue rather than attempt costly modifications. The "manage" consists of: adding a circular vent in the inside A/C cover to increase air flow from the A/C into the living area; my wife making a curtain which is hung from the overhead bunk decreasing the cubic footage which has to be cooled in the living area; purchasing reflective panels for the front windshield and side windows to keep the sun out; my wife made inside sunbrella fabric blackout curtains (originally for our trip to Alaska) to keep out the sun. During the day, we close the vents in the bedroom and close the accordian door and the bathroom door so that all the cooling goes into the living area. I also built a reflective inside cover covered with foil that fits up in the skylight in the bathroom to keep the sun out (it makes a big difference). At night I reverse the process and close all the vents in the living area and push all the A/C into the bedroom. This has worked amazingly well so far for us.

[Oneilkeys]

I just added the 4" round A/C duct in the A/C shroud and what a difference! If you are not pleased with the air flow or cooling out of your A/C, I suggest you remove the inside shroud (six screws) and see how much airflow actually is coming out if your A/C unit before it is divided up into the ducting. I was amazed how quickly it cooled down the living area in my Axis 24.1 in the 90 degree Florida sun. Installing the 4" circular duct right over the middle of the airflow coming down from the A/C and reinstalling the shroud cut the airflow to the living area down some, but it still is double what it was before I installed it. And you can direct the airflow onto the couch or kitchen area. If I were out somewhere really hot and the coach was uncomfortably hot, I would be inclined to remove the inside shroud and see if that made a significant difference. I bet it would.

[mcr1010]

If it's possible, could you post some pics of your mod. I live in the land of heat also.
Many thanks

[SuperD]

I just happened to have pictures of mine. Vents are available from Amazon. Make sure you install under the exhaust end of your AC, usually the rear. Hope this helps.

[mcr1010]

Thanks for the pics. I will try to get over and take a look at mine and see what the arrangement looks like. Your AC looks like it may be a little different.

[Oneilkeys]

Mine looks exactly the same, when you take the shroud down you can see or feel the fan in the side where you want to put the vent (best to feel with the fan off). Mine was toward the rear of the coach too. I turned my A/C on while i was working on it. Easy mod. Draw a circle, cut the hole, drill four holes for the bolts and install. I just used small washers rather than bending large ones. There really is no weight on the vent and the shroud plastic is not that thin.

[SuperD]

Lol, you're right, don't need to use large washers, but that's all I had on hand and didn't want to make a trip to the hardware store.

[bevedfelker]

We have a 2025 Vegas 24.1 with the 15K A/C and the conventional manual Coleman thermostat. We close the slide louvers on the bottom of the A/C so all the air is channeled into the 8 round ducts in the ceiling. We live in Tampa and about 70% of all our camping is in FL summer heat. My wife keeps turning down our thermostat and gets the RV down to " meat locker" temps.

Does you close off the vents on the A/C in the living area to maximize air flow through the ceiling ducts? Is your A/C a 15K unit? Do you have your window blinds closed?

[Oneilkeys]

Mine is a 13.5k A/C and I have reflective shades in the front windshield and front side windows as well as the window shade down when we are trying to cool the RV. I leave all the round louvers in the living room open and close the ones in the bedroom during the day and reverse the process at night. We have not had major problems cooling our Axis, even on a hot Florida day, but the added vent really helps to cool the room down a lot more quickly. I get triple air out of the new vent that I got out of one of the circular vents and if can be directed where you need it.